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April 1, 2026Episode 19936 min
Episode 199: Dynamic Warm-Ups w/Lori Frederic
This episode with Lori Frederic gets into workplace fitness, injury prevention, and the importance of understanding the 'why' behind movement and exercise. It explores the challenges of construction work in mission-critical projects, the transition to dynamic warm-ups, and the old vs. new approach to injury prevention and fitness. Also, we discuss the impact of attitude and trends in health and fitness, as well as advances in understanding human anatomy and the attitude towards health and fitness.Chapters00:00 Introduction and Swag Competition07:30 Transition to Dynamic Warm-ups and Functional Fitness17:30 The Impact of Attitude and Trends in Health and Fitness25:12 Advances in Understanding Human Anatomy and Attitude Towards Health and Fitness
April 1, 2026Episode 19858 min
Episode 198: The Metrics Dilemma w/Alex Paradies
SummaryThis episode with Blaine Hoffmann and Alex Paradies, from TapRoot gets into the value of metrics, the purpose of measuring, and the importance of understanding what to measure and what control we have over the results. They also talk about the challenges and limitations of leading and lagging indicators, the impact of gamifying measures, and the design fallacy in workplace metrics.Chapters* 00:00 The Value of Metrics* 07:37 Challenges of Leading and Lagging Indicators* 32:50 Proactive Measures vs. Leading Indicators* 46:26 Leadership and Accountability in Metric Adoption* 53:51 Cultural Shift for Successful Metric Implementation
March 11, 2026Episode 19742 min
Episode 197: Demystifying OSHA: A Conversation with David Keeling
In this insightful interview, Blaine Hoffmann speaks with David Keeling, the Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health, about OSHA's strategic direction, safety culture, emerging trends like AI, and how safety professionals can demystify OSHA to foster collaboration and improve workplace safety.#OSHA #workplacesafety #safetyculture #safetymanagement #safetyprograms #VPP #safetyleadership #safetytrends #OSHApartnership
March 4, 2019Episode 6322 min
063: New Tool to Check for Mold in Your Buildings
Powered by iReportSource NIOSH developed the Dampness and Mold Assessment Tool for both general buildingsCdc-pdf and schoolsCdc-pdf to help employers identify and assess areas of dampness in buildings. "Implementing regular visual inspections for dampness can help to identify trouble areas before they become major problems and help to prioritize maintenance and repair," said David Weissman, M.D., director of NIOSH's Respiratory Health Division. "The Dampness and Mold Assessment Tools provide an inexpensive mechanism to investigate, record, and compare conditions over time." Office buildings, schools, and other nonindustrial buildings may develop moisture and dampness problems from roof and window leaks, high indoor humidity, and flooding events, among other things. Damp building conditions promote the growth of mold, bacteria, fungi, and insects. Occupants in damp buildings can be exposed to pollutants in the air from biological contaminants and the breakdown of building materials. Research has shown that several health problems are associated with exposure to building dampness and mold, including: Respiratory symptoms (such as in the nose, throat, or lungs) Development or worsening of asthma Hypersensitivity pneumonitis (a rare lung disease in which lungs become inflamed as an allergic reaction to inhaled bacteria, fungi, organic dust, and chemicals) Respiratory infections Allergic rhinitis (often called "hay fever") Bronchitis Eczema The Dampness and Mold Assessment Tools guide users through assessing all rooms, whether in a school or a general building, for areas of dampness and mold and identifying the source(s) of the dampness and mold. The tools provide an easy-to-use checklist and instructions for assessing and recording any damage that is found and for tracking conditions through time NIOSH previously published an Alert, Preventing Occupational Respiratory Disease from Exposures Caused by Dampness in Office Buildings, Schools, and Other Nonindustrial BuildingsCdc-pdf that provides further information on respiratory disease related to indoor dampness and recommendations for preventing and remediating damp buildings. When workers suspect their health problems are caused by exposure to building-related dampness or mold, workers should report new, persistent, or worsening symptoms, particularly those with a work-related pattern, to their personal physician and, as instructed by their employer, to a designated individual at their workplace. You can find more information about dampness and mold in buildings, including action steps for management and building owners and workers, on the NIOSH website. NIOSH is the federal institute that conducts research and makes recommendations for preventing work-related injuries and illnesses. More information about NIOSH can be found at www.cdc.gov/niosh/. Let me know what you think. Send an email to info@thesafetypropodcast.com and share with me your thoughts about indoor air quality. Also, it would mean a lot to me if you could tell a friend or colleague about the podcast. You can find me on LinkedIn! Post a LinkedIn update, letting me know what you think of the podcast. Be sure to @ mention Blaine J. Hoffmann or The SafetyPro Podcast LinkedIn page. You can also find the podcast on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter!
