The Occupational Safety Leadership Podcast

In today's episode, Dr. Ayers discusses performing a risk assessment and having to decide whether to wear a helmet when swimming with horses.

In today's episode, we discuss performing risk assessments while on vacation.  We are always performing risk assessments.

Dr. Ayers calls out a growing problem in many organizations: “Safety Initiative of the Month” overload. When leaders constantly roll out new programs, campaigns, and slogans, employees stop listening — and the initiatives lose their impact. The episode urges safety professionals to stop chasing magic bullets and instead focus on meaningful engagement and consistency.   🧠 Key Themes 1. Employees A...

In this episode, Dr. Ayers challenges safety professionals to understand their organization’s true risk appetite — not the one written in policies, but the one revealed through decisions, priorities, and mixed messages from leadership. He asks a pointed question: “Do you really know how much risk your company is willing to accept?”   🧠 Key Themes 1. Mixed Messages Create Confusion Dr. Ayers notes...

Dr. Ayers uses a real‑life moment — fixing his own car — to highlight how easily we overlook ergonomic risks when we’re focused on getting a job done. The episode reminds safety professionals that workers often push through discomfort, awkward postures, or poor setups without realizing the long‑term consequences.   🧠 Key Themes 1. Ergonomic Risks Hide in Everyday Tasks While working on his car, D...

Dr. Ayers delivers a short, pointed reminder that your time is one of your most valuable safety tools. Safety professionals are constantly pulled in different directions, but if you don’t guard your schedule, you lose the ability to focus on the mission: reducing and eliminating hazards.   🧠 Key Themes 1. Safety Pros Struggle to Say “No” Dr. Ayers acknowledges that safety leaders often feel oblig...

In this reflective episode, Dr. Ayers speaks to his younger self — and to every safety professional who feels like their career is just “happening” to them. His message is simple and direct: Don’t let fate plan your future. Take charge of it. He challenges listeners to be intentional, ask uncomfortable questions, and actively shape the safety career they want.   🧠 Key Themes 1. Don’t Drift — Deci...

In this interview episode, Dr. Ayers sits down with Wylie Davidson, a well‑known motivational safety speaker, to explore what it truly means to leave a safety legacy. The conversation focuses on how safety leaders can influence people long after a meeting, a training session, or even a career ends. Wylie’s message is simple and powerful: Your legacy is built through the daily choices you make and...

Dr. Ayers delivers a blunt reminder: there are no shortcuts in safety. No magic pill, no perfect risk assessment, no clever hack replaces the real work of reducing and eliminating hazards. Sources:   🧠 Key Themes 1. Safety Isn’t About Tricks or Gimmicks The episode pushes back against the idea that a new tool, form, or trendy concept will suddenly fix safety performance. Real improvement comes fr...

Dr. Ayers emphasizes that a new hire safety walkaround should be a core part of every orientation. Classroom training is useful, but nothing replaces showing employees the actual work areas, hazards, and controls they’ll interact with on day one. Sources:   🧠 Key Themes 1. Classroom Training Isn’t Enough The episode stresses that slides and lectures can’t fully prepare new employees. A walkaround...

Dr. Ayers focuses on one of the most neglected parts of incident investigations: following up on corrective actions. Finding the root cause is only half the job — the real impact comes from ensuring corrective actions are completed, verified, and effective.   🧠 Key Themes 1. Investigations Don’t End With the Report Many organizations treat the investigation report as the finish line. Dr. Ayers st...

This episode features Jean Ndana, who joins Dr. Ayers to explore how safety leaders can transform new hire safety orientation from a dull, check‑the‑box requirement into an engaging, memorable, and motivating experience. Ndana argues that when orientation is exciting and human‑centered, new employees connect with safety on day one — and that connection shapes their long‑term behavior.   🧠 Key The...

Dr. Ayers continues his series on incident investigations by focusing on how to determine causal factors — the deeper reasons an incident occurred. He emphasizes that effective investigations require peeling back layers, asking better questions, and refusing to stop at surface‑level explanations.   🧠 Key Themes 1. Peel Back the Onion The episode stresses that incidents rarely have a single cause....

