Advertise on podcast: The Safety Guru

What does it take to make safety a true business advantage? We’re excited to welcome back Brian Fielkow, business leader, board director, advisor, and author, for another insightful conversation on The Safety Guru to explore safety as a compelling business proposition and a strategic priority. Drawing on insights from his latest book, Making Safety Happen: The Roadmap to a Safe, Productive & Profitable Business, Brian discusses the critical role boards and senior leaders play in shaping safety culture through their actions and visible commitment. He shares how employee engagement and ownership grow from an emotional connection to safety, supported by clear processes and expectations. Brian reinforces a powerful message: production means little if people are getting hurt along the way. From learning from incidents and managing production pressures to celebrating successes and moving beyond blame and compliance, Brian highlights how trust and vulnerability create the foundation for meaningful safety improvements. He also explores how technology can be leveraged as a tool for coaching and learning to strengthen safety culture in high-hazard industries. Tune in to discover how leaders can build trust, strengthen employee ownership, and create a culture where safety, quality, and productivity can coexist. Learn how to turn safety into a true business advantage and make safety happen across your organization! About the Guest: Brian Fielkow is a business leader, board director, and advisor recognized for transforming how organizations manage safety, risk, and performance. He leads a national team that helps thousands of companies strengthen culture, improve safety outcomes, and drive profitable growth across high-consequence industries. A sought-after international speaker, he is known for translating safety leadership into practical business strategy. For more information: https://brianfielkow.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We are excited to welcome Guy Onley, founder of The Onsite Coach, for a lively and informative conversation exploring how weightlifting principles can be applied to workplace safety to help people lift smarter, move safer, recover better, and ultimately stay safer at work. Drawing on his extensive gym coaching experience, Guy brings a fresh perspective on how proven weightlifting techniques can support safer lifting and better movement while helping to reduce the risk of workplace injuries. Guy shares exclusive insights into his five key cues for safer lifting and highlights the important role of recovery and mobility in injury prevention. He also explores how shifting culture and mindset, combined with ongoing training and reinforcement, can help organizations build safer, more effective, and sustainable lifting practices. Packed with practical tips for safer lifting and movement, post-work recovery, and injury prevention, this episode offers valuable takeaways for anyone looking to improve safety in physically demanding and safety-critical environments. Don’t miss this energetic and engaging conversation on applying weightlifting lessons to create safer, healthier, and more sustainable workplaces! About the Guest: Guy Onley is the founder of The Onsite Coach, a manual handling and injury prevention business working with mining, construction, and manufacturing crews nationwide. After seven years delivering hands-on training on mine sites, Guy built his own methodology from the ground up. Grounded in weightlifting biomechanics and real trade experience rather than the generic "bend your knees" advice that passes for manual handling training across the industry. Through The Onsite Coach, he helps HSE teams and mine managers build practical injury prevention into the culture of a site, allowing workers to enjoy a better retirement - Un Broken. For more information: https://www.theonsitecoach.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Join us for another insightful episode with returning guest Dr. Lianne Lefsrud, a seasoned risk management expert and Risk, Innovation & Sustainability Chair (RISC) in the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Alberta. Following her previous episode on “Safety Through Design,” Dr. Lefsrud dives deeper into a systems approach to risk management, highlighting the importance of building safety into the system and recognizing how effective risk management can create capacity, strengthen resilience, enhance productivity, and contribute to operational excellence across your organization. Dr. Lefsrud explores systems thinking and why viewing risk through a broader, more holistic organizational lens can help leaders better understand the conditions and interactions that influence safety and performance, enabling more informed decision-making. She emphasizes the importance of moving beyond a reactive mindset and integrating risk management into everyday operations and culture, offering practical insights on recognizing critical connections across the system, empowering employees, and fostering continuous learning. Tune in to explore how an effective systems approach to risk management can strengthen safety while driving productivity, efficiency, quality, learning, and innovation within your organization. Join us! About the Guest: Dr. Lianne Lefsrud, PEng (CEO), is the Risk, Innovation & Sustainability Chair (RISC) at the Faculty of Engineering, University of Alberta, where she leads interdisciplinary research and teaching in risk management. She has analyzed decades of incident data in diverse, high-hazard industries like hydrogen, mining, construction, railroading, and bioengineering. With a PhD in Strategic Management and Organization, and over 25 years of experience in operations, regulatory affairs, and strategy advising to governments and senior leaders, she brings a unique systems-level approach to risk management. For more information: https://insightrisksystems.