Leading and Learning Through Safety

Dr. Mark A French
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Do you want to engage your culture? Safety is the first step to creating the motivation needed for people to perform their best. Each day, we have the chance to lead our teams and learn more about our people through an understanding of our safety climate. Through looking at current issues in HSE, we chat about creating cultural value through safety. Your host is Dr. Mark French, CSP, SPHR aka The Safety Dude.

  1. 2d ago

    Episode 216: Safety Tasks

    In this episode of Leading and Learning Through Safety, Dr. Mark French explores how the tasks leaders assign can influence employee engagement, leadership credibility, and the effectiveness of workplace safety programs. Drawing from research published in the Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, the episode examines the concept of “illegitimate tasks”—work employees perceive as either unnecessary or unreasonable. Unnecessary tasks are activities that seemingly should not need to be performed at all, while unreasonable tasks are perceived as falling outside the legitimate responsibilities of an employee’s role. This distinction has important implications for safety. Safety activities such as audits, inspections, observations, checklists, and employee engagements should have a clear purpose. When organizations establish quotas simply to generate metrics, but fail to review the information, address identified hazards, or make meaningful improvements, employees can begin viewing those activities as meaningless exercises rather than genuine efforts to reduce risk. The episode also examines leadership practices more broadly. Assigning unnecessary work to discourage employees from seeking a leader’s time may solve an immediate inconvenience, but it can damage communication and eliminate opportunities for coaching and valuable feedback. Effective leaders should be able to explain why work is both reasonable and necessary. Safety processes are most effective when employees understand how their efforts contribute to protecting themselves and others. The challenge for leaders is therefore not simply to assign tasks or achieve green metrics, but to ensure the work behind those metrics creates genuine value. Ultimately, meaningful safety work requires active leadership, communication, follow-through, and purpose.

  2. Sep 11

    Episode 215: Statistical Safety

    In this episode of Leading and Learning Through Safety, Dr. Mark French explores how statistics and risk prioritization can help safety professionals focus limited resources on the hazards that matter most. Using an example from his career in a chemical plant, Mark describes an unusual incident in which wind carried a small particle of dust around an employee’s safety glasses, ultimately resulting in prescription eye drops and an OSHA-recordable injury. While the incident deserved attention and an appropriate response, its low severity and low probability of recurrence contrasted sharply with the extensive investigation and corrective-action process that followed. The experience highlights an important challenge in safety leadership: organizations have finite time, energy, and resources. When disproportionate attention is given to low-severity, low-probability events, safety teams may have less capacity to address hazards with genuine serious-injury-or-fatality potential, including hot work, lockout/tagout, confined-space entry, fall protection, and line-breaking activities. Mark also emphasizes that root-cause analysis should be a learning tool, not a punishment. When investigations become exercises in blame, excessive documentation, or making people feel responsible for unpredictable events, organizations risk damaging both psychological safety and the effectiveness of the investigation process. The goal is not to ignore minor incidents. Organizations should investigate, learn, implement reasonable improvements, and move forward. Effective safety leadership means maintaining perspective and using data to prioritize prevention efforts where they can have the greatest impact: protecting people from the hazards most capable of causing serious injury or death.

  3. Sep 4

    Episode 214 - Safety System

    Safety systems are more than tools for preventing injuries—they can become the foundation for how an organization operates and improves. In this episode of Leading and Learning Through Safety, Dr. Mark French explores how organizations can build effective systems from the ground up, particularly during startups and turnarounds. The process begins with reliable data. Organizations need to understand what information they need, where it comes from, and whether it accurately reflects what is happening in the workplace. Without trustworthy information, leaders cannot make meaningful decisions. This same principle extends beyond safety into quality, delivery, and cost. The next critical component is a strong root cause and corrective action process. When organizations thoroughly investigate safety incidents and address their underlying causes, they develop problem-solving capabilities that can be applied across the business. The same methodology used to prevent an injury from recurring can help resolve quality problems, productivity challenges, and cost issues. The key is selecting an approach appropriate for the complexity of the organization and investing the time necessary to teach people how to use it effectively. Finally, effective systems require communication and feedback. Information must move throughout the organization and create a complete feedback cycle rather than simply flowing from leadership downward. Safety provides a powerful starting point because protecting people is a fundamental organizational responsibility. By building strong systems around safety, organizations simultaneously develop capabilities in data collection, problem-solving, communication, and continuous improvement that can ultimately transform the entire organization.

  4. Aug 28

    Episode 213: The Safety Gemba

    Going to where the work actually happens sounds simple. So why can it be so difficult? In this episode of Leading and Learning Through Safety, Dr. Mark French explores Gemba, the Lean management practice of going to the “actual place” to observe work, interact with employees, and understand what is really happening. Building on previous discussions about learning design and the Analysis phase of ADDIE, Mark explains that observation is one of the most powerful ways leaders can identify gaps between procedures, data, training, and the reality employees experience every day. An informal walk through the workplace can reveal opportunities for improving safety, training, quality, productivity, and employee support. But Gemba presents a challenge: when leaders go looking, they are probably going to find something. That discovery creates work. Employees may need resources. A process may need improvement. Data may not reflect reality. Leaders may even discover that their own assumptions were wrong. Combined with meetings, reports, metrics, and the constant pressure of “feeding the corporate beast,” staying behind the desk can become the easier option. Effective Gemba therefore requires more than physically visiting the workplace. It requires leaders to deliberately create time, overcome inertia, remain curious, and be willing to have their assumptions challenged. The goal isn't simply to walk around. It is to observe and learn. Leadership happens where the work happens—and sometimes making a meaningful difference begins with simply getting out of the chair and going to see.