October 28, 2024Episode 1821 hr 1 min
Episode 182: SCOTUS & Chevron Deference w/Phillip Russell
Get the NEW Book "Rethinking SAFETY Communications"! Join the Community of Safety Pros today! In this episode, Blaine J. Hoffmann, MS OSHM talks with attorney, Phillip Russell about the recent Supreme Court ruling on the Chevron Deference and what it might mean for the OSHA rule making process. Check it out and join the conversation by becoming a SafetyPro Community member (it's FREE to join). Premium Community members can access exclusive content like episode videos, video courses, templates/downloads, participate in live streams, and direct message/live chat with the Safety Pro. Join the Community of Safety Pros today! Visit Mighty Line Tape for all of your facility marking needs. Order your free sample of floor tape TODAY! Visit Arrow Safety for all of your safety service needs. Remember to mention we sent you to get 25% off your estimate!
March 30, 2023Episode 1661 hr 5 min
166: Biases in Incident Deep Dives w/Alexander Paradies
Join the Community of Safety Pros today! Join the Community of Safety Pros today! In this episode, we talk with Alexander Paradies from TapRooT® about things that can cloud our ability to see real problems in our processes and even comprehend "risky" situations and project what might happen. Please listen and share this episode with others. If you want to go more in-depth on this and other topics - become a SafetyPro Community member (FREE to join). Premium Community members can access exclusive content like episode videos, video courses, templates/downloads, participate in live streams, and direct message/live chat with the Safety Pro. Join the Community of Safety Pros today! Visit Mighty Line Tape for all of your facility marking needs. Order your free sample of floor tape TODAY! Visit Arrow Safety for all of your safety service needs. Remember to mention we sent you to get 25% off your estimate!
June 4, 2022Episode 15220 min
EP 152: How Crappy Lifts Happen w/Lori Frederic
Join the Community of Safety Pros today! Join the Community of Safety Pros today! In this episode, Lori Frederic (The Movement Ninja) takes over the podcast while Blaine is traveling. She discusses how crappy lifts happen, and what to do about them. Please listen and share this episode with others. If you want to go more in-depth on this and other topics - become a SafetyPro Community member (FREE to join). Premium Community members can access exclusive content like episode videos, video courses, templates/downloads, participate in live streams, and direct message/live chat with the Safety Pro. Become a PREMIUM member today! Join the Community of Safety Pros today! **Visit MightyLine Tape for all of your floor marking and facility sign needs**
February 11, 2018Episode 3334 min
033: Lean Safety
Join the Community of Safety Pros today! Join the Community of Safety Pros today! In this episode, I want to talk about Lean manufacturing principles and how they can help you transform safety in your organization. If you listen to this podcast regularly (and I hope you do!), you probably have heard me tell you to look at the tools the lean or quality folks use in your organization. And there is a good reason for that, and they CAN help you improve safety processes. I will reference two good books I studied and draw upon their lessons in this episode. One is called Lean Safety: Transforming your safety program with lean management by Robert B. Hafey. The other is called Safety Performance in a Lean Environment: A guide to building safety into a process by Paul F. English. Overview Lean is a manufacturing philosophy that reduces the total cycle time between taking a customer order and the shipment by eliminating waste. What is excellent about lean principles is that they apply to all business processes, especially safety. Also, lean can be used for all types of businesses. Edward Demming is widely considered the father of lean and what became the Toyota Production System (TPS). After WWII, he went to Japan to teach Japanese business leaders how to improve quality, and his work went unnoticed in the US until the early 1980s. Of course, that period is important; it's when Japanese automakers overtook US companies in quality and productivity. Ford first brought Demming in to help improve their quality. This was when Demming determined Ford's quality systems were not at fault, but instead, their management practices were. A significant cultural change would be needed. So Demming developed 14 points of management. Let's go through them and see how they relate to safety: Create constancy of purpose for improving products and services. Adopt the new philosophy. Cease dependence on inspection to achieve quality. End the practice of awarding business on price alone; instead, minimize total cost by working with a single supplier. Improve constantly and forever every process for planning, production, and service. Institute training on the job. Adopt and institute leadership. Drive out fear. Break down barriers between staff areas. Eliminate slogans, exhortations, and targets for the