Larry Wilson Live: Conversations with Real Safety Experts

Tim does it again! He holds the prestigious title of "most listened to episode" with his first appearance on Larry Wilson Live , and his second time on the show does not disappoint! Our 30th episode features the one, the only, Tim Page-Bottorff!Episode Description:An older and somewhat bitter gentleman stood up and proclaimed, “There’s nothing funny about people getting seriously hurt!” and then he wagged a menacing finger at the group…True, but you don’t learn much when you’re sound asleep either. So how do you inject humor into your safety training so it’s entertaining, worth listening to, and you don’t cross the line or somehow appear disrespectful to important rules, procedures, checklists, permits and PPE standards? It can be a difficult balancing act. You need to be serious but you will definitely turn people off with too much “doom and gloom,” not to mention that scare tactics don’t really work or work for very long.Tim Page-Bottorff is an expert at bringing humor into his safety presentations, and he’s been doing this for over 20 years. His keynote presentation: “Humor in Safety” has been done at over 100 safety conferences in North America, Africa, the Middle East and Europe, which is interesting considering that Tim isn’t really very funny (just kidding).

Larry Wilson Live with Alejandro Jaramillo“Capturing Hearts and Minds” has been the goal for so many EHS professionals, and also for the companies they work for. The “why” is obvious, but how exactly do you do this? How can you get all of the employees to buy in, to take the safety message to heart-and, perhaps more importantly - to keep safety top of mind, without letting complacency creep in? There are lots of theories, but only so many organizations have ever been able to make it all work in reality.  Alejandro and Etex in Latin America have been able to do it, and they’ve been able to do it with “style”. Their employees even made a music video that involves the families (which we will show you). However, it’s more than fun and engagement: They have had a 75% decrease in injuries and injury severity for over 7 years. But it’s really the change in the safety culture that is so impressive. Tune in to find out how they did it!

Larry Wilson Live with Chris Ross"The Power of Positive Messaging"Imagine increasing your sales by 400% just by changing a sign to say, “Remember the Ice” instead of don’t forget the ice? Such small changes, from negative to positive, can have a surprisingly big impact, and the good news is it doesn’t cost much! Unfortunately, far too many safety messages are framed negatively. Moreover, far too much emphasis has been placed on what workers are doing wrong or unsafely. But most workers, most drivers or most people for that matter do much more right (safely) than what they do wrong (unsafely). The power of positive reinforcement can change an entire company’s culture. The “trick” is how to do it effectively. It is possible, provided you know how to do it. Chris Ross is an expert in training first-line supervisors this skill. You'll be happy you joined us for this optimistic episode!

Larry Wilson Live with Jack Jackson"Influence vs. Control — The Power of Storytelling"Controls are necessary but limited by time and proximity. Influence is not even limited by jurisdiction, but it can be more difficult. Storytelling, or being able to tell a good story that demonstrates values in action or teaches a lesson, can have a powerful influence on people.Jack Jackson is a masterful storyteller. I’ll never forget the first time I heard Jack speak. He was telling the “dock plate story”. It’s not his funniest, but the most powerful. His funniest story is the “Walmart Story”. (Don’t worry, I’ll get him to tell it.)In this episode, Jack explains how to tell a good story, what to leave in, what to leave out, and when to use different kinds of stories. It is educational and informative, but also one of the most (if not the most) entertaining episodes ever. 