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What can we learn from servant leadership in safety? “Servant leadership has such great breadth and depth in terms of establishing a great philosophical and applied foundation for greater learning and performance in safety.” In this energetic and engaging episode, we welcome David Sarkus, Chief Servant Leader and Founder of David Sarkus International Inc., who explores what servant leadership truly means in the context of safety and how it can transform safety culture by building a strong sense of community in the workplace. David introduces the Five Dimensions of Community and shares how safety leaders can foster greater belonging, trust, and connection through caring, listening, and meaningful relationships, creating an environment where people feel valued, heard, supported, and committed to protecting one another. He also explores the concept of the “risk ceiling,” revealing why organizations can plateau in their safety journey and the profound impact this can have on long-term safety success. Don’t miss this episode filled with actionable strategies to implement servant leadership to strengthen community, build trust, and enhance safety performance across your organization. Tune in now! About the Guest: David J. Sarkus, MS, CSP, is the Chief Servant Leader and Founder of David Sarkus International Inc., a leading health and safety management consulting and training firm. David is a motivational safety speaker who delivers keynotes, training, and consulting in various industries. With more than 30 years of experience, he has successfully applied strategies and tactics across a wide range of work environments to achieve measurable and sustainable improvements in safety performance. He has proven that these results can be scalable and sustainable. David holds master’s degrees in Safety Management and Organizational Psychology and has been recognized by ISHN as one of the “Top 50 Leaders” in the field. He is also the author of five books and more than 100 evidence-based articles and works with some of the world’s leading organizations to advance sustainable excellence in safety. For more Information: https://davidsarkus.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this compelling episode, Dr Mark Taylor, a leading industrial psychologist and founder of Behavico Ltd, joins us to explore the board’s role in safety leadership and how proactive risk management can help transform safety culture into a strategic organizational advantage. Dr Taylor explains the complex relationship between safety culture, human behavior, and the systemic conditions that shape safety outcomes. He discusses the factors that contribute to incidents and how organizations can move beyond reactive approaches to recognize and act on early warning signs before conditions escalate into serious events. He also highlights the dangers of over-relying on certain lagging indicators and shares valuable insights on governance, leadership, and effective risk management to help build safer organizations and strengthen safety performance. This episode is packed with solid research, real-world examples, and practical strategies, offering a thought-provoking perspective on how boards and executives can strengthen safety culture and build a more proactive and resilient organization. Don’t miss it! About the Guest: Dr Mark Taylor is a leading practitioner in industrial psychology and founder of Behavico Ltd, a specialist boutique consultancy focused on safety, human factors, and organisational resilience in high-hazard industries. He has held executive leadership roles, advised boards and executive teams, and helped transform safety performance across numerous organisations. He contributed to crowd safety for the London Olympic Games and serves as a Board member of the Tripod Foundation, supporting the advancement of incident investigation and organisational learning to help organisations prevent major accidents. For more Information: https://behavico.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Don’t miss the latest episode of The Safety Guru! Join us as Kylie Long, a seasoned expert in workplace health and safety, explores the critical role of managing psychosocial risks to build safer workplaces. She provides a practical guide for leaders to better understand psychosocial risks, their business impacts, and how they can be effectively managed across organizations. Kylie explores the psychosocial risks that can impact workers’ mental health, including the importance of identifying and addressing aspects of work design and management that may cause harm. She also dives into the significant financial and cultural impacts psychosocial risks and injuries can have on organizations, from burnout, high turnover, and absenteeism to broader impacts on workplace culture and performance. Learn practical strategies for overcoming leadership challenges, managing psychosocial risks, and creating sustainable improvements. Tune in for valuable takeaways on strengthening psychosocial safety in your organization, building safer, more supportive workplaces, and enhancing overall performance and well-being. Listen now! About the Guest: Kylie Long is passionate about creating safe, healthy, and thriving workplaces where people feel valued, supported, and empowered to perform at their best. As the Founder of Support & Safety Solutions, Kylie brings over 20 years of experience in work health and safety, psychosocial risk management, and workplace wellbeing across industries including resources, mining, construction, healthcare, rail, manufacturing, education, and government. Her career began as a Registered Nurse, where she saw firsthand