workforce. Eliminate numerical quotas for the workforce and numerical goals for management. Remove barriers that rob people of pride in workmanship, and eliminate the annual rating or merit system. Institute a vigorous program of education and self-improvement for everyone. Put everybody in the company to work accomplishing the transformation. Tools to Use It is clear to see how universal these can be. Another useful tool we can take from lean (and trust me, there are many, as I have covered in past episodes) is DMAIC: Define, Measure, Analysis, Improve, and Control. Let's go through what this might look like for safety. Define: Who is the customer? What is the voice of the customer? What is critical to safety? What is the cost of poor safety? Measure: Cause & Effect fishbone. Is the safety process in control? What is the current safety process performance (or capability)? What actions are being taken to protect the employee/company (containment)? Analysis: Which issues are affecting health & safety the most? At which measurements are you looking? How many samples do you need to conclude this? Improve: What is the ideal solution? What is the proof the solution will work? How many trials are needed? What is the work plan to implement and validate the solution? Control: Can you demonstrate the improvement is sustainable over time? Is the process in control? How do we keep it that way? Again, here is just one example of how lean principles and tools can be applied to safety. Furthermore, this can empower everyone in an organization to champion safety. So safety leadership doesn't require a business leader or manager. Shop floor workers can get lean training and begin identifying ways to improve the systems they have to interface with every day, including safety. Examples We see this in accident investigations as well. One of my favorite lines is to focus on the process, not the person. In his book, Lean Safety, Robert Hafey tells a story about accidents at a manufacturer he once toured, where they uncovered a trend involving forklift accidents. Some managers looked into force monitors; these shut down the forklift in the event of an impact requiring operators to seek out a manager to turn it back on. Most of the incidents were hit and runs, with no witnesses. His approach was different. Because they had no idea who caused the damage, since someone other than the driver usually reported it, they needed a plan that removed that aspect from the equation. The approach was to invite a forklift driver (any driver) in that area and help investigate. The drivers were told that they would not be spending time looking for WHO was responsible but instead trying to determine the root cause and develop corrective processes to prevent a recurrence. They discovered that the majority of the incidents resulted from poorly placed racks, improper clearances, etc. So they went about fixing those things, and wouldn't you know, soon enough, the drivers that had an incident began self-reporting. The reason is TRUST! The approach to many accident investigations destroys trust - if it focuses on "what did you do wrong?" instead of "how can this be improved?" I remembered at a client site years ago, an operator got a laceration from removing a glove to grab a sample piece of metal off the line for a quality check. Management wanted to issue discipline for removing PPE. The problem was that everyone was issued the same gloves - heavy leather gloves because of the sharp metal edges on their product. But they were also required to cut a sample piece for a quality check. They all knew you could not pick up this thin 4" wide sample with those gloves on. So, everyone, every worker removed their glove to do so. And management knew this. But the others had not gotten a laceration…yet. So issuing discipline would destroy trust and drive reporting underground. Also, it did NOTHING to address the root cause; the conditions remained the same. Therefore they were doomed to repeat this cycle. By focusing on the process, we determined that those gloves' form, fit, and function (on that line anyway) needed to change. We brought in samples for operators to try and then score based on cut resistance level needed and dexterity. That operator became a part of the solution, not just another victim of a hazard of the job. I could go on with hundreds of stories like this that I have seen. But let's save those for future episodes! Conclusion The main takeaway I want you to get here is to look toward Lean principles to help you improve safety. Mainly build the trust needed to create a collaborative environment where you turn workers into champions for change and improvement across all business areas. Please listen and share this episode with others. If you want to go more in-depth on this and other topics - become a SafetyPro Community member (FREE to join). Premium Community members can access exclusive content like episode videos, video courses, templates/downloads, participate in live streams, and direct message/live chat with the Safety Pro. Become a PREMIUM member today! Join the Community of Safety Pros today!
