Safeopedia Podcasts

Last episode was about why AI matters in construction. This one is about what it is actually doing on job sites right now, and what it is not ready to do yet. In episode 3 of Factor of Safety, Scott Cuthbert is joined again by Joe Stevenson, Senior Safety Consultant at Terracon. Joe has spent 22 years in EHS across manufacturing, oil and gas, and construction, working his way up from field safety...

Most organizations say they want learning, not blame. Then an incident happens and the old habits come right back. Dr. Jake Mazulewicz has seen human error from every angle: as a volunteer firefighter, EMT, Army National Guard paratrooper, and Human Performance Lead for 3,600 experts at a major electric utility. He has spent the last 15 years helping technical experts and leaders prevent dangerous...

Construction has a reputation as one of the slowest industries to adopt new technology. AI is starting to change that, though not in the way most vendors will tell you. Scott Cuthbert sits down with Joe Stevenson, Senior Safety Consultant at Terracon, for an honest look at where AI genuinely helps EHS teams in construction and where it falls short. Joe has spent more than 20 years in the field and...

Fines and shutdowns get plenty of attention. But do they actually change how people work? In this episode of Safeonomics, Scott Cuthbert sits down with Mary P Foley, Expert Services Strategy Director at Enhesa, for a conversation about what enforcement really does inside an organization, and what it does not do. Mary has spent close to 30 years in EHS and sustainability, starting as an environment...

Your people say they feel safe to speak up, so why does critical information still go unspoken? Jen Long of The Accountability Lab joins Safeonomics to unpack the gap between knowing it's okay to speak up and being ready to do it in the moment. She introduces psychological readiness, reframes accountability as clarity and "having each other's back" rather than blame, and shares practical conversat...

"Sometimes there is no low hanging fruit and you have to go climb the tree." That is Josh Schroedter, CIH at Terracon, on Episode 01 of Factor of Safety, describing what actually separates the consultants who get called back from the ones who do not. A few things from his 13 years in the field that anyone thinking about consulting should hear: 🔹 You will show up on site, on the day you agreed to,...

Joint Health and Safety Committees exist in every regulated Canadian workplace, yet most haven't changed since 1984. Anna Matheson (https://www.linkedin.com/in/anna-matheson/) and Heather Kahle (https://www.linkedin.com/in/heather-kahle-71b2b613/) argue the most important function of a JHSC isn't reviewing incidents or checking compliance boxes, it's helping the organization learn. They break down...

Jen Ruggerio spent 25 years as a public educator before an unexpected career change brought her into the high-stakes world of live entertainment safety. What she found was a culture that mirrors the classroom more than people realize where psychological safety determines whether workers speak up about hazards or stay quiet to protect their paycheck. Jen talks candidly about day laborers afraid to...

What does a history degree have to do with predicting safety failures? More than you'd think. In this episode, Corey Silverman, Safety Specialist at Highwire, breaks down the emerging discipline of "Safenomics" the intersection of financial health, cybersecurity, and physical risk in contractor management. If you're a VP or Director of Safety trying to earn budget, influence project teams, or get...

What if preventing hearing loss wasn’t just about PPE… but about truly understanding how people experience it? In this episode, we sit down with Jenn Holliday, CIH, to unpack a powerful real-world case study on occupational noise exposure, and how a shift in thinking led to measurable results. Jenn walks us through a scenario many safety professionals know all too well: high noise environments, re...

What if the safety data you’ve been collecting for years suddenly mattered to your CFO, investors, and customers? In this episode of Safeonomics, we’re joined by Mary Foley, Expert Services Strategy Director at Enhesa | Forbes Contributor to unpack a major shift many safety professionals haven’t fully clocked yet: safety is becoming a financial reporting issue, not just a compliance one. As new gl...

In this episode of Safeonomics, I sit down with Shawn Galloway to explore what safety excellence really looks like in today’s complex, unpredictable world. Drawing from his “Think Octopus, Not Tin Man” framework, Shawn challenges traditional, rigid approaches to safety and makes the case for adaptive systems, distributed leadership, and learning that happens where the work actually gets done. We d...

Is your safety program stuck in compliance mode, or is it driving business sustainability? In this episode of Safeonomics, we sit down with Sergio Valencia Krauss, CEO of SVK Consulting and the international bestselling author of "Become an Occupational Health and Safety Excellence Manager." With over two decades of experience transforming EHS departments for global giants like Teva Pharmaceutical...