Separating The Wheat from the Chaff with Dave Johnson, Editor ISHN - Industrial Safety and Hygiene NewsDave has been in the field for over 30 years. He has seen many things come and go. He has seen what’s worked or has had enough substance (wheat) to make it around the globe. He has also seen many many supposedly great ideas launched with bright lights and big expectations fizzle out in less than two years (chaff).So, Dave has had a unique look at almost ALL the programs, processes and initiatives put forth. But he’s also had unique access to the people behind the new ideas: who they are and what they stand for. That alone is well worth listening to. However, Dave also has a serious warning for all the safety professionals out there in terms of their attitude or perspective about the “next big thing” - and it’s not what you’d expect. So, please join us February 17, at 1:00pm (eastern)About Dave:Dave is the owner of Dave Johnson's Writing Shop and a B2B magazine chief editor, writer, reporter, researcher, analyst, public speaker (120+ presentations) for 40 years. He’s naturally curious and enjoys establishing relationships with many sources and columnists in his journalism work. He’s conducted interviews with scores of subject matter experts.Dave launched the web site for Industrial Safety & Hygiene News magazine in 1995, and supervised web content, news, features, thought leadership blogs and social media platforms.His subject matter specialties:- Industrial safety equipment (PPE), industrial hygiene equipment, facility safety equipment- Environmental Health and Safety critical issues and trends- New safety technology, wearables, mobile devices, software, smart PPE, smart LOTO, smart confined space entry- All things relating to the connected worker and the connected workplace- Health and wellness -- with a specialization in mental health issues- Organizational management and culture- Safety leadership- Serious injuries and fatalities- Psychology of human behavior

Managing contractors to zero (SIFs) without a big stick."Like anybody else, I didn't start off as the president of IOSH" Jimmy said, "more like in the trenches."Almost immediately, I felt totally comfortable. He was low-key, easy to listen to - and when he told me about some of the amazing accomplishments he has achieved in construction and how he did it... that's where the idea for the title came from.As mentioned, the results were impressive: from mega projects in the billions to smaller projects that easily fall under the radar of inspectors, every one managed to zero serious harm. But to do it all with positive engagement and a limited budget, even with a permanent workforce, is impressive. But to do it with a transient workforce of sub-contractors and sub-sub-contractors is, well... hard to believe, until you listen to him and hear how he did it. We will also talk about IOSH and the current initiatives they are working on. But mostly it will be about how to do it - without a big stick.About James Quinn:James is a well-motivated, proactive HSE Manager, CMIOSH and an expert with strong leadership and management skills, with a strong strategic vision. Disciplined and tenacious with the ability to drive and coach others, to excel in an environment where demanding targets and quality of work is expected to be of the highest standards.Having a significant level of experience in the development of bespoke HSE management systems, James is always working to current legislation and completing management reviews of current policies, systems and procedures in line with legal requirements and industry best practice.James through collaborative working with a thorough knowledge of international best practice and HSE auditing of OHSAS 18001/ISO 14001 compliance can also be considered to be one of the best in his field in the Gulf region. James was also part of the consultation group for the certification to the new Asset Management Systems standard, ISO 55001.James has been described as an “intelligent and pragmatic HSE leader who understands the complexities of safety and managerial processes”. He has a Masters in Strategic Management and Leadership and a Post Graduate Diploma teaching Further Education, James is well travelled with responsibilities (current and past) worldwide and an understanding of diverse cultures and environments.Professional membership of IOSH, CMI, CIOB, and the former IOSH Middle East Committee member lead for IPD/CPD, IOSH council member and IOSH President Elect, supporting the IOSH President as part of the Presidential Team before taking his office as President in October 2020.

Larry Wilson Live with Pete Batrowny - Engaging Frontline Supervisors: Techniques that Work in the Real World...We all know the first line supervisor is key to so many things.But what is the best way to develop or improve this group: classroom training, virtual or remote training or one on one?If you promote from within should the new supervisor be with a new crew?How much training, just on health and safety, should a company be considering for new frontline supervisors?And what about their leadership-how does middle management factor in?So many questions, and only so many people who have been there and can answer them from a practical vs. a theoretical perspective.Peter Batrowny is one of those people. He has had lots of hands on experience training and coaching first line supervisors. Perhaps more than anyone I know. This is not to say that you will necessarily agree with everything Peter says. But he will have an answer based on experience and he can tell you how well it worked.He can also tell you whether he would do it again the same way if he could go back.