May 20, 2018Episode 4325 min
043: Workplace Safety Postings
Powered by iReportSource NERD ALERT! This episode covers all those little posters and postings that have to be displayed in the workplace. Most public and private employers fall under at least some posting requirements under federal, state, and/or local government laws, regulations, and/or executive orders. These workplace posters (also known as labor law posters or notices) are generally meant to make employees aware of their rights under certain laws or executive orders, or otherwise, impart information about the employer and/or the law or executive order. Employers need to be aware of the posting requirements that apply to them, as not having the appropriate information posted for employees may result in citations and fines. Some of these posting requirements have penalties associated with them for noncompliance. Failure to post federal employment law posters can potentially result in fines of over $32,000. In addition, it is important to be in compliance with posting regulations because the posters can help an employer prove that it has made employees aware of their rights under the law. Courts have ruled that failing to display a poster can extend the amount of time an employee has to sue for damages. The posters that a private or public employer needs to display will depend on its location, the number of employees who work for the employer, the industry type, and/or the contracts under which it performs work. The scope and applicability are specified in the posting law, regulation, or executive order. The federal government enforces workplace posters under the following regulations and executive orders (I only cover a few in the episode): 8 CFR 214 — Nonimmigrant classes 9 CFR 381 — Poultry products inspection regulations 20 CFR 655 — Temporary employment of foreign workers in the United States 20 CFR 658 — Administrative provisions governing the job service system 20 CFR 1002 — Regulations under the uniformed services employment and reemployment rights act of 1994 23 CFR 635 — Construction and maintenance 29 CFR 4 — Labor standards for federal service contracts 29 CFR 5 — Labor standards provisions applicable to contracts covering federally financed and assisted construction (also Labor standards provisions applicable to nonconstruction contracts subject to the contract work hours and safety standards act) 29 CFR 10 — Establishing a minimum wage for contractors 29 CFR 13 — Establishing paid sick leave for federal contractors 29 CFR 24 — Procedures for the handling of retaliation complaints under the employee protection provisions of six environmental statutes and section 211 of the energy reorganization act of 1974, as amended 29 CFR 471 — Obligations of federal contractors and subcontractors; Notification of employee rights under federal labor laws 29 CFR 500 — Migrant and seasonal agricultural worker protection 29 CFR 501 — Enforcement of contractual obligations for temporary alien agricultural workers admitted under section 218 of the immigration and nationality act 29 CFR 516 — Records to be kept by employees 29 CFR 525 — Employment of workers with disabilities under special certificates 29 CFR 801 — Application of the employee polygraph protection act of 1988 29 CFR 825 — The family and medical leave act of 1993 29 CFR 1601 — Procedural regulations 29 CFR 1627 — Records to be made or kept relating to age notices to be posted 29 CFR 1635 — Genetic information nondiscrimination act of 2008 29 CFR 1903 — Inspections, citations, and proposed penalties 29 CFR 1904 — Recording and reporting occupational injuries and illnesses 29 CFR 1960 — Basic program elements for federal employee occupational safety and health programs and related matters 41 CFR 60-1 — Obligations of contractors and subcontractors Executive Order 13495 — Nondisplacement of qualified workers under service contracts You can find me on LinkedIn! Post a LinkedIn update letting me know what you think of the podcast. Be sure to @ mention Blaine J. Hoffmann or The SafetyPro Podcast LinkedIn page. You can also find the podcast on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter
October 22, 2019Episode 8129 min
081: SMS Pt 2 - Systems Thinking, Continuous Process Improvement, PDCA