In the final episode of our special series, The Business of Safety, co-hosts Scott Cuthbert and Dorothy Riviere take you into the next frontier of workplace safety—predictive analysis. Joining us is Dr. Rosemary Bernal-Gomez, a recognized authority on turning safety data into foresight. Building on our earlier discussions of the human element and strategic integration, this episode reveals how org...

Is AI the future of EHS—or just another buzzword? In this episode of Safeonomics, I sit down with Matt Hart, CEO of SOTER, to separate the signal from the noise. Matt shares how his team is using AI to solve real problems in safety, what the most practical use cases are right now, and how small EHS teams can realistically get started—even on a tight budget. We explore the difference between large...

Join hosts Scott Cuthbert and Dorothy Riviere as they discuss the mindset, tools, and influence needed to elevate safety to a true business driver. In this second episode, we build on our conversation with Dr. Maria Silva-Palacios by shifting from the “why” to the “how.” We’re joined by Chris Porter, a proven leader in operational excellence, to explore the real-world strategies and leadership beh...

Join hosts Scott Cuthbert and Dorothy Riviere as they kick off this 3-part series designed to help safety professionals think more strategically, elevate their impact, and align with business goals. 🎙️ In this episode, we sit down with Dr. Maria Silva-Palacios—a seasoned safety leader and educator who’s passionate about reshaping the way safety is perceived in the business world. Maria shares her...

What if everyone on site—operators, accountants and executives alike—described risk the same way? In this follow-up conversation, Scott and Peter explore his third article, The Business Value of a Common Safety Language, revealing how shared definitions of “hazard,” “risk” and “safe” become a force-multiplier for operational excellence. Connecticut Department of Labor Inside the episode Why safety...

In this follow-up episode, Scott chats again with Peter Susca to explore how safety professionals can evolve from compliance enforcers to respected business advisors. If you haven’t listened to part one, we suggest going back, it lays the groundwork for this powerful conversation. This episode unpacks Peter’s second article from his Business Class series in Professional Safety Journal, focusing on...

Ready to flip the traditional “safety silo” on its head? 🎙️ In this episode of Safeonomics, Scott sits down with Peter Susca, MS, CSP, ARM—author of the eye-opening article It’s Always Bigger than Safety and a champion of weaving safety into the very fabric of business operations. Peter makes a compelling case that injury rates are just the tip of the iceberg. We dive into: ✅Reframing the convers...

Unlock unlimited CEUs in the Safeopedia Community and attend exclusive live events, like our community meetups, along with your pass to our annual online safety conference, Safety Connect where you can earn another 2+ CEUs! All for just $197 annually! Join the Movement ➡️ https://members.safeopedia.com Join us for a lively session on the next episode of The Uncertainty of … with Zach Granzow discu...

✅ Join the Safeopedia Community at https://members.safeopedia.com Navigating EHS in a Shifting Regulatory Landscape with Chip Duffie In this episode of Safeonomics, we sit down with Chip Duffie to explore how political shifts impact environmental, health, and safety (EHS) regulations—and what that means for safety professionals. With the change of administration, EHS enforcement may face major ch...

✅ Join the Safeopedia Community at https://members.safeopedia.com In this episode of Hard Hats & Heart, we sit down with Andrea Hine, an accomplished safety and operations leader at Suncor, to explore how human-centered design is transforming the way new technologies are implemented in industrial settings. As Connected Worker Product Owner, Andrea plays a key role in ensuring that innovation...

Unlock unlimited CEUs in the Safeopedia Community and attend exclusive live events, like our community meetups, along with your pass to our annual online safety conference, Safety Connect where you can earn another 2+ CEUs! All for just $197 annually! Join the Movement ➡️ https://members.safeopedia.com The Uncertainty of show for January 2025 will be on Safety in Law Enforcement. Instead of a live...

✅ Join the Safeopedia Community at https://members.safeopedia.com How does having a more community-connected safety professional bring more value to their organization? Hold onto your socks, folks, because we dive deep into the value of networking with one of the best in the industry: Tim Page-Bottorff! Whether you’re an easy-going person who loves to connect with people or someone that takes tim...