Although many safety professionals are aware of the latest brain science. Unfortunately, far too many still don’t know what to do with it.“So they acknowledge it, and then go back to the paradigm of deliberate decision making being the main problem, not the subconscious, or they gravitate back to the ‘system’ and trying to improve the safety management system or administration or the engineering, etc. They’re still trying to improve the conscious mind- when we now know that 95% of our behaviour is habitual or in the realm of our subconscious mind.”And when Cristian said that on a call a few weeks ago, I had to agree.Lots of interest in the neuroscience - from safety professionals all over the world - but little change as a result…So the first step is to understand how our brain works when we are rushed, frustrated, tired or complacent.The second step is how to apply it to actually improve things significantly.And the third step is how to sustain it.Which, in the end-pardon the pun-will be the most significant factor.About Cristian:Cristian’s 25-year safety career started in chemical manufacturing and then moved to the oil and gas industry.In this heavy processing environment, he quickly learned that there are different types of safety and different ways to think about each one.As a professional chemical engineer and having completed a Masters, he is trained to analyse complex problems and to use evidence-based science to deliver the simplest solutions that achieve positive safety outcomes.His main field of interest is minimizing inattention, something that is in play in 95% of incidents and traditional safety has largely ignored.He got interested in brain science about 10 years ago and wrote a book “Third Generation Safety: The Missing Piece – Using Neuroscience to Enable Personal Safety” to help people understand how inattention comes about and what we can be done about it.

It’s been said that Corporate America has the attention span of a squirrel. And it’s also been said that the concept of a “Learning Organization” is 20 years old. But learning and continuous improvement go hand in hand. And it’s doubtful that continuous improvement will ever go out of style.However, the challenges of creating a learning organization when it comes to health and safety, and trying new things, when you have to merge different cultures from different regions are significant - to say the least. Thomas is in the midst doing just that: going from 11,000 to 20,000 employees and merging cultures from Russia and Europe, North America, South America and Asia.Which ideas and processes work best? Which ones should be global standards and which ones should remain in the local domain? How do you share the learnings and successes?How do you get them to try new ideas from other regions? And how do you do all of this and keep moving forward - with injuries on a downward trend?“Not easy”, says Thomas, “one step at a time…”About Thomas:Thomas Burgdorff, PhD, is a communications expert with an extensive history working in politics and the private sector. His proficiency as a master of connection has made him invaluable at Uniper for 5 years as the Learning Manager Health, Safety, and Environment.In his role, Thomas encounters questions like this all the time: Why do the same incidents keep happening again and again? How can we stop it or at least reduce the likelihood of reoccurring? As Uniper's HSE Learning Manager he deals with these questions on a daily basis. Developing his company into a real learning organization, capable of learning from incidents, preventing them from happening but also learning from good practice, is what he's striving for with passion and dedication. Thomas is on the show because he’s interested in sharing experiences on how to communicate lessons learned in the most effective way.

From Error Reduction to Performance EnhancementThe story behind getting the critical error reduction techniques to high-performance athletes.Whether at work or at the highest level of competitive sport, an error can have devastating consequences. Nobody knows this better than Mike Shaw. His rise, fall and return is truly inspiring from a human resilience perspective. But so is the story of safety that emerged.In terms of workplace safety, we can learn a lot about human performance from world-class athletes like getting into flow state doing work at the highest level of competence. But in terms of preventing injury-causing errors, even the world’s best athletes can learn a thing or two from safety.Mike and Larry have been collaborating during this long journey of reducing errors and enhancing performance, so you won’t want to miss this incredible conversation on Larry Wilson Live.Mike Shaw’s interest in safety peaked after recovering from a traumatic skiing accident in 2013 in which he became paralyzed from the neck down. His unbelievable recovery provides him with a unique perspective on human performance and led him to co-founding HeadStartPro.Mike is the author of Never Part of the Plan: A story of Courage Resilience Gratitude. His experience includes coaching, human factors training and injury prevention.Mike is an invigorating speaker, whether he’s at a workshop, in the classroom, or delivering a talk. He has also shared his story in a TEDx Talk called Grief Happens.

