PODCAST · business
Safety Starts With Me
by Brent Janke
Safety itself is not the absence of injuries or incidents, but the attitudes, actions, behaviours, and processes that exist that assures that injuries and incidents don’t occur. Safety Starts With Me (SSWM) is a discussion of all things safety to help assure that nobody gets hurt.
Episodes
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SSWM - Thinking Clearly, Caring Deeply: The Two Muscles of Prevention
Safety failures are rarely caused by ignorance. In almost every serious incident, someone knew. Someone sensed risk corralling quietly near the edge of normal work. Someone had enough information to pause, question, or intervene. And yet the work proceeded. The task continued. The outcome arrived...
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SSWM - The Cult of the Firefighter
Organizations love firefighters. They celebrate the individual who storms into chaos, takes decisive action under pressure, and rescues the operation from imminent failure. These figures are praised in town halls, rewarded in bonuses, and elevated into informal legends. Their stories are retold…
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SSWM - Justice Deferred Is Safety Denied
There is a seductive appeal in the modern fashion of creative sentencing. It arrives clothed in empathy, wrapped in good intentions, and marketed as enlightened justice. Community service instead of incarceration. Training programs instead of fines. Public apologies instead of prison time. In…
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SSWM - Top 10 Trends & Topics in Safety Leadership for 2026
As organizations enter 2026, the landscape of safety leadership is evolving faster than ever. The old paradigm—where safety was primarily about compliance, rules, and reactive programs—is giving way to a more integrated, strategic, and human-centered approach. Leaders are no longer judged solely…
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SSWM#3 - Safety Does Not Fail—People Abdicate Responsibility
There is a phrase that has crept quietly into incident investigations, executive briefings, and regulatory testimony: the safety system failed. It is spoken with the neutrality of a coroner’s report and the comfort of distance. When this phrase is used, no one raises their voice. No one’s...
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SSWM#1 - “Safety Starts with Me” Is Not a Motto—It Is a Line in the Sand
There is a profound difference between a slogan that decorates a wall and a principle that governs behavior. “Safety Starts with Me” is routinely treated as the former—printed on posters, embedded in slide decks, and recited in meetings with the ceremonial tone reserved for things that no longer...
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BP Macondo Explosion and Fire
A deep dive into the findings from the BP Macondo Explosion and Fire from April 20, 2010.
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SSWM - BBS, HOP, or HRO
Welcome to SSWM podcast and where we dive into the most crucial aspects of safety, leadership, and operational preparedness. I’m your host, Brent Janke and today, we’re discussing some of the differences amongst BBS, HOP and HRO, but also how they can complement each other. Are these systems,...
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Situational Awareness
In this episode we explore Situational Awareness. We look at what it is and how it helps to prevent injuries, accidents, and ones involvement in incidents both on