Safety Labs by Safety Products Global

In this episode, Mary Conquest speaks with Eliza Lynch, an HSE manager in the construction industry and frequent guest on safety podcasts, who has strong opinions and uses strong language.Eliza’s early career in EHS was very Traditional Safety oriented - sometimes referred to as Safety-1 or Command and Control Safety. However, more recently she’s directly experienced New View Safety, also known as Safety-2 or Safety Differently.Regardless of terminology, it’s common for members of the HSE community to align themselves with one of these two orientations.However, Eliza’s analysis and observations have coninced her it’s too simplistic to claim one safety approach is more effective than the other. She explains why HSE professionals needed fresh ideas while asserting that abandoning traditional approaches to safety would be counter-productive.Eliza strongly believes New View Safety builds on Traditional Safety but definitely doesn’t replace it. Instead, EHS professionals just need to focus on the most appropriate ways to improve safety outcomes and set people up for success.Elisa Lynch on LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/elisalynch/The online community for HSE professionals Eliza attributes for accelerating her safety learning and passion:https://www.projectmollitiam.com/Eliza also highly recommends Paper Safe by Greg Smith:https://www.amazon.co.uk/Paper-Safe-triumph-bureaucracy-management-ebook/dp/B07HVRZY8CSafety Labs is created by Slice, the only safety knife on the market with a finger-friendly® blade. Find us at www.sliceproducts.comIf you have any questions, please email us at safetylabs@sliceproducts.com

Andrea Baker, a human and organizational performance (HOP) expert, explores the paradigm shift needed in HSE. She explains the emergence of safety and the importance of prevention and mitigation. Andrea discusses why humans make mistakes and how to influence co-workers in adopting new safety procedures. She emphasizes learning about safety error reduction and highlights the challenges and rewards of implementing HOP principles. Andrea encourages viewing safety as a discipline and provides resources for further understanding.

In this episode, Mary Conquest speaks with Dr Martha Grajdek, an industrial organizational (IO) psychologist, researcher, executive coach, speaker and author who’s been advising on stress management and leadership for over two decades.Combining science with a holistic approach, Martha explains what IO psychology is and how it can help HSE professionals improve health and safety in the workplace.She is an expert in work-related stress and shares her knowledge in identifying and managing this issue. Martha recognizes that stress is particularly significant for EHS professionals. It can seriously compromise their safety management initiatives, and HSE professionals have very stressful roles.Therefore, Dr Grajdek provides helpful guidance throughout her interview on the steps you can take to manage stress across your organization and within yourself - with a key focus on self-care.Martha has used her expertise and experience to create a course in stress management:https://mgbs-global-llc.mykajabi.com/storeTo find out more about Dr Grajdek’s work, visit her website:https://drmarthagrajdek.com/Martha Grajdek on LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/martha-grajdek-phd-mba-9234137/Safety Labs is created by Slice, the only safety knife on the market with a finger-friendly® blade. Find us at www.sliceproducts.com If you have any questions, please email us at safetylabs@sliceproducts.com

In this episode, Mary Conquest speaks with Brye Sargent, a professional workplace safety coach and trainer with over 20 years of safety management experience across multiple industries.Brye believes that EHS professionals are undervalued in the workplace and should receive far more support implementing safety programs from frontline supervisors and managers.Furthermore, because safety impacts all areas of an organization and has such wide-ranging benefits, she argues that HSE professionals should be seen as a member of the executive management team.Brye shares great practical tips on making this a reality and achieving safety accountabilty, including how to encourage co-worker involvement, compromise with operations, and collaborate with leadership.Her coaching business is called The Safety Geek, she hosts a podcast and YouTube channel and offers online safety management resources and courses to up-and-coming EHS professionals.Brye Sargent on LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/brye-sargent/The Safety Geek website:https://thesafetygeek.com/The Safety Geek podcast:https://thesafetygeek.com/category/podcastThe Safety Geek Youtube channel:https://www.youtube.com/c/SafetyGeekDownload her five step infographic on accountability:https://thesafetygeek.com/sliceThe book that Brye refers to in her interview is:The One Thing: The Surprisingly Simple Truth Behind Extraordinary Results by Gary Keller

In this episode, Mary Conquest speaks with David Sarkus, safety speaker, consultant, coach and author, who has been recognized by ISHN as one of the top 50 leaders in his field.David first started exploring the role of community in safety management during the 1990s, and this subject has been a primary focus of his career, research and writing ever since.Based on the simple principle that developing a sense of community helps people care more about each other and what they do, he realized community could play a vital role in keeping everyone safe in the workplace.David later identified five key drivers of community in the workplace. He walks EHS professionals through each of these - mission, diversity, openness, fairness, and consensus - and uses high-profile examples to demonstrate how they can either build or erode safety within your organization.David Sarkus on LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidsarkusYou can discover more about David’s work on his website:https://davidsarkus.com/Or access his online safety leadership courses:https://www.virtualdavidsarkus.com/Safety Labs is created by Slice, the only safety knife on the market with a finger-friendly® blade. Find us at www.sliceproducts.com If you have any questions, please email us at safetylabs@sliceproducts.com 

