Greg Smith, a health and safety law expert and author, shares his journey from law to operational safety in the oil and gas sector. He discusses the disconnect between organizational priorities and genuine safety practices. Personal experiences play a pivotal role in shaping perceptions of workplace safety, as illustrated through impactful anecdotes. The conversation shifts to how advancements in communication and psychologically safe environments are vital for frontline workers, emphasizing the importance of evidence-based discussions to tackle critical risks.
Greg Smith emphasizes understanding personal experiences to bridge the gap between organizational safety protocols and real-world practices in risk management.
The podcast highlights the critical disconnect between safety rhetoric and actual practices, advocating for evidence-based approaches to enhance accountability in organizations.
Deep dives
The Journey of Discovery
Greg Smith shares the driving forces behind his motivation to write, emphasizing the importance of understanding personal experiences that shape our beliefs and ideas about risk and safety. His legal background, combined with early experiences in law, fueled his curiosity about the disconnect between organizational safety protocols and actual practices. By exploring the bureaucratic systems from a legal standpoint, Greg aims to reveal the often-overlooked relationship between compliance and real-world implications. This journey has led him to interrogate the motivations behind safety management systems and understand the challenges faced by those enforcing them.
Surreal Realizations in Safety Management
In discussing his experiences in various operational roles, Greg recounts a pivotal moment when a CEO expressed concern about hand injuries rather than catastrophic events, highlighting a disconnect in organizational priorities. This surreal situation sparked his curiosity about how organizations prioritize risks and how they define safety. He illustrates the absurdity of investing heavily in safety while being preoccupied with minor issues, raising questions about overall safety management effectiveness. Such experiences have shaped Greg's perspective on the need for a deeper understanding of safety protocols and their implications.
Challenging Conventional Approaches to Safety
Greg critiques traditional safety measures and emphasizes the necessity of a more profound understanding of risk management in organizations. He notes that while there's been a shift toward promoting better communication and psychologically safe workplaces, the fundamental issues in risk assessment still remain. His frustration lies in the disconnect between organizations' safety rhetoric and their actual practices, which can create a disingenuous safety culture. By advocating for evidence-backed approaches, Greg aims to enhance accountability in safety management and push for a reevaluation of risk priorities.
Motivation, purpose and a search for meaning: An interview with Greg Smith
This is the first in a series of three in-person podcasts between Greg Smith and Dr Nippin Anand. Nippin started off interviewing Greg in his hometown Perth to find out what motivated him to choose a career path in health and safety law. Later in this series, the two will discuss Greg’s new book Proving Safety and their take on how organisations understand and address critical risks.
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