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Hosted by Jill James, HSI's Chief Safety Officer.
This safety podcast is a series of conversations with safety professionals about how they came into their role, what they've learned along the way, as well as some of the highs and lows that come with job.
We've created this safety podcast for you, the safety professional.
Latest episodes
125: OSHA Isn't Driving the Safety Pro's Future
February 26, 2025 | 1 hours 04 minutes 45 seconds
Dr. Fran Scott-Diehl, who embarked on her journey in the safety profession in the mid-1990s, initially intended to study architecture but was steered towards occupational safety and health by encouraging female professors. Her career began in claims processing, a role she found emotionally taxing, prompting her to transition to the utility industry and private sector positions, including at Sysco Foods and PODS. Dr. Fran underscores the necessity of establishing a robust safety framework, particularly when integrating new safety professionals lacking traditional backgrounds, emphasizing that effective safety leaders require strong interpersonal skills, curiosity, and a commitment to hard work. As an educator, she encourages upcoming safety professionals to be independent thinkers who challenge authority and innovate, while also highlighting the importance of self-reflection and self-care to prevent burnout. She advises safety professionals to prioritize nurturing themselves to enhance their leadership in the new year.
124: Suicide Prevention and Mental Health Support in Construction
January 29, 2025 | 56 minutes 55 seconds
The construction industry has one of the highest suicide rates of any occupation, with 6,000 workers dying by suicide in 2022. Sondra Lavoie knows how difficult it is to have "THE" conversation around mental health, but emphasizes the importance of building trust, using the right language, and providing resources to support workers' wellbeing. Sondra is an assistant vice president risk control specialist with Sompo, but started her journey as a construction company receptionist. She earned her degrees and certifications later in life, including a CHST and CSP, and has since produced award-winning work in the safety and mental health spaces. Sondra is passionate about mental health and suicide prevention in the construction industry, and she shares strategies for having difficult conversations with workers and company leadership to address these issues. She also discusses the value of public speaking skills and mentorship for safety professionals to improve their communication abilities. If you or someone you know is struggling with mental health, reach out for help immediately by calling or texting the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline at 988. This service provides 24/7 confidential support for anyone experiencing emotional distress or suicidal thoughts.
123: Salary and Safety Budgets with a City Safety Manager
December 23, 2024 | 59 minutes 58 seconds
Many find OSHA inspectors to be intimidating, but this week's guest credits them for inspiring his true passion. Jill chats with Randy Milliron, safety manager for the city of Gillette, Wyoming, about starting his career in quality control before moving into a safety role. He talks about receiving mentorship from OSHA inspectors early on (to which he credits his success and longevity) and discusses the new types of challenges he faced when he joined the government sector, including salary negotiations and the daunting task of managing a tight budget. Plus, tune in to get a sneak peek into the book Randy is writing about his insights after 27 years in the safety industry. Enjoy this early dropped episode while traveling during the holiday week. Wishing all of our listeners a safe and happy holiday!
122: Reducing Musculoskeletal Injuries With a Human Performance Coach
November 26, 2024 | 54 minutes 21 seconds
**EARLY DROP ALERT!** Happy Thanksgiving and safe travels to our listeners who celebrate the holiday. Are your employees in a physically demanding occupation? This episode is for you! Jill is joined by Jason Bacigalupo, a human performance coach at Vimocity. Jason discusses his role in helping utility workers, manufacturing employees, and others reduce musculoskeletal injuries. He describes how diaphragmatic breathing, dynamic joint mobility, and other strategies help workers feel better and perform their jobs more safely. In fact, Jason shares success stories of reducing injury rates by over 40% and helping workers regain mobility and reduce daily pain! Tune in now to learn how doing the little things every day add up to big health and safety gains in the long run.
121: From School Teacher to Associate Professor of Occupational Safety
October 23, 2024 | 1 hours 06 minutes 06 seconds
Meet Dr. Jan Handwerk, Associate Professor of Occupational Safety at the University of Central Oklahoma. Dr. Handwerk discusses the challenges she faced throughout her diverse career in male-dominated industries, from teaching physical education to working as a utility substation mechanic, including issues with properly fitting PPE. She emphasizes the importance of effective communication skills for safety professionals and shares insights on the evolving safety landscape, noting the shift from reactive to more preventive approaches. Dr. Handwerk also discusses the "Safety Olympics" she helped establish, which allows safety students from various universities to compete and network. Listen now to hear about the experiences and perspectives of a seasoned safety professional dedicated to educating the next generation of EHS leaders.
120: Four Pillars of Employee Wellbeing
September 25, 2024 | 50 minutes 14 seconds
This week, Jill sits down with a truly accidental safety professional. Catherine West now serves as senior director of global health and safety for a business consulting company, but she never intended to get into this industry. After deciding to leave her sales role, she quickly discovered an unexpected love for safety, where she gets to work closely with employees to better their experience and the workplace. Tune in to hear her discuss the four key pillars of employee wellbeing, learn about some of the programs she has implemented to support those needs, and find out why she thinks a “culture of caring” is crucial to workplace safety. Also discover some advice she has for safety professionals on tying personal factors into employee health and safety!
119: Live From ASSP Safety 2024
August 28, 2024 | 25 minutes 43 seconds
It's back! Jill sat down with EHS professionals who were attending this year's ASSP’s Safety Conference and Expo in Denver, Colorado. She talked with people from many different industries and asked what their favorite part of being a safety professional is, advice for other professionals, favorite success stories, and what the future of EHS looks like to them. thank you to those EHS pros who stopped by the HSI booth and contributed to this podcast. See you again next year!
118: A Conversation with ASSP's 2024 Outstanding Safety Educator
July 31, 2024 | 1 hours 09 minutes 17 seconds
Jill had the pleasure of speaking with ASSP's 2024 Outstanding Safety Educator, Dr. Leslie Stockel! Leslie is an associate professor of professional practice at Oklahoma State University, and teaches in the Fire Protection and Safety Engineering Technology program. She shares how her father helped her find her passion through firefighting, which lead to her experiences as a safety professional in various industries. Leslie also talks about her journey to becoming an educator and the importance of teaching safety management and prevention activities. She highlights her recent research on significant incident and fatality (SIF) precursors in incident investigation reports, revealing the lack of consistent identification and addressing of these precursors. Leslie emphasizes the need for better investigations and communication of findings in the field of safety, and also mentions her upcoming research on virtual reality scenarios related to hazard events. Catch Leslie at the upcoming ASSP Safety 2024 conference as a speaker: "What Every Body Says About Safety: Harnessing the Power of Nonverbal Communication" on Friday, August 9th at 8:45 - 9:45 a.m.