The Safety Geek Podcast: Geeking Out About Workplace Safety

I’ve been using a method of recordkeeping for 10+ years and today, I get to share it with you. It’s a little different than what you might be used to, but whether you have 20 or 800 employees, this method will save you so much time. I’m sure of it. Have an open mind, because my goal is to blow your mind with this simple technique that will put hours back in your day.   For this week's show no...

Often our expectations are set way too low. Do you ever feel like you can’t get your employees to do what you want them to do? Or…they only ever come in at the 70% compliance mark, and you’ve come to believe that’s just normal? To meet the goals we want, especially in safety, we have to raise our expectations so that people will rise to meet them. Join me in this episode as we talk about how your...

Employee committees are an excellent way to get employees involved in your safety program.  When employees are involved, it improves morale, reduces turnover, increases productivity, and so much more.  Today, I just want to go over the bird’s eye view of employee committee structures.  Stay tuned for an upcoming opportunity to learn in-depth with me how to create your own employee committee.   For...

80% of the safety manager’s job is getting workers to understand and follow safety rules.  What if you looked at this as building habits instead?  There is some interesting research on learning that can be applied to safety.  In this show, we talk about habit formation, conditioned learning, and operant learning.  These techniques are the basis of behavior-based safety.   For this week's show...

Written safety programs are a big part of our jobs.  I have learned that when you use collaboration with employees and managers, you get a better program. And, it is a program that is easier to get people to support.  In this week’s episode, I go over my 10 steps to creating a successful safety program.   For this week's show notes and links go to www.thesafetygeek.com/10 -------- Thank you f...

Safety culture is the way you do business and how you work within your operation.  Culture is tightly related to management support.  Here are 10 quick and easy tips to that you should use every day to build safety culture at your facility   For this week's show notes and links go to www.thesafetygeek.com/9 -------- Thank you for taking the time to listen to this episode. If you liked it, be...

Safety programs cannot be managed through fear.  Employees will hide things and not report issues when the safety manager is also the safety police.  Front line supervisors are the enforcers of safety.  Safety Managers are the subject matter experts. Let's talk about how to bridge the gap when you are stuck being both.   For this week's show notes and links go to www.thesafetygeek.com/8...

The broken window theory applies to way more than just criminology and NYC.  You can see it in action in your everyday life.  You can use this theory to your advantage.  By applying it in the workplace, you can reduce your accidents and improve productivity at the same time.   For this week's show notes and links go to www.thesafetygeek.com/7 -------- Thank you for taking the time to listen t...

When you are starting out in the safety profession, the question of what degrees or certifications to get are inevitable.  In this episode, I take you through my journey and give you advice on how to avoid the pitfalls I experienced.  We talk about colleges, spotting the best certifications to get, and what to plan for in the future.  Never stop investing in your own education - its the best thing...

Setting a safety goal it only the first step.  A goal without a plan is just a dream.  In this week's show notes, there is a free safety action plan template to help you get started in creating a detailed plan on how to smash all your safety goals.  We go over step-by-step how to create the plan, who to involve and how to make sure it is kept on track.  This is a game-changer in safety goals...

A major task in creating a safety culture is to build relationships with everyone you work with, but especially the management team.  This may mean having to present your ideas to a team of executives as well as operators.  Your approach and communication style has a big impact on the outcomes.  These small tweaks from how you present information, appearance, and word choice can make it easier to...

Accountability is a current buzzword, but many organizations don't know or understand how to do it or what it means.  This week we talk about the easy process of commitment, training, consequence, authority, and consistency that will improve your safety program and actually change your employee's behaviors for good.  The biggest issue is that most safety managers lack the authority to en...

Expanding on my introduction episode, I wanted to start off this podcast with a discussion about my beliefs about how workplace safety programs should be managed.  We discuss the where safety fits in an organization, the role & responsibilities of the safety manager, and who are the safety police.    For this week's show notes and links go to www.thesafetygeek.com/2 -------- Thank you for...

Welcome to the Safety Geek Podcast. A show about workplace safety and how to manage safety programs. We get into the psychology of safety, effective safety leadership, and behavior-based safety programs. In this introduction episode, I discuss what the podcast is about and a little about me and my background.   -------- Thank you for taking the time to listen to this episode. If you liked it, be s...