how health, leadership, and culture shape safety outcomes. That experience now underpins her consulting approach, helping organizations go beyond compliance to build workplaces where people genuinely feel safe, respected, and engaged. Kylie is known for her calm, strategic, and people-centered approach, as well as her ability to translate complex work health, safety, and wellbeing requirements into clear, actionable steps that make sense in real workplaces. For more Information: www.supportsafetysolutions.com.au Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this week’s episode of The Safety Guru, we’re joined by Dr. Era Poddar, who shares her extensive expertise in ergonomics and human factors to explore what these principles are, why they matter, and how organizations can proactively integrate them into workplace design to transform safety outcomes, boost productivity, and build safer, smarter workplaces. She discusses the wide-ranging benefits of integrating these principles, including better decision-making, reduced cognitive load for employees, fewer errors, a lower risk of serious injuries and fatalities, and measurable returns on investment (ROI) through improvements in quality, productivity, and overall safety performance. This insightful discussion also highlights how leaders can champion ergonomic improvements, leverage emerging technologies that are reshaping workplace design, and foster a culture of continuous learning and improvement. Tune in to discover how ergonomics and human factors work together to build safer, healthier, and more productive organizations. Don’t miss this episode! About the Guest: Dr. Era Poddar is a Canadian Certified Professional Ergonomist (CCPE) and safety specialist, with broad international experience across North America, the Middle East, and Asia. With more than twenty years in consulting, coaching, training, and research related to ergonomics, human factors, workplace accommodation, and safety, Dr. Poddar helps organizations meet goals in health and safety, ergonomics, and MSI control. Her expertise covers industry, academia, corporate, and government sectors. She holds a Ph.D. in Industrial Ergonomics, a NEBOSH International General Certificate in Occupational Health and Safety (practical applications), and a mini-executive MBA from the Sauder School of Business, UBC. For more Information: https://ergoera.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Join us for a compelling conversation with Dr. Nicholas Weatherly, CEO of Deliberate Coaching International and a seasoned expert in applying the science of behavior to safety, leadership, and performance systems. In this episode, Dr. Nic explores the power of coaching, how to bring it into your organization, and how leaders can use it to drive meaningful and lasting change. He explains how small, consistent coaching interactions build safer habits, strengthen teams, and create a culture where people are set up for success. Discover why the safer path is the best path, how intentional coaching conversations drive meaningful behavior change, and why habit formation is essential to improving safety culture across an organization. Dr. Nic also shares practical coaching strategies leaders can apply immediately, including the power of asking open-ended questions, having brief but purposeful conversations, and consistently reinforcing positive behaviors. Tune in to discover how intentional, consistent coaching can transform safety culture one behavior at a time! About the Guest: Dr. Nicholas Weatherly is an internationally recognized leader in the application of the science of behavior to safety, leadership, and performance systems and serves as CEO of Deliberate Coaching International, where he and his team use behavioral strategies to drive culture change and improve organizational and safety performance. With over 25 years of experience in behavior-analytic safety, leadership, and coaching, he has led and advised organizations across industries worldwide, including manufacturing, energy, construction, and healthcare, helping transform safety cultures, align performance systems, and improve critical business and safety outcomes. For more Information: http://www.deliberatecoaching.org/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Join us for this thought-provoking conversation with Craig Clapper, a seasoned systems engineer and founder of Reliability 4 Life, as he explores what it truly means to make systems more resilient. Craig explains why human error is an inevitable part of complex work and shares how organizations can strengthen situational awareness by helping people recognize where to focus their attention, identify the signals that matter most, and apply critical thinking in complex and safety-critical environments. Drawing on real-world examples from a variety of industries, including healthcare, Craig shares practical strategies for managing risk, improving recovery processes, and building organizational resilience. He also highlights the importance of fostering a culture of continuous learning to create safer, stronger workplaces. Don’t miss this insightful conversation and dive into how to build robust systems and elevate situational awareness and critical thinking within your organization. Tune in to learn more! About the Guest: Craig Clapper is a founder and the chief knowledge officer of Reliability 4 Life, a consulting group specializing in improving human performance in complex systems using evidence-based methods derived from high-reliability organizations. Craig has more than 30 years of experience improving reliability in power, transportation, manufacturing, and healthcare. His expertise includes failure analysis, event analysis, systems thinking, system reliability improvement, and safety culture transformation.  