  5. Aug 21

    Episode 212: What Should We Learn

    What makes workplace training meaningful? It may have less to do with the presentation itself and more to do with what happens before the first slide appears. In this episode of Leading and Learning Through Safety, Dr. Mark French continues the discussion on learning design by exploring the Analysis phase of the ADDIE instructional design model. Drawing from interviews conducted as part of his doctoral dissertation, Mark examines how experienced safety trainers—often without formally calling it ADDIE—use analysis to understand their learners, identify knowledge and performance gaps, and make required training more relevant. The episode explores a simple but powerful question: Why are we conducting this training, and what needs to be different when it is over? Examples from safety trainers demonstrate the importance of understanding employees’ previous experience, existing knowledge, job responsibilities, and actual working conditions. Whether conducting forklift training, fall protection training, or another regulatory requirement, meaningful learning begins with knowing what employees already understand and where genuine gaps exist. Mark also connects Analysis to the concept of Gemba—going to where the work actually happens. By observing employees and talking with them in the field, trainers can compare “work as imagined” with “work as performed” and determine whether training is even the appropriate solution. The takeaway is straightforward: Before designing the training, understand the work. Before teaching the learner, understand the learner. Great training doesn’t begin with PowerPoint. It begins with curiosity.

  6. Aug 14

    Episode 211: Learning Motivation

    Safety training can check every regulatory box and still fail to connect with the people who need it most. In this episode of Leading and Learning Through Safety, Dr. Mark French explores one of his longtime professional interests: how to transform required workplace training from a compliance exercise into meaningful learning that employees can actually apply. Drawing from a recent experience attending an eight-hour regulatory certification course, Mark examines why technically accurate training can still fall short. Stock images, regulation-heavy PowerPoint slides, and worst-case scenarios may communicate the rules, but they do not always reflect the reality employees experience in the field. When training and real work do not align, employees may begin questioning the credibility of the message and underestimate the risks around them. Mark introduces the ADDIE learning model—Analyze, Design, Develop, Implement, and Evaluate—as a practical framework safety professionals and leaders can use to improve training. It begins by understanding the audience: Who are they? What do they already know? What knowledge or skills are missing? From there, instructors can design and develop training using relevant workplace examples, hands-on activities, discussion, and actual equipment rather than relying solely on generic materials. Finally, effective training requires evaluation. Did employees learn something useful? Can they demonstrate it in the workplace? Did the training actually address the problem? The lesson is simple but powerful: meaningful training starts with understanding who you are teaching and what they truly need to know.

  7. Jul 31

    Episode 210: Knowledge and Learning

    This week on the Leading and Learning Through Safety podcast, Dr. Mark French examines two tragic workplace fatalities that highlight a common issue: the critical role of training, hazard recognition, and collaborative safety leadership. The first incident involves a 20-year-old worker who died after becoming engulfed in a grain bin. While grain bin hazards are well known, Dr. French emphasizes that familiarity can create overconfidence, especially among experienced workers. He discusses the importance of ensuring employees truly understand the risks rather than assuming prior knowledge and stresses the need for rescue equipment, emergency planning, and community outreach to equip both workers and local responders for these high-risk events.  The second story focuses on a 24-year-old welder who was fatally injured when a sealed paint drum exploded as he used a plasma cutter to remove its lid. Dr. French explains that hot work safety extends beyond controlling sparks and surrounding combustibles—it also requires understanding what is inside a container before cutting or welding begins. He encourages organizations to incorporate collaborative hazard reviews, checklists, and questioning into their work planning so hidden dangers are identified before work starts.  Throughout the episode, Dr. French reminds listeners that safety leadership is about creating an environment where people continuously learn, ask questions, and challenge assumptions. Effective training, teamwork, and thoughtful planning help organizations recognize high-energy hazards before they become tragedies. By working together and remaining curious, leaders can better protect their people and prevent similar incidents from occurring.

  8. Jul 24

    Episode 209: Ethical Voice

    In this episode of the Leading and Learning Through Safety podcast, Dr. Mark French explores an often-overlooked leadership skill: ethical decision-making. Rather than focusing on major ethical failures, this discussion examines the small, everyday moments where leaders decide whether to speak up, look the other way, or take action. Drawing from a recent Journal of Applied Psychology article, Dr. French discusses the concept of "sharing as ethicizing"—the idea that discussing workplace ethical dilemmas with trusted family members or close confidants strengthens our willingness to act ethically at work. Those conversations help clarify our values, reinforce our sense of responsibility, and make it more likely that we will speak up when something doesn't feel right. Using personal experiences from his career in safety and human resources, Dr. French reflects on times when difficult conversations felt easier to avoid than confront. He explains how experience has taught him to replace simple "ignore it or discipline it" thinking with a more thoughtful leadership approach that balances consistency, influence, and accountability. The episode introduces two practical mental frameworks leaders can use whenever they face an ethical crossroads: "Would I be proud to tell this story to my family?" and "What would an exceptional leader do in this situation?" These simple questions help remove emotion from the moment and provide a clearer path toward doing the right thing. Whether you lead safety, HR, operations, or any team, this episode offers practical tools for strengthening ethical leadership one decision at a time.

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About

Do you want to engage your culture? Safety is the first step to creating the motivation needed for people to perform their best. Each day, we have the chance to lead our teams and learn more about our people through an understanding of our safety climate. Through looking at current issues in HSE, we chat about creating cultural value through safety. Your host is Dr. Mark French, CSP, SPHR aka The Safety Dude.

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