The Importance of Emotional Intelligence for Health, Safety, and Environment with Dr. Britt AndreattaAlmost all EHS professionals have “heard” about Emotional Intelligence or EI. But not nearly as many are aware of the benefits, in some cases tremendously significant benefits that training on EI can provide.Dr. Britt Andreatta is an expert in EI and conducts workshops and training sessions for managers and leaders in Emotional Intelligence, and how to bring it in to the workplace.She will also the explain the connection between mental health and Emotional Intelligence, as well as the potential synergy that exists between the two.And finally, as you can probably guess, there are many aspects of emotional Intelligence that can affect behaviour, and as a result health and safety performance.This is a very interesting, educational, and (what I found) “illuminating“ conversation with one of the world’s leading experts in this field.About Dr. Andreatta:Dr. Britt Andreatta is an internationally recognized thought leader who uses her unique background in leadership, neuroscience, psychology, and education, to create brain-science based solutions for today’s workplace challenges. Britt is the former CLO for Lynda.com (now LinkedIn Learning) and she has over 10 million views worldwide of her online courses. She regularly consults with corporations, universities, and nonprofit organizations on leadership development and learning strategy.Britt is the author of several brain science-based books and trademarked models including Wired to Grow, Wired to Resist, and Wired to Connect. She was named one of the “Top 20 L&D Influencers” for 2020 and 2021 and a Top 100 HR Influencers in 2021.

Safety management systems (SMS) like ISO 45001 and ANSI Z10 have been incorporated into organizations around the globe. There are certain aspects of the SMS’s that incorporate facets of engineering, design, hazard observations, management leadership, employee involvement and employee training. Where does Human Factors Management fit in? Larry will interview Tim Page-Bottorff Senior Consultant with SafeStart to dive in on how this can be done.Tim answers questions like, “Can systems thinking involve employee participation?” And, "How should a safety professional integrate a human factors framework into their already existing SMS?” This show is sure to provide some insight not just for systems and resilience engineering, but to also help better cope with potential human factors like distraction, mental well being, and different states of mind.

Governance and Leadership in Health and Safety with Dr. Waddah Ghanem and Bob ArnoldWorkplace health and safety matters have become of significant importance. With changing regulations and standards being introduced globally, the effects on companies and negative impact on share values and reputation cannot be ignored.Many of the human, asset and economic incidents are caused by systemic issues emanating from a culture set at the top. H&S is now more than an operational or technical issue. Thus, we have seen the liabilities of directors increase to provide a stimulus for rectifying this situation. Executive teams want to ensure that the required range of values, behaviours, competences and management systems are defined and applied rigorously.The ISO 45001:2018 standard can bring about a step-change in the management of H&S to meet this higher expectation—especially with guidance and insights from the new book, Governance and Leadership in Health & Safety, authored by Dr. Waddah Ghanem and Bob Arnold.Learn from their extensive experience and the research they did for the book on Larry Wilson Live, an online talk show where the world’s top leaders expand their mindset through “out of the box” discussion on pressing health and safety topics.You can contact Dr. Waddah Ghanem Al Hashmi at:waddah@pcllearning.comContact Bob Arnold at:bobarnold@bargroupltd.com Find there book here:https://www.routledge.com/Governance-and-Leadership-in-Health-and-Safety-A-Guide-for-Board-Members/Hashmi-Arnold/p/book/9781032023915- AND - Sign up for an in-depth 90-minute webinar on September 8th:https://register.gotowebinar.com/register/4397541152568127504

The Power of Napping and why if you snooze... you WIN!Of course, the expression is, “If you snooze—you lose.”But that is more aligned with, “He who hesitates—is lost.” We all know that fatigue causes many unintentional incidents and injuries. It also impacts creativity and can greatly interfere with customer relations, whether they be inside or outside customers. So the negative aspects of fatigue are relatively well-known and well-documented. There are lots of very alarming statistics, especially with fatal motor vehicle collisions. And yet, there’s resistance and skepticism about such a simple solution.Cara Moore, CEO of ProNappers, is a Nap Ninja and highly regarded executive and life coach. She unashamedly naps every day, in private or equally happily in plain sight! It is her superpower that makes her a positive powerhouse in business, for her family and in life.When Cara talks about the power of napping, she begins with the people who “need” to nap. They don’t function well without one. So they need to be accommodated in order to be productive. I thought this was a brilliant way to start as it makes perfect sense. But from there she talks about the rest (of us). Even if we don’t need to nap, the benefits are still very significant (huge in some cases). And finally, she talks candidly about the stigmas and stereotypes, and how many CEOs have to nap in secret to maintain their superhero image...she’s got some pretty funny stories.Contact Cara at ProNappers Ltd. to learn about Nap School at your company:Cara.Moore@ProNappers.co.uk