For more Information: https://reliability4life.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week on The Safety Guru, we welcome back returning guest Cristian Sylvestre as he takes a deeper dive into the neuroscience of safety and shares how applying neuroscience insights to daily operations can help build safer, more mindful workplaces. He introduces the concept of the second line of defense and explains why building attentive habits and learning to better manage subconscious brain modes are essential for preventing incidents. Drawing on cutting-edge research and real-world examples, he explains four powerful ways to reduce incidents: eliminating hazards, improving the effectiveness of controls, strengthening conscious control, and building subconscious skills and habits. He unpacks the dangers of complacency, drift, fatigue, multitasking, and production pressure, and how these hidden factors can quietly increase risk. Tune in for practical insights and evidence-based strategies to help organizations strengthen attention, improve risk awareness, and build attentive safety habits that enable individuals and teams to make better decisions, reduce risk, and keep workplaces safe. Join us for this thought-provoking discussion you won't want to miss! About the Guest: Cristian Sylvestre is a chemical engineer with a Master's degree. He started his 25-year safety career in heavy processing, where he learned to think holistically about safety. His research shows that inattention is involved in 95% of incidents of all severities. His work uses the discoveries of neuroscience to understand what really drives behaviour, how to minimise inattention, reduce errors, and prevent incidents everywhere, not just at work. He authored “Third Generation Safety: The Missing Piece” to help organisations understand the main causes of inattention and what can be done to help their people fail less. For more information: https://www.habitsafe.com.au/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We are excited to welcome Dr. Lianne Lefsrud, seasoned expert in risk management and Risk, Innovation & Sustainability Chair (RISC) in the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Alberta, to The Safety Guru for a fascinating and in-depth discussion on safety through design. Backed by solid research and related industry examples, Dr. Lianne explores a proactive approach to safety by sharing the inverted triangle framework, which applies the hierarchy of controls principle to identify the most and least effective safety measures and create multiple layers of prevention through design. From the normalization of ignoring alarms to the gap between training and true competency, this conversation highlights the critical shifts organizations can make to move from reactive to proactive safety. Throughout the discussion, Dr. Lianne also discusses the importance of thoughtful facility design, how emerging technologies are transforming the way we manage risk, and shares practical steps organizations can take to prioritize improvements that mitigate the greatest risks. Tune in for valuable insights and practical strategies on safety through design, proactive hazard elimination, and embedding safety into organizational system design and operations. Don’t miss this episode! About the Guest: Dr. Lianne Lefsrud, PEng, (CEO) is the Risk, Innovation & Sustainability Chair (RISC) at the Faculty of Engineering, University of Alberta, where she leads interdisciplinary research and teaching in risk management. She has analyzed decades of incident data in diverse, high-hazard industries like hydrogen, mining, construction, railroading, and bioengineering. With a PhD in Strategic Management and Organization, and over 25 years of experience in operations, regulatory affairs, and strategy advising to governments and senior leaders, she brings a unique systems-level approach to risk management. For more information: https://insightrisksystems.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Join us on The Safety Guru for an informative conversation with Paul Davison, former Royal Air Force helicopter pilot and Founder & CEO of PPWD, as he shares what it truly means to drive safety transformation through human-centered design. In this episode, Paul explores the essence of coaching, raising awareness, and improving decision-making at every level. He discusses how psychologically safe learning environments empower people to take ownership of their own safety and that of those around them. He emphasizes that the true value within any company is its people and shares how connection and vulnerability through human-centered design can foster meaningful organizational change and strengthen safety culture. Through real-world examples, including rail and winter sports, Paul brings to life the powerful shift from “doing things to people” to “doing things with people,” unlocking trust, ownership, and meaningful engagement. Packed with practical insights and tangible takeaways, this episode is a must-listen for leaders looking to strengthen engagement, elevate safety culture, and drive lasting safety transformation within their organization. Tune in now! About the Guest: Paul Davison is the CEO and founder of PPWD. Across a diverse range of safety-critical industries through to elite sport, he advocates a compassionate approach to safety. The PPWD team creates environments that accommodate humans for being human and enable cultures of learning, adaptation, and sustainable high performance.  