Fatality Free Future® Podcast

In this episode of the Fatality Free Future podcast, John Barclay and Holly Ferguson speak with RiskTalk founders Stuart Farquharson and David Press about how their voice-led app is transforming risk assessments and safety conversations. They unpack why traditional paperwork-driven JHAs and hazard reports often miss real work-as-done, how voice-based tools improve engagement and inclusivity (inclu...

In this episode of Fatality Free Future, John Barclay and Holly Ferguson talk with Alan Stevenson about why workers are still dying at work despite “high compliance” numbers. Using data from Safe Work Australia, they unpack the most common fatal risks such as driving, working at heights, falling objects, and moving equipment, and why workers over 45 are over‑represented. They then explore how trad...

In this episode of the Fatality Free Future podcast, John Barclay and Holly Ferguson talk with Alan Stevenson about why even experienced supervisors only identify around 45% of workplace hazards. They explore a practical hazard typology (obvious, trivial, emerging, hidden), clear distinctions between hazards, risks and controls, and how leaders can disrupt routine and complacency to strengthen rea...

In this episode of the Fatality Free Future podcast, John Barclay and Holly Ferguson speak with Mark Armstrong, founder of the Fit4Work screening tool and a specialist in physical performance and ergonomics. Mark shares how a client’s frustration with traditional pre-employment medicals being too costly, too slow, and too complex led him to completely rethink recruitment health screening. They exp...

Survivor and safety speaker Theo Venter joins John Barclay and Holly Ferguson to share how a routine job and a split-second decision led to a 22,000-volt electrocution that should have killed him. Theo talks through the moment he ignored his gut feeling, the devastating aftermath for him and his family, and the long road of surgeries, recovery, and mental health battles. He explains how this exper...

In this Season 3 opener of the Fatality Free Future podcast, Holly Ferguson speaks with John Barclay as he revisits the workplace fatality that reshaped his life and career. John shares his experience as a young emergency responder, the impact of losing a colleague in a “routine” job, and what the investigation revealed about overconfidence, normalised deviation, and organisational behaviours. The...

In the Season 2 finale, we explore the growing noise in the safety space as different principles such as HOP, New View, Safety Differently, and many others continue to emerge. This conversation unpacks the confusion that can arise when multiple principles coexist and examines the benefits and challenges each one brings. We look at the underlying ideas that connect these principles and ask the key...

In this episode of the Fatality Free Future® podcast, we unpack how TRIFR is calculated, why decades of research show it has little relationship to fatalities, and how bonus structures and reporting rules can unintentionally drive under‑reporting and data manipulation. With Alan Stevenson joining us again, we explore how organisations can build safety dashboards that reflect real SIF exposure and...

Ken Wilber’s Integral Model is used to describe “the theory of everything.” In this episode of The Fatality Free Future® podcast we unpack how this model can be used as a practical safety tool.  John Barclay uses his real field examples to reveal how behaviour, systems, culture and beliefs interact. Using this tool leaders will learn how to move beyond checklist safety to intentionally shaping an...

The Human Resources and safety worlds have a tendency to steer well clear of each other. Renowned HR professional James Cooper is working to change that. He believes strongly in the importance of HR and Safety departments collaborating toward a shared outcome and common purpose: improving and protecting the wellbeing of people at work. With new safety legislation now implemented Australia-wide and...

When we look at performance in safety, leadership consistently emerges as a key element for success — relying on systems alone is not enough. This success comes from a set of core leadership capabilities, which we explore in this week’s episode of the Fatality Free Future podcast. Our guest, Jeff Dean, has delivered safety leadership transformation programs across the globe and has identified seve...

Incident investigations are often conducted under time pressure, removed from the people involved, and influenced by the unconscious biases of the investigator. James Sullivan is a facilitator and coach who delivers HSE investigation training to organisations, guiding safety professionals to keep investigations simple by listening to the lived experiences of those on the ground and prioritising ca...