In this episode, Mary Conquest speaks with Jim Loud, a safety management consultant, sought-after speaker, and respected author with over 40 years of experience in the EHS industry.Jim has seen many changes during his illustrious career in HSE. However, despite progressive new approaches to workplace safety, it is clear that silos still persist.This causes organizational inefficiencies, adds unnecessary costs and crucially undermines workplace safety. So, how can EHS professionals break down safety silos?Jim believes you can play a key role, using your relationship and influencing skills to build bridges within the organization and involving non-HSE co-workers in safety management initiatives.Never afraid to challenge safety traditional, Jim focuses on the Deepwater Horizon disaster to show that more safety people or procedures and quick fixes don’t guarantee safety success. Instead, EHS professionals should prioritize more collaboration with people who aren't in safety to improve the overall safety effort. Jim implores you to build relationships with people and not machinery!Jim’s safety management consultancy is called James Loud Consulting, and he’s based in Colorado, United States.Jim Loud on LinkedIn (where you can find a selection of his articles on safety management):https://www.linkedin.com/in/jim-loud-csp-ms-mph-26357917Safety Labs is created by Slice, the only safety knife on the market with a finger-friendly® blade. Find us at www.sliceproducts.com If you have any questions, please email us at safetylabs@sliceproducts.com 

Dr. Nektarios Karanikas, an Associate Professor specializing in Health, Safety & Environment at Queensland University of Technology, shares his insights on effective safety management systems. He emphasizes that these systems go beyond mere documents, highlighting the critical role of human factors and workplace culture. Nektarios discusses why many systems fail, advocating for honesty and worker engagement. He also explores the importance of context and collaboration, and shares practical strategies for enhancing workplace relationships to foster a stronger safety culture.

Tanya Hewitt, founder of Beyond Safety Compliance, shares her insights as a safety regulations expert. She discusses the detrimental impact of profitability-driven models on safety culture and advocates for internal expertise in decision-making. Through compelling case studies, she shows how safety professionals can elevate their influence and drive change in leadership. Tanya emphasizes the need for a shift from command and control to servant leadership and encourages organizations to cultivate strong safety cultures that prioritize values over mere compliance.

In this episode, Mary Conquest speaks with Jerry Smith, an HSE expert with over 20 years of experience in workplace safety across a wide range of industries.Jerry outlines why strong people skills are essential for modern HSE professionals, and shares his wisdom on inevitable challenges, such as overcoming leadership apathy towards safety and having difficult safety conversations with employees.His starting point is always people, and Jerry’s human-centered approach to safety management focuses on qualities such as honesty, compassion, trust, empathy and continuous self-improvement. He genuinely cares - and eats, sleeps and breathes safety.Jerry is currently HSE, Compliance & Risk Manager at Vanderlande in Australia.Jerry A. Smith on LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/jerry-a-smith-77002852Safety Labs is created by Slice, the only safety knife on the market with a finger-friendly® blade. Find us at www.sliceproducts.com If you have any questions, please email us at safetylabs@sliceproducts.com 

In this episode, Mary Conquest speaks with Kym Bancroft, an organizational psychologist turned leading health and safety executive.Kym walks EHS professionals through each stage of safety transformation to help them ensure they start in the right place, get the required buy-in, implement initiatives effectively and monitor the most important metrics.Never afraid to challenge traditional approaches to HSE, Kym explains how she incorporates human-centered methodologies and psychological principles to drive evidence-based innovation. She covers diagnostics, implementation, evaluation and iteration and highlights the importance of decluttering, safety metrics, critical control work insights, learning teams and restorative culture.Kym is currently the Head of HSE (Asia Pacific) at Serco and has a Masters’ in Applied Psychology and a Masters in Safety Leadership.Kym Bancroft on LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/kymbancroft/Doing Safety Differently documentary:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gREMV6j2A4Safety Differently in practice with Kym Bancroft:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MIa7-k_y9AASafety on Tap podcast featuring Kym Bancroft:https://open.spotify.com/episode/5zJnEDxYQs5RreXLsdOCwiSafety Labs is created by Slice, the only safety knife on the market with a finger-friendly® blade. Find us at www.sliceproducts.com If you have any questions, please email us at safetylabs@sliceproducts.com