Powered by iReportSource In this episode, I continue my series breaking down Safety Management Systems (SMS) and will talk about Continuous Process Improvement. Before I can do that, we need to understand something else about SMS - In episode 80 of The SafetyPro Podcast, Safety Management System (SMS) Defined, I talked about how you need to move away from individual programs and toward a systems approach to safety management. Well, there is something called systems thinking, and we are going to get into what that is and how you can shift not only the way you look at managing safety but also how your organization can make the shift from managing programs to integrating safety within the rest of the business by using systems thinking. I recently came across an interesting article over at The Systems Thinker written by Micheal Goodman, and I thought it would help safety pros better understand what system thinking is all about. Michael is an internationally recognized speaker, author, and practitioner in the fields of Systems Thinking, Organizational Learning, and Leadership. The article is called SYSTEMS THINKING: WHAT, WHY, WHEN, WHERE, AND HOW? He writes: "The discipline of systems thinking is more than just a collection of tools and methods – it's also an underlying philosophy. Many beginners are attracted to the tools, such as causal loop diagrams, in hopes that these tools will help them deal with persistent business problems. But systems thinking is also a sensitivity to the circular nature of the world we live in; an awareness of the role of structure in creating the conditions we face; a recognition that there are powerful laws of systems operating that we are unaware of; a realization that there are consequences to our actions to which we are oblivious. Systems thinking is also a diagnostic tool. As in the medical field, effective treatment follows a thorough diagnosis. In this sense, systems thinking is a disciplined approach for examining problems more completely and accurately before acting. It allows us to ask better questions before jumping to conclusions. Systems thinking involves moving from observing events or data, to identifying patterns of behavior over time, to surfacing the underlying structures that drive those events and patterns." So you can see how this sets us up for moving away from merely managing programs toward a systems approach to safety. We need to understand the relationships the individual safety programs have with other areas of the business - how people think, feel, and behave when interacting with them. It is also essential to understand that when we use the term system, it implies that the entire business is a single system and composed of many related subsystems. An accident occurs when a human or a mechanical part or multiple parts of the system fails or even just malfunctions. The system safety approach reviews the accident to determine how and why it occurred and what steps could be taken to prevent a recurrence. The goal of a systems approach is to produce, you guessed it, a safer system. Therefore, at a minimum, a safety system is a formal approach to eliminate or control hazardous events through engineering, design, education, management policy, and supervisory oversight and control of conditions (environment) and practices, the organizational policies, practices, and overall organizational culture, etc. Notice I included the human and organizational aspects? Yes, traditional systems safety does address these areas. In episode 80 of this podcast, I also talked about how SMS is a continuous improvement process that reduces hazards and prevents accidents. So what is a Continuous Improvement Process exactly? And how does it help us improve safety? Simply put, it is an ongoing effort to improve products, services, or processes. Or put another way; a recurring activity or activities to enhance performance. Typically, the goal is for "incremental" improvement over time and, in some cases, significant improvements all at once. So once again, I will use Lean principles to explain this concept. First, I want to start with some structure, which will lead to this concept of continuous improvement. There is a term known to Lean practitioners; Kaizen. The Japanese word kaizen simply means "change for better" and refers to any improvement, either a one-time deal or a continuous process, either large or small, in the same sense as the English word "improvement." So when you hear the phrase "Kaizen Event" - that simply means an improvement event. The most well-known example of a Kaizen approach is the Toyota Production System, or TPS, where everyone is expected to stop their moving production line in case of any abnormality and, along with their supervisor, suggest an improvement to resolve the abnormal issue. This will initiate a cycle of activity aimed at not merely fixing that one issue, but instead improving the overall process to prevent the issues from repeating. This cycle can be defined as: "Plan → Do → Check → Act." PDCA (Plan-Do-Check-Act) is a scientific method of problem-solving and involves a 4-stage, iterative cycle for improving processes, products or services, and for resolving problems. It involves systematically testing possible solutions, assessing the results, and implementing the ones that have shown to work. It is a rather simple and effective approach for solving problems as well as for managing change. This is because it enables businesses to develop hypotheses about what needs to change, test these hypotheses in a continuous feedback loop, and gain valuable