Prestarts, they’re an essential meeting held daily before shifts in high risk work but how often are these meeting engaging and actually achieving what they set out to achieve? Alan Stevenson has been in plenty of prestarts over the years, he now coaches leaders on how to make their prestarts efficient and impactful. This extends beyond the prestart and how leaders can touch base with their teams...

It’s a model that anyone in the safety space would know, the Hierarchy of Controls. In this episode we look at how the HoC model helps us understand critical controls and how they’re working within the critical risk management framework. How can we embed HoC thinking into culture and what role does consultation play in ensuring controls are practical and actually followed?  To learn more and to ac...

We’re back with Ellen Downs to discuss her involvement in a research study that looked at the causes and correlations of serious injury and fatality events and how these differ from events resulting in lesser injuries. In this episode she discusses the findings of the research and what organisations are doing differently now versus before the study and where potential gaps still remain. To learn m...

On this podcast you often hear us discussing research in the space of serious injuries and fatalities. We go through what the research found and how the outcomes reflect our workplaces. But we were curious about what it would be like to conduct the research, so we asked Ellen Downs to join us to give us a peek behind the data. She was involved in research study in 2015, which brought together seve...

Complex and complicated, they’re words that are used interchangeably but it’s important we get that distinction right; especially in relation to serious injuries and fatalities. In this episode of the Fatality Free Future podcast safety leader and consultant Alan Stevenson breaks down the difference between these two terms. He explores the complexity within SIF and discusses how leaders can embrac...

Welcome back to the Fatality Free Future podcast for season 2. Our mission with this podcast is to increase the conversation around serious injuries and fatalities in the workplace. In this episode we’re looking at leadership routines and how we can integrate SIF conversations and awareness into our daily practices. Hosts John Barclay and Holly Ferguson discuss ways to engage with frontline worker...

In the final episode of Fatality Free Future , John Barclay and Holly Ferguson unpack the role of behavioural science in preventing workplace fatalities. They explore the environmental and systemic factors influencing behaviour, clarify common misconceptions, and introduce models like Decisions–Actions–Outcomes and the Exposure Quadrant to better understand and manage risk. This final episode urge...

John Barclay and Holly Ferguson are joined by safety innovation consultant Dorit Ozchakir to explore how storytelling can drive a fatality-free future. Drawing on her background in business psychology, Dorit shares insights from research and explains why stories, when vivid, relatable, and emotionally resonant, stick.  The trio discuss practical techniques like using rhetorical questions, visual a...

In this episode, John Barclay and Holly Ferguson explore the critical role of leadership in shaping a Fatality Free Future®. They unpack how leaders can model and communicate core values, especially around safety and planning, and why two-way communication is essential.  John and Holly also discuss adapting to dynamic risks, encouraging a growth mindset, and the lasting “shadow” leaders cast throu...

Let’s unpack the critical role culture plays in preventing fatalities. In this episode John explores the difference between fixed and growth mindsets and defines culture as “the way we do things around here when no one’s looking.” John challenges the reliability of culture surveys, pointing instead to trust and honest conversations as better indicators of cultural health.  With insights and exampl...

In this episode of the Fatality Free Future® podcast , John Barclay and Holly Ferguson chat with Lean Management expert John Sibbon about the role of governance and measurement in safety. John explains why frontline engagement , collaboration , and bottom-up ideas are key to effective governance, and how accurate data starts with those directly involved in safety events. They also explore the diff...

In this episode of the Fatality Free Future® John Barclay and Holly Ferguson discuss precursors and amplifiers. Precursors are events that precede an incident, often involving high-risk activities and ineffective controls. Amplifiers are changes in context or people that increase the severity of risk.  John emphasises the importance of active risk management, understanding critical controls, and e...

On episode 6 of the FFF podcast John Barclay and Holly Ferguson bring back Alan Stevenson to discuss critical controls. Alan explains the distinction between controls and critical controls using the ICMM's guidelines. He highlights the importance of diverse perspectives in identifying critical controls and shares some of his own examples from the mining and chemical industries.  The team disc...