Empowering Workplace Safety with ROAR

In this episode of The Safety Gap Podcast, host Cassidy Shield and co-host Karin Marquez welcome Yasmine Mustafa, CEO and co-founder of ROAR, for an insightful discussion on innovations addressing crucial gaps in workplace safety. Yasmine opens up about her journey coming to the U.S. as a refugee, her challenges growing up undocumented, and the power imbalances she faced in unsafe jobs. These experiences shaped her passion for worker safety and directly inspired the creation of ROAR, a company dedicated to protecting vulnerable workers through smart, practical technology. 
 
The heart of the conversation revolves around ROAR’s discreet, wearable duress device, designed to empower workers to summon help instantly and precisely, even in hard-to-reach or dead-spot areas like stairwells and parking lots. The hosts and Yasmine share real-life examples—from hotel room intrusions to dangerous hospital incidents—demonstrating why traditional safety responses (like yelling, searching for a phone, or fixed alarm buttons) can be inadequate. They highlight how ROAR’s device bridges the critical gap, offering a reliable, standalone solution that does not depend on in-building Wi-Fi, ensuring immediate and effective emergency response. 
 
The episode also explores the broader landscape of safety technology adoption, discussing the rise of relevant legislation, barriers organizations face (notably cost and awareness), and the disconnect between management and frontline workers’ safety needs. Yasmine explains how ROAR quantifies impact for organizations, turning safety into both a recruitment tool and a driver for retention. The speakers delve into how ROAR’s system delivers precise information directly to 911 and onsite responders, ultimately arguing that workplace safety should be seen as a human right, with technology serving to empower, protect, and dignify every worker—especially as societal expectations around safety continue to evolve.