learning and knowledge. Again, the value here is that you are testing improvements on a small scale before trying to apply them company-wide. The PDCA cycle consists of four components and can be applied to safety management systems as follows: Plan – Identify and assess risks and opportunities to establish objectives and processes needed to solve them. There are 3 steps to this part: Problem Identification - verify you identified the right problem, determine its impact, who will it benefit? Problem Analysis - what information is needed to understand the problem and its root cause fully? What do we already know about the problem? What do we need to collect to understand the problem further? Who needs to be involved in this process? Once we get a full understanding, is it even feasible to solve the problem? Run Experiments - What are all possible solutions (think of 3 options)? Who will "own" which options to test? How will we measure expected outcomes? Can we run a small test? Will the small-scale results scale up? Do – Here is where we develop and implement our tests and gauge their effectiveness. Again, this should be done on a small-scale to allow us to learn quickly, adjust as needed, and are typically less expensive to undertake. It also lessens any potential negative impact on the business. Think of the phrase, "fail small." It also will have a less negative impact on the culture as a large-scale test, and failure might make workers feel defeated or that no solutions are coming. And be sure to collect all data needed so you can objectively decide which ones are best. Check – Here is where we confirm the results through before-and-after data comparison. What worked? How can you tell? Also, look at what did NOT work - this may help you look back at your planning stage to see what you missed or did not consider. Remember, this is a cycle, even between the stages. So try not to think of this linearly. You may discover that the solution is no longer viable, or that there are simpler ones you had not considered. Act – Here is where you will document the results and make recommendations for future PDCA cycles. If the solution was successful, implement it. If not, tackle the next problem and repeat the PDCA cycle. Remember, you can always stop and back up a step or go to the beginning. Learning is the objective here. So now you can start to ask what resources are needed to blow up the solutions company-wide? What impact will there be on production? Things like retraining, replacing equipment, parts, etc. Closing a part of a building, or the area will all need to be considered as well. This PDCA process is critical to safety management systems for obvious reasons. Kaizen focuses on applying small, everyday changes that result in significant improvements over the long run if done correctly. The PDCA Cycle gives you the framework and structure needed for identifying improvement opportunities and evaluating them objectively. So when you hear folks talk about a systems approach to safety management, and the need to apply a process of continuous improvement, this is it. In doing so you will be able to create this culture of problem-solvers, critical thinkers and folks that step up to tackle issues; willing to take on the accountability because the process to do it is easy and yields results by taking the focus off the person and on the process when it comes to problems that arise. Improvement ideas can be tested on a small scale, analyzed, tweaked, and repeated until solved. By going through this process, and understanding systems thinking, you can start to see that you need to look at both individual components of your safety program and also the interactions with other areas of the business - the system as a whole. You cannot just do one. What I am saying is that yes, you need to find root causes to mechanical failures, "why" it occurred, but you also cannot ignore the "how" it was able to occur organizationally as well. If you reverse this thinking, start with "how" as some of these gurus want you to believe, it will still require you to find out the "why." You need to be able to both. So, in the next episode, I will continue to break down safety management systems by answering the question; What is Root Cause Analysis or RCA? I will explain how it is critical to support systems thinking, a systems approach to safety, and even talk about how it has been redefined by some in our industry to sell books, training courses and prop themselves up as thought leaders when in reality, it's all the same stuff. Send emails to info@thesafetypropodcast.com. You can find me on LinkedIn! Post a LinkedIn update, letting me know what you think of the podcast. Be sure to @ mention Blaine J. Hoffmann or The SafetyPro Podcast LinkedIn page. You can also find the podcast on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter
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