Purpose <p><?tk 4?>Psychological safety (PS) is essential for promoting patient safety and learning. PS has been found to be less prevalent in higher stress environments, such as the operating room (OR). There is no consistent application of best practices for PS in the surgical learning environment, and the perspective of the surgical educator remain unknown. Understanding this perspective is essential to creating PS in surgical education.</p> Methods <p><?tk 4?>We conducted a qualitative study examining surgical educators’ perspectives of PS, including facilitators and barriers. 17 semi-structured interviews were conducted at two academic centers across 12 surgical specialties and five diverse hospital settings, ensuring thematic saturation. Transcripts were inductively coded, and thematic analysis was performed.</p> Results <p><?tk 4?>Six key themes emerged: (1) Educators’ experiences of historically unsafe surgical training shape surgical culture. Barriers to PS exist on a (2) cultural level (hierarchies, reputation, pressure to perform), (3) system level (time constraints, patient acuity, personal pressures), and (4) from disconnect in educator-learner interactions. (5) Facilitators of PS included institutional accountability for behavior and educator behaviors such as setting expectations and debriefing. Finally, (6) educators have a desire for formal training in PS with mixed perceptions on effectiveness of training.</p> Conclusions <p><?tk 4?>Surgical education has a history of challenges with PS; however, surgeon educators recognize PS’s impact and their role as leaders in facilitating PS in the learning environment. Although barriers to PS exist on multiple levels, educator behaviors can create more psychologically safe environments. Translating these behaviors to the OR educational environment is crucial to improving PS.</p>