Rocket Safety Taken to New Heights with SafetyIQ

Vaya Space is a pioneering vortex-hybrid rocket engine company, revolutionizing sustainable space access. Vaya's unique rockets, with a payload capacity of up to 7.8 metric tons per launch, overcome the limitations and costs associated with traditional liquid bi-propellant rockets, transforming the industry's safety standards and affordability.

About Brooks Kimmel

Brooks Kimmel, Director of Safety Engineering at Vaya Space is a seasoned safety professional with a deep-rooted passion for preventing accidents and ensuring the well-being of others.

His career path took him through various roles, including teaching and working for Young Life, before an opportunity arose to join the environmental industry at the Kennedy Space Center.

A pivotal moment in Brooks Kimmel's life came when his grandfather fell ill with mesothelioma, a cancer caused by exposure to asbestos during his work at a paper mill. Witnessing his grandfather's suffering and the impact it had on his family fuelled Kimmel's determination to prevent others from enduring similar experiences.

With this newfound motivation, Kimmel pursued a Master's degree in Safety Engineering and dedicated the next 17 years to working at the Kennedy Space Center.

Today, Brooks Kimmel brings his extensive experience and unwavering commitment to safety to Vaya Space.

Recently, Brooks Kimmel facilitated the onboarding of SafetyIQ, an EHS Management Platform. We interviewed Brooks Kimmel to create a case study that highlights an EHS professional’s experience implementing and using our system as well as the transformative impact on Vaya Space’s culture of safety, efficiency, and performance.

In a rapid expansion from 8 to nearly 50 employees within a year and a half, Vaya Space faced the challenge of managing safety procedures using a patchwork of Microsoft programs like Excel and Teams. While these tools were adequate, they were not designed for the specific safety management needs of the company.

“It was really nice, but it was a lot of work.” Commented Brooks Kimmel, Director of Safety Engineering at Vaya Space. “Not that Microsoft has a bad product, it’s just not designed exactly for what we do.”

Vaya Space struggled to track training records, ensure daily pre-use inspections of equipment, tools, and machinery, and effectively mitigate hazards.

“The things that are unique to this industry is the fact that a lot of what we are working with is high energy, high pressure, and a lot of noise,” explained Brooks Kimmel. “Over-pressurizations can lead to a lot of different types of mishaps. It’s not an industry where you can watch an anomaly occur and say, oh, we’ll fix that next time. Because by the time that’s occurred, typically you have a very catastrophic situation.”