When it comes to summer safety the numbers are staggering. Why are there so many unintentional fatalities? Do people lose their “common sense” or is there a problem with their common sense? And what if you had the wrong information in the first place? It’s hard to imagine how anyone’s common sense could help them then. But perhaps the biggest problem is that people rely too much on fear of the hazard instead of the risk of the hazard. Fear tends to fade over time whereas the risk of going 60 mph or with water over your head remains constant.The secret to summer safety is not to tell people what they already know, or “don’t do this” and “don’t do that”. That part is common sense. It’s the complacency part that most people don’t know about. And then, once they realize the problem, they also need to know what they can do about it…which is also not common sense.

"What's NOT New."Larry Wilson Live with Gary Higbee, EMBA CSPGary is the CEO of Higbee & Associates, Executive Advisor SafeStart, and Principal Researcher & Forensic Investigator at North American Management Institute.“Everybody wants something new” he just shook his head, “I was doing that 40 years ago. I can’t believe they’re saying this is a new approach”. He was talking about a session he’d just attended on preventing serious injuries.“So what else isn’t new?” I asked, and he started to list them off.“Pushing decision-making down to the shop floor - the Japanese have been doing that for decades”. That was the first one. But then there was another and another until finally I said, “Gary, we need to have you on the show. Because I can’t imagine that any young safety professionals know any of this. And I wouldn’t be surprised if the same thing was also true for a lot of seasoned safety professionals.”Gary was kind enough to say yes.Gary is a Certified Safety Professional with an MBA from the University of Iowa. He worked 32 years for John Deere in safety, environmental, production and engineering. Gary has earned numerous awards, like the 2010 Distinguished Service to Safety Award by the National Safety Council. With over 45 years of experience, Gary has become an internationally recognized speaker on safety, health, environmental and business issues. Gary also co-authored the book, Inside Out, with me and was instrumental in the development of SafeStart, so you won’t want to miss this episode of Larry Wilson Live. 

“The Difficulties of Getting Modern Safety Into Old-School Education”with Michael Cooke, Vice-President, Social & Environmental Responsibility at Jabil Group“Why aren’t these concepts being taught in high-schools and trade schools?” he asked defiantly. “Well”, I said, “its not for lack of trying. But it's not as easy as you’d think.”“Why” he demanded, obviously not impressed. “Well, one thing is money. Even though it's significantly less expensive (80% discount) the schools want the school boards to pay for it out of their budget, and the school board wants the schools to pay for it out of theirs. They both want the students to get the training. They just want the other party to pay for it."“Oh”, he said, and walked away…However, not everyone did “walk away” figuratively speaking. A few other “brave souls” have also ventured into the arena. They have made some significant efforts to bring modern day safety technology and methodology to education. Michael Cooke is one of those people. His efforts started with a previous employer, but he has carried on with the Jabil Group. Both Michael and I understand the importance of getting safety into education. We also understand some of the difficulties and that the financial aspect mentioned before is just one challenge. Trying to train teachers is another (they don’t make the best students). Despite these difficulties, there have also been some tremendous successes in places like Brazil, Colombia, Scotland, Switzerland, The Philippines, Suriname and of course Canada and the USA.To access the resources mentioned in the show, go to:www.booboobandits.comor www.larrywilsonlive.com/wilson

“It sounds like a food additive, or at least thats the look I get when I ask some people about it” he said. I was talking with Dr. Ghanem about governance - at the board level and the conversation naturally turned towards ESG. “Some parts of it don’t really concern the safety professional, like whether the company engages in bribery practices, but other parts do. The environment part is obvious, if you have HSE or EHS in your title, but some of the social is more than just traditional health and safety.”The net result of the conversation was that we both decided that there were probably a lot of questions that HSE professionals would like to ask about ESG, so we decided to do the show. About our guest:Dr. Waddah S. Ghanem Al HashmiBEng (Hons), MBA, MSc, DipSM, DipEM, AFIChemE, FEI, FIEMA, MIoD, F.GCCBDIGlobal Health and Safety Governance and Leadership ExpertChairman, Federal Occupational Health & Safety Committee, ESMA, United Arab EmiratesHon. Chairman, Energy Institute - Middle EastChairman, Professional Engineering Chapter – UAE Society of Engineers"Towards Understanding better; Environment, Social and Governance Factors..."The HSE practitioner is expected more and more to multi-task and understand so many more and new things as the developments in the corporate world change rapidly. In this episode Dr Waddah Ghanem Al Hashmi will give a brief overview of ESG to introduce this subject of fast-growing importance in the industry. From large corporates to start-ups and small companies, ESG indicators, voluntary and integrated reporting has become an important thing to understand. Many of the indicators that should be reported in live integrated and sustainability reports come from various integrated EHS key performance indicators.Waddah is considered one of the global authorities on governance and leadership in EHS. Waddah holds several academic and vocational qualifications including a Degree in Engineering, two Post Graduate Diplomas from the UK an MSc in Environmental Sciences from UAE University, an Executive MBA and a Doctorate from the University of Bradford in the UK and specialises in Corporate Governance and Leadership. He has received several awards in his career, most notably, the Rashid Prize for Scholarship Excellence in 2007 (Dubai), and the IEMA Sustainability Leader of the Year (UK) in 2019.Waddah has worked for the ENOC Group as EHSQ Director, Executive Director EHSSQ & Corporate Affairs and then Senior Director – Sustainability, Operational & Business Excellence. He had spent the last 24 years from being a consultant to an EHS Supervisor at the refinery to assistant EHS Advisor in the Group, later to grow the EHS Compliance function until he become Director, EHSQ Compliance. He now works in Marine Assurance and Logistics.

Taking Human Factors to the Far Side of the MoonFeaturing: Dr. Ajay P Kothari, President & CEO of Astrox Corporation and NASA Project Lead“But the Dark Side of the Moon sounds better…”“Yes,” he said “but we don’t say that, we say far side. Otherwise all the scientists and people at NASA will think you don’t know or that I didn’t tell you...”“Right,” I said, “So ok, we’ll go with Far Side”Whether you call it the “Dark Side” or the “Far Side” of the Moon, doesn’t matter when it comes to human error or preventing human error. Although, as Ajay points out: it doesn’t hurt so much if you trip and fall on the moon.However, the problems human factors can cause in terms of performance and critical errors could also be much more serious on the Moon or Mars. Typically, redundancy or multiple layers of redundancy have been the “go-to” strategy for preventing failure. But with people, multiple layers of redundancy beget more layers or an increased level of complacency.At what point does the redundancy become counterproductive? And, how does the “race for space” appetite of private enterprise mix with the mission statement of “zero failures”?These are some of the questions Larry and Ajay discuss, including the questions from the live audience, on this episode of Larry Wilson Live.

The Evils of Automation vs. the Evils of Human ErrorWith Marc RiquelmePresident of Signicast, CIREX, and OptiMIM, divisions of Form TechnologiesPeople make mistakes and robots don’t. But are robots and technology actually replacing workers or is that just a misconception most people have? And is there really nothing you can do for human error except multiple layers of redundancy or is that also a widely held misconception? And finally, can you combine new technology with critical error reduction techniques to achieve higher reliability with the people who remain? The answer is yes, but it depends on how you go about it.In this episode, Marc Riquelme and Larry  discuss how to leverage technology and methodology to achieve higher levels of production, reliability, and safety within the organization. Marc is the President of three companies within Form Technologies and he has a great sense of humor, but he also has a number of important messages for senior managers and EHSQ professionals.