In this episode, Dr. Ayers interviews Bruce Main, a leading expert in machine safety and risk assessment, to explore how Prevention Through Design (PtD) can dramatically reduce workplace hazards. Bruce emphasizes that the most effective safety solutions are those built into the design of equipment, processes, and systems — not added after the fact.   🧠 Key Themes 1. The Best Time to Control Hazar...

Dr. Ayers focuses on one of the most critical — and most mishandled — parts of incident investigations: interviewing employees in a way that uncovers truth without blame. The episode emphasizes that the goal of interviews is learning, not fault‑finding.   🧠 Key Themes 1. The Purpose of the Interview Is Understanding, Not Blame Employees shut down when they feel interrogated. Dr. Ayers stresses th...

Dr. Ayers sits down with Dr. Megan Tranter, a leadership and career strategist with a long and varied background in safety, to explore the human side of safety leadership. The episode focuses on soft skills, imposter syndrome, and giving and receiving feedback — three areas that often determine whether safety professionals thrive or stall in their careers.   🧠 Key Themes 1. Soft Skills Are the Re...

Dr. Ayers explains how to build an effective incident investigation team, emphasizing that the right people — not the most people — determine whether an investigation uncovers meaningful causes or just produces paperwork.   🧠 Key Themes 1. Choose Team Members Who Want to Help The episode stresses that investigators must be: Curious Objective Willing to learn Motivated to prevent recurrence A relu...

Dr. Ayers explains the essential information investigators must collect at the very beginning of an incident investigation. The episode emphasizes that strong investigations depend on accurate, timely, and complete information, and that missing early details leads to weak conclusions and ineffective corrective actions.   🧠 Key Themes 1. Start With the Foundational Facts Investigators must immedia...

In today's episode, Dr. Ayers discuss PFAS with Dr. Alex LeBeau.  Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) have been used for decades in a variety of industrial and consumer products, and they are anticipated to persist in the environment for even longer, hence the name ‘forever chemicals’. These PFAS have received extraordinary scrutiny in recent years, with the US EPA finalizing drinking water...

Dr. Ayers walks through the step‑by‑step process of conducting an effective incident investigation. The episode reinforces that investigations must be systematic, timely, and focused on learning, not blame. Sources:   🧠 Key Themes 1. Respond Immediately and Secure the Scene The first step is to ensure: Injured employees receive care The area is made safe Hazards are controlled Evidence is preserv...

Dr. Ayers explains why every safety professional should have a pre‑staged, ready‑to‑deploy incident investigation kit. When an incident occurs, stress spikes and details get missed — a prepared kit ensures investigators can gather accurate information immediately. Sources:   🧠 Key Themes 1. Stress and Chaos Reduce Accuracy During an incident: People are anxious The scene may be unstable Evidence...

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Dr. Ayers and Dr. Jake Mazulewicz discuss how After Action Reviews (AARs) — long used by military and emergency response teams — can dramatically improve learning, communication, and operational safety in everyday work. AARs help organizations learn not only from incidents, but from routine work, where most learning opportunities actually live.   🧠 Key Themes 1. AARs Are a Proven Learning Tool AA...

Dr. Ayers explains that indirect costs from incidents are often far greater than the direct, easily measurable expenses. These hidden costs quietly drain time, productivity, morale, and organizational resources — and they are the real reason prevention pays.   🧠 Key Themes 1. Indirect Costs Are Harder to Calculate — but More Important The episode highlights that indirect costs are: Less visible O...

Dr. Ayers explains the direct, measurable costs associated with incident investigations. These are the expenses organizations can easily see and track — but they still underestimate how quickly they add up.   🧠 Key Themes 1. Direct Costs Are the “Visible” Costs Direct costs are the expenses that show up immediately and clearly in budgets and reports. Examples include: Medical treatment Workers’ c...