For more information: www.ppwd.co.uk Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In recognition of Mental Health Awareness Month, we’re proud to feature an inspiring conversation with our returning guest, Dr. Keita Franklin. Drawing from fascinating research in her latest book, The Humanity Cure: How Small Acts Can Change the World, we explore how small, intentional acts of care can make a significant impact on workplace safety and mental health. Dr. Franklin discusses how being present, showing compassion, and fostering a sense of belonging can create meaningful change across entire organizations and communities. She also highlights the critical link between mental health and safety, emphasizing how frontline leaders who demonstrate active care, along with peers who consistently support one another, help build psychologically safe workplaces where people feel valued, engaged, and committed to working safely. We also explore the transformative ripple effect of small acts of kindness and how helping others fuels a cycle of connection, resilience, and forward momentum. Don’t miss this impactful episode as we take a deep dive into how small acts can make a big impact in elevating both safety and mental health. About the Guest: Dr. Keita Franklin is a nationally recognized public health leader and senior executive with more than 25 years of experience advancing large-scale systems change across federal and healthcare sectors. Her work has focused on suicide prevention, behavioral health, substance use, and the integration of public health approaches within complex organizations. A recognized expert in suicide prevention and public health leadership, she serves as Co-Director of the Columbia Lighthouse Project, where she leads national and international efforts to support the implementation and dissemination of evidence-based suicide risk screening protocols across healthcare, community, and organizational settings. Dr. Franklin holds a PhD in Social Work from Virginia Commonwealth University. For more information: https://thehumanitycure.org/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this powerful episode of The Safety Guru, Lee Ellis from Proud2BSafe shares his firsthand experience of a catastrophic offshore explosion in 2020, involving a commercial fishing vessel off the UK coast, and the critical leadership and safety lessons that emerged from it. Through vivid storytelling, he takes us into the heart of the crisis, revealing what it truly means to prepare for the unexpected. Drawing from this life-altering event, Lee explores essential lessons in safety leadership under pressure, risk identification and mitigation, and the true value of recurring training—not just completing it but truly trusting it when it matters most. He highlights the importance of prioritizing mental health support, fostering a strong debrief culture, and providing ongoing support in the aftermath of trauma. Lee also emphasizes that exchanging experiences and knowledge across teams, along with adopting a growth mindset, is vital to strengthening safety culture and ensuring teams are truly prepared for unexpected situations. Tune in now to experience his powerful story and discover these impactful lessons, as he challenges us to move beyond routine safety practices and actively prepare for the unexpected. About the Guest: Lee Ellis is a seasoned maritime professional and survivor of one of the UK’s most serious commercial fishing incidents in recent years. On 15 December 2020, he was directly involved in the emergency response to a catastrophic offshore explosion that severely damaged a vessel and injured multiple crew members. His message goes far beyond the incident—highlighting the value of training, leadership under pressure, and the critical importance of mental health support in the aftermath of trauma. He challenges teams to move beyond routine safety and truly prepare for the unexpected. For more information: https://www.p2bs.org/safety-speakers/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We’re thrilled to welcome back Dr. E. Kevin Kelloway, Professor of Psychology and Management at Saint Mary’s University, to The Safety Guru for a powerful conversation on the critical role of work readiness and the simple yet impactful REDI framework for creating safer workplaces. In this insightful episode, Dr. Kelloway introduces the REDI model, a practical, human-centered approach to assessing work readiness through four key factors: Rested, Emotionally Calm, Distracted, and Impatient/In a hurry. When people are not fully ready for the task at hand, the risk of errors and incidents can rise, especially in high-risk environments. Dr. Kelloway explains how each element of the model influences safety outcomes and decision-making. Through real-world examples, he shares how leaders and teams can apply this framework in practice to spark meaningful conversations before risk is introduced. Tune in to explore how organizations can use this straightforward framework to strengthen safety culture, increase awareness, and create safer workplaces by ensuring every team member is truly REDI for the work ahead. About the Guest: Dr. E. Kevin Kelloway is the University Research Professor and Professor of Psychology and Management at Saint Mary’s University, Halifax, Nova Scotia. A prolific researcher, he has authored over 200 articles and chapters and has authored/edited 15 books to date. His research focuses on occupational health psychology and, in particular, how leaders affect health and safety within organizations. Kevin has been elected a Fellow of the Association for Psychological Science, the Canadian Psychological Association, the International Association for Applied Psychology, and the Society for Industrial/Organizational Psychology. In 2016, he served as President of the Canadian Psychological Association. Kevin works with both private and public sector clients on issues related to leadership, safety, and HR management, and is a popular speaker at conferences and corporate events. For more information: https://www.smu.ca/psychology/faculty-and-staff.html Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices