

PreAccident Investigation Podcast
Todd Conklin
The Pre Accident Podcast is an ongoing safety podcast conversation of Human Performance, Systems Safety, & Safety Culture.
Episodes
Mentioned books

8 snips
Mar 30, 2024 • 34min
PAPod 491 - Empirical Vs Emotional Decision Making with Drew Rae
Join Drew Rae, a safety science authority, in an intriguing discussion on empirical vs. emotional decision-making in safety practices. Explore the challenges of integrating evidence-backed decisions, pitfalls in safety culture, and the evolution of Safety Science as a discipline. Uncover the necessity of industry collaborations for credible research and the role of digital transformation in shaping safety practices.

Mar 27, 2024 • 2min
Safety Moment - The Vital Relationship Between Risk and Control
Welcome to this episode of Pre-Accident Investigation Safety Moment, with your engaging host, Todd Conklin. In this insightful talk, Todd delves into the theory that simply identifying risks isn't enough to ensure safety and efficiency.
He emphasizes the importance of understanding what's risky and critical, acknowledging this as vital data. However, he coins the term "necessary but not sufficient" to explain that knowing what's risky alone is not enough. Instead, Todd stresses the critical need to match risk with control, posing it as a requisite approach for mitigation, barrier, or safeguard implementation.
Todd elucidates how the relationship between risk and control within a system is crucial for maintaining balance. Identifying an imbalance in this relationship translates to a problem that not only impedes the system's reliability but also its efficiency. He further explains the interconnectedness and coexistence of robustness, reliability, and efficiency—basing all on the identification of risk.
Todd criticizes traditional safety methods that solely focus on hazard identification and encourage workers to be careful as inadequate. Instead, he insists on the indispensability of risk identification matched with efficient control as the ideal safety approach.
In this spirited safety moment, Todd imparts profound insights that challenge normative thinking on safety methodologies. He emphasizes the need for both fun and safety at work, advocating for kindness and care among all workers. Whether you’re a health and safety professional or just someone aiming for a safer workspace, this is a must-hear episode.

20 snips
Mar 23, 2024 • 26min
PAPod 490 - A Panel Discussion on Safety Practices
Panel discussion on accountability in safety practices, redefining traditional views, exploring empathy's role in workplace culture. Delve into generational communication differences, leadership traits, and the importance of asking the right questions for behavior change. Emphasis on driving accountability through conversation, empathy, and critical thinking.

Mar 20, 2024 • 3min
Safety Moment - Integration and Competency in Safety Practices
In this insightful episode, host Todd Conklin delves into an essential concept underpinning functioning safety practices in organizations. He emphasizes the need for competence in implementing innovative, quality safety measures through a quote that encapsulates the episode's primary message: "You can't have integration without competency."
Throughout the podcast, Conklin engages listeners with his vibrant delivery, reiterating the impossibility of effective integration without the foundational competency within an organization. The discussion takes listeners through the necessity of not just the adoption of new safety ideas but also the critical role of skill and expertise in making them work within an existing infrastructure.
In seeking a way to convey this crucial relationship to the audience, he recounts a moment of realization, when an acquaintance's words ring true: "You can't have integration without competency." He considers this one of the most significant messages he has ever imparted, touching on the core principle of integrating safety, quality, production, operations, and financial measures in a way that strikes at the heart of effective management within any organization.
To conclude the safety moment, Conklin's message resonates with advice on personal progression and interpersonal relations. Listing essential values such as learning, fun, kindness, and safety, he rounds off the episode on a positive, unified note.

Mar 16, 2024 • 34min
PAPod 489 - A Deep-diving Conversation with Sidney Decker
Join a profound conversation with Sidney Decker as he challenges the 'don't blame' approach in companies, emphasizing forgiveness for learning. Delve into the intricate world of forgiveness as a force of evolution in organizations, fostering learning and betterment. Explore the uncharted territories of professional life, where forgiveness fuels growth and development, with insights on crisis management and resilience.

Mar 13, 2024 • 2min
Safety Moment - The Trap of Complacency
In this thought-provoking episode, Todd Conklin investigates the seldom-discussed downside of success - complacency. With his signature blend of insight and practicality, Todd challenges the prevalent notion of complacency as a choice, arguing that it is, instead, a function of system stability.
Many organizations, he observes, see complacency as a behavioral fault to be stamped out. Yet, he contends, this understanding is flawed and counterproductive. Instead of regarding complacency as worker failure or sin, Todd urges us to see it for what it truly is - a byproduct of a stable system where nothing bad seems to be happening.
The real challenge and solution, Todd suggests, lies in managing complacency through variability. He propounds that recognizing complacency as an inherent part of a steadily functioning system enables us to counter it more effectively. And the task is not as daunting as it appears because our systems, by nature, are attuned to such variability.
In the end, Todd leaves us with a compelling message for the day: Keep learning, have fun, be good and kind to one another - and most importantly, stay safe.

Mar 9, 2024 • 27min
PAPod 487 - An Insightful Conversation with Lisa Lande
A conversation with Lisa Land at the IAEA is featured, discussing leadership in the nuclear industry and resilience. They explore organizational structures, chaos physics applications, and cultural implications. The episode delves into the future of nuclear organizations, highlighting the need for dynamic change while maintaining stability and cultural nuances.

Mar 6, 2024 • 3min
Safety Moment - Graceful Extensabilty
The podcast discusses exploring graceful extensibility in safety programs, highlighting the importance of adaptable safety measures to address variable work conditions and ensure a secure outcome.

12 snips
Mar 2, 2024 • 29min
PAPod 486 - One More Discussion of Fatal Events - and this is just for us.
Exploring emotional impact of multiple fatalities, community support importance. Reflections on biking in Santa Fe, gratitude, upcoming themes. Critical analysis on prevention vs. control in fatal events. Importance of graceful extensibility, recoverability in incident management. Proactive risk management for preventing fatal events, aligning risk assessment with control measures.

Feb 28, 2024 • 2min
Safety Moment - Workers Complete the Design
Get Caught Trying to Make the World Better!Best Safety Podcast, Safety Program, Safety Storytelling, Investigations, Human Performance, Safety Differently, Operational Excellence, Resilience Engineering, Safety and Resilience Incentives...Give this a listen.Thanks for listening and tell your friends.See you on Audible...all my books are up on there.One of them is read by a British dude - it is like a Harry Potter book!Have a great day as well.