The Safety Spotlight

BIS Safety
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The Safety Spotlight Podcast brings workplace safety leaders, innovators, and change-makers into the conversation. Each episode dives into real stories, proven strategies, and fresh ideas for creating safer, healthier, and more productive work environments. The show explores topics ranging from safety culture and leadership to emerging technologies and industry trends. Guests share practical insights, lessons learned from the field, and the human side of safety that drives lasting impact.

  1. 5 天前

    Safety Is the Accelerant: Brian Fielkow on Why Safe Companies Grow Faster

    Ask a room full of employees whose job safety is, and plenty of hands will point at the safety department. Brian Fielkow got that answer when he bought his own trucking company, and he calls it the wrong one.  Brian did not arrive in safety the usual way. He started out practising business law in Milwaukee, where meeting clients across a range of industries taught him to look for patterns. He went to work for his favourite client, a three generation recycling company, helped grow it, and sold it to Waste Management. After leaving Waste he bought his own trucking company and built it into a trucking, freight brokerage, and logistics business, and it was there that the role of safety came into focus for him, not as a compliance exercise but as the business itself. He has since written three books on the subject, most recently Making Safety Happen.  In this episode of The Safety Spotlight, Brian makes the case that there is no safety culture sitting separate from company culture, and that the safest companies have an advantage precisely because they are not spending their time cleaning up messes. Safe outcomes, in his view, are a reflection of leadership quality. He is careful to add that the best run company can still have a bad day, and that every organization he has led or advised is a work in process.

  2. 8月6日

    Sometimes You’re Just Getting Lucky: Cody Woolf on the Gap Between No Incidents and Real Safety

    Ask most organizations how safety is going and they will hand you their incident numbers. Cody Woolf would rather know what happens on site when the senior leaders aren’t there. Cody didn’t come to safety the usual way either. He went to school for law enforcement and criminal justice, then spent his early career in commercial vehicle enforcement with the Alberta government, pulling vehicles over on the highway and learning to have difficult conversations quickly. A friend moved into the safety world in 2008 and made it sound interesting enough that when a company offered to train him, he took the job with a plan to return to policing if it didn’t work out. Seventeen years later he has worked across civil and commercial construction, industrial, and now oil and gas and petrochemical, and he still says he has learned more from the workers in the field than from any course he has taken or book he has read. In this episode of The Safety Spotlight, Cody makes the case that a clean record and a strong culture are two different things. He carries a line from his current mentor, that the absence of an incident doesn’t mean the presence of safety, and he is blunt about the alternative explanation: sometimes an organization is getting lucky. What closes that gap, in his view, is presence. Leaders in the field, conversations instead of emails, and follow-up that workers can actually see.

  3. 7月20日

    Beyond the Checklist: Nicole Wesch on Practical Safety Leadership

    What can safety leaders in construction, oil and gas, and manufacturing learn from a workplace where you can't pause an emergency to fill out a hazard assessment?In this episode of Safety Spotlight, we sit down with Nicole Wetsch, Manager of Occupational Health and Safety for the Edmonton Police Service. Nicole started her career in medical microbiology and nanotechnology research before moving into policing, and she brings a scientist's discipline to one of the least prescriptive safety environments there is. She calls her team "safety unicorns," OHS professionals in a world with no ISO standard for the work in front of them.We talk about what it takes to protect people who are wired to look out for others before themselves, why functional beats thorough when a patrol officer's hazard assessment could run 200 pages, and how putting people ahead of paperwork built the credibility that shifted the culture.Topics include:Why traditional hazard assessments don't fit emergent work, and what replaces themHow EPS applied research-lab control banding to its early fentanyl and naloxone responseDesigning PPE that fits, and why building for women tends to benefit the whole teamForward-rotating shifts, sleep hygiene, and the long-term health cost of shift workMoving incident reporting from blame to root cause, and getting stronger corrective actions as a resultMaking the data-backed business case that earns leadership buy-in and resources

  4. 6月29日

    Nobody Wins Alone: Ken Larson on What Real Teamwork Looks Like

    Ask most leaders if they have a good team and they'll say yes. Ken Larson's answer is that they have no idea what a real team is.In this episode of The Safety Spotlight, executive coach Ken Larson explains why most "teams" are really just a roster of talented people working near each other, not with each other. We get into interdependence, the misfire vs. the mishire, why you get what you tolerate, and why a leader's behavior matters more than any core value carved in bronze on the lobby wall.

  5. 5月5日

    Saskatchewan Association for Safe Workplaces in Health (SASWH) – From the Field to the Floor: Building Real Safety Culture with Erin Heimbecker

    What happens when a safety professional stops writing policies and starts walking the floor instead?   In this episode of the Safety Spotlight Podcast, we sit down with Erin Heimbecker, Workplace Safety Specialist at the Saskatchewan Association for Safe Workplaces in Health (SASWH), to explore what it actually takes to build a safety culture that people believe in, not just comply with.  Erin's path is one built on hands-on experience. Starting out in construction and manufacturing before crossing into healthcare, she has worked across provinces, adapted to different regulations, and learned firsthand that what works on one site will never work on every site. One principle has carried through every role: you cannot earn respect without giving it first.  This conversation breaks down:   Why PPE compliance fails when you skip the conversation and start with the policy  How walking the floor changes everything about how workers receive safety guidance  Why safety professionals will never know it all, and why that is their greatest strength  How to build a professional network that actually shows up when you need it  Why culture change has to start at the top, or it does not start at all  How to communicate safety to managers in the language that makes sense to them  What it means to have tough skin and still be the person workers want to call  Erin explains why safety professionals who stay in the office lose the trust of the people they are trying to protect. Real culture is built by being present, asking questions, and understanding that a procedure written without seeing the work is just paper.  You will also hear how Erin approaches the harder, quieter parts of this work, the calls that come in after an incident, the workers who are afraid to report, and the difference between reacting with frustration and responding with empathy.  If you are early in your safety career, managing a team that has stopped listening, or simply looking for a reminder of why this work matters, this episode delivers.

  6. 4月28日

    Manitoulin Transport: Fleet Safety, Driver Culture, and the Road Ahead with Mario Da Silva

    What does it take to keep millions of kilometers of road safe when 80% of everything we use every day depends on the people behind the wheel?  In this episode of the Safety Spotlight Podcast, we sit down with Mario Da Silva, Fleet Safety and Risk Management Leader at Manitoulin Transport, to explore what it really means to build a lasting safety culture inside one of Canada's most complex transportation operations.  Mario's path is anything but straight. Starting in 1995 with a background in computer programming and loss prevention, and expecting to stay only a couple of years, he has spent over 30 years in transportation, growing from the ground up into one of the industry's most experienced voices in fleet safety and risk management.  This conversation breaks down:  Why technology in modern trucks has become a game-changer for safety, and what carriers risk if they have that data but don't act on it  How telematics, outward-facing cameras, and electronic logging devices are reshaping driver accountability  Why incident data is like a black box in a plane and what companies must do to protect it  The shared responsibility between professional drivers and the everyday motorist on public roads  How to build a safety culture that starts at the top and spreads through genuine respect and consistency  Why mentorship and coaching compatibility matter just as much as technical driver skill  What the next generation of safety leaders needs to hear before they take the wheel  Mario explains why the biggest safety challenge in transportation right now isn't the technology itself. It's making sure organizations understand what they have, train their people to use it properly, and don't leave that data sitting idle when it could be driving real decisions. Carriers that harness telematics and act on what it tells them are the ones that will lead on both safety and their bottom line.  You will also hear why the relationship between a new driver and a seasoned mentor can make or break retention, and why choosing the right person to pass knowledge down to is as important as the knowledge itself. Mario shares candidly about the two mentors who shaped his career, and what he hopes to pass on before he steps back.  If you work in fleet safety, transportation operations, or are simply trying to understand how professional safety culture gets built and sustained over decades, this episode delivers.

  7. 4月20日

    From 20 Injuries to Zero: Building a Safety Culture That Actually Works with Tom Fitzgerald

    What does it really take to transform workplace safety from a compliance requirement into a deeply embedded culture? In this episode of the Safety Spotlight Podcast, we sit down with Tom Fitzgerald, founder of Safety Fitz LLC and a former foundry supervisor with over 50 years of experience in operations, HR, and safety leadership. Tom brings a rare perspective, having worked directly on the production floor before moving into safety and consulting. Tom shares how he helped reduce a plant's total incident rate from nearly 20 to zero by shifting responsibility from one safety manager to an entire workforce. In this episode, we cover: Why safety cannot be owned by one person and must be driven by cultureThe role of leadership, accountability, and peer influence in preventing injuriesHow lean manufacturing principles can transform safety performanceReal-world strategies for building engaged, high-performing safety teamsThe importance of observation, communication, and leading by exampleTom also shared powerful lessons from his early career, mentorship experiences, and consulting work, offering practical insights for safety professionals at every stage. Whether you're managing safety programs or working on the front line, this conversation will challenge how you think about responsibility, culture, and what it really means to achieve zero injuries.

  8. 2月13日

    Trust Over Policy: Emotional Intelligence and Building Safer Teams with Joan McMillan

    Psychological safety is often treated like something you install with a policy. But is it really a systems issue, or a leadership one? In this episode of Safety Spotlight, we sit down with Joan McMillan, Canadian Registered Safety Professional and PhD candidate in developmental psychology, to explore the human side of safety culture. With more than 20 years in health and safety, Joan brings a perspective grounded in behavior, emotional intelligence, and organizational development. We discuss why fear quietly undermines psychological safety, how emotional intelligence shapes leadership effectiveness, and why checklists alone cannot build trust. Topics include: • The five components of emotional intelligence • Warning signs of low EQ in leaders • Why judgment and defensiveness damage culture • The limits of systemizing psychological safety • How trust and connection drive real performance If you’re responsible for safety, culture, or leading people, this episode challenges you to look beyond compliance and into behavior. See Joan’s story and many more at https://bissafety.ca/safety-spotlight-podcasts/

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簡介

The Safety Spotlight Podcast brings workplace safety leaders, innovators, and change-makers into the conversation. Each episode dives into real stories, proven strategies, and fresh ideas for creating safer, healthier, and more productive work environments. The show explores topics ranging from safety culture and leadership to emerging technologies and industry trends. Guests share practical insights, lessons learned from the field, and the human side of safety that drives lasting impact.

資訊

  • 創作者
    BIS Safety
  • 活躍年代
    2025年 - 2026年
  • 集數
    33
  • 年齡分級
    兒少不宜
  • 版權
    © BIS Safety
  • 節目網站
    The Safety Spotlight