Advertise on podcast: SafeTalk with SafeStart

Send us Fan Mail Deer season has a way of making smart people move too fast. The alarm goes off in the dark, you’re running on too little sleep, the truck heads out before dawn, and suddenly you’re climbing a stand in bulky boots doing something you’ve done a hundred times. That’s exactly why we focus on hunting safety through human factors, not lectures. We want you to spot the moment complacency, rushing, or fatigue starts steering the wheel. Danny Smith-Host Kevin Nix-Guest https://outlook.cloud.microsoft/mail/inbox/id/AAQkADNlOTQ1NmNhLWJhMWItNDQ1OS05MzVjLTFmYjMzNTNhNmQ5MAAQAMOKZjsrUd9Fp0Prn06qtoQ%3D/sxs/AAkALgAAAAAAHYQDEapmEc2byACqAC%2FEWg0AZdDK8h9n5EG681XHDdYihgAAgnfz%2BwAAARIAEABJgucTwzmTRr58RoFvfYQx?culture=en-us&country=us

Send us Fan Mail Skeptical about safety training because it never seems to stick? This conversation might change your mind. Danny Smith welcomes new SafeStart consultant Sammy Rutledge, a seasoned environmental health and safety leader with deep experience in manufacturing, production management, incident investigation, and regulatory compliance, and asks a simple question: what makes SafeStart different in the real world? Danny Smith: Host Sammey Rutledge: Guest

Send us Fan Mail The most dangerous moment is often right after you think you’ve won. We talk with Everest climber, entrepreneur, and 2026 SafeStart Forum keynote speaker Jamie Clarke about what risk management really looks like when your body is tired, your emotions are loud, and the margin for error is thin. Danny Smith-Host Jaime Clarke-Guest

Send us Fan Mail Danny sits down with Certified Safety Professional and one of SafeStart's new consultants, David Sipe, to talk about how human factors shape the everyday moments where injuries happen. Hear how SafeStart changed the safety culture at his site, why safety skills matter beyond the workplace, and how simple techniques can help prevent errors before they lead to bigger outcomes. Host: Danny Smith Guest: David Sipe

Send us Fan Mail Summer may be winding down, but the warm weather isn’t necessarily going anywhere just yet, and we could still have some extremely hot days ahead. Heatstroke can be deadly and it happens when your body temperature rises rapidly. Knowing the warning signs and symptoms of heat-related illnesses is the first step to preventing them. Let Tim enlighten you on how to stay cool in the hazardous energy that comes along with warming temperatures. Host: Tim Page-Bottorff  https://www.bcm.edu/news/know-the-signs-heat-exhaustion-can-quickly-turn-to-heat-stroke https://www.osha.gov/sites/default/files/publications/3431_wksiteposter_en.pdf

Send us Fan Mail Danny sits down with one of our new safety consultants, Rick Ricker, to talk about why SafeStart clicked for him after decades in high-risk industries and behavior-based safety work. Dig into human factors, telltale signs, and the real-life moments where a small reset can prevent a big outcome. Host: Danny Smith Guest: Rick Ricker

Send us Fan Mail S15Ep12 The Map is Not the Terrain: Charting a New Course for Leadership Jamie Clarke is a world-renowned adventure leader, elite climber and performance coach who has inspired audiences as a sought-after speaker for more than 25 years. That’s exactly why we selected him as the opening keynote speaker for the 2026 SafeStart Forum. While some may see Jamie as a risk-taker, his perspective is rooted in risk management—understanding how to adapt when the plan no longer matches the reality in front of you. In his keynote, he’ll share powerful lessons on leadership, decision-making and resilience, drawn from extraordinary experiences in some of the world’s toughest environments. Expect compelling stories, practical insights, high energy and plenty of humor. Get a quick preview of what’s to come in this conversation between Danny and Jamie. Host: Danny Smith Guest: Jamie Clarke

Send us Fan Mail Now that summer is here, it's time to take our SafeStart skills on the water. Join Captain Danny and Captain Keith as they embark on ensuring safe passage this boating season. Host: Danny Smith Guest: Keith Carpenter Resources: http://www.americasboatingcourse.com/lawsbystate.cfm https://canadaboatsafety.com/?msclkid=af56ab55deaf12e22c18cd0529d01f72 https://www.boaterexam.com/safety/safety-common-hand-signals/

Send us Fan Mail Danny sits down with one of our newest consultants, Lauren, to explore how a human factors approach—brought to life through SafeStart—has become a valuable addition to her toolkit, helping her better manage her complicated relationship with focusing and staying on track in the face of everyday challenges like "adulting". Tune in for this light-hearted chat and come away with a candid look at SafeStart. Host: Danny Smith Guest: Lauren Lamontagne

Send us Fan Mail Workers' Memorial Day focuses on workers who lost their lives on the job. A lot of organizations use this day to raise awareness about safety issues, but that doesn't always reach the workers. Impacting workers can do a whole lot more. Join Tim and Abby as they break it all down. Host: Tim Page-Bottorff Guest: Abby Ferri

Send us Fan Mail You can spend months rolling out safety leadership training and still watch the impact fade if leaders do not have easy tools to reinforce it. That is why we put the spotlight on a resource many clients overlook: the SafeLead Client Portal. Tim Page-Bottorff sits down with SafeStart consultant Jeremy Hyde for a practical walkthrough of what is inside, how to get access, and how to use it to make SafeLead stick in the real world. Host: Tim Page-Bottorff Guest: Jeremy Hyde https://safestart.com/file/idclip/

Send us Fan Mail What if the biggest safety lever isn’t another rule, but a simple shift in how we manage our own states?  We sat down with one of our newest consultants, Tom Raught (a certified safety professional whose 40-year career spans hazardous waste, steel, chemical, telecom, oil and gas, and manufacturing), to unpack how safety transformed from equipment and checklists to human factors, practical habits, and real behavior change that lasts. Host: Danny Smith Guest: Tom Raught

Send us Fan Mail Habits, not policies or procedures, decide what happens in the split second before an incident. We sit down with Cristian, a safety leader and author from Sydney, to unpack why the brain’s automatic systems drive most on-the-job behavior and how to reshape those systems toward safer defaults. Instead of shaming “bad choices,” we trace how repetition wires neural pathways that turn yesterday’s lucky shortcuts into today’s risky routines. Host: Tim Page-Bottorff Guest: Cristian Sylvestre

Send us Fan Mail Want more time with your people and less time buried in reports? In this episode, Danny sits down with Eduardo Lan to unpack how generative AI can shoulder the data grind so that safety leaders can focus on human things like culture and coaching. Understand AI in plain language—separating hype from practical value—and learn how you can turn a generic assistant into a sharp partner for safety performance. Host: Danny Smith Guest: Eduardo Lan

Send us Fan Mail The moments that change safety aren’t always dramatic. Sometimes it’s a quiet nudge, a shared phrase, or a supervisor who chooses to coach instead of blame. We dig into the power of intervention—how speaking up with care, using clear safety language, and building psychological safety can stop injuries before they start and keep quality on track. Hosts: Danny Smith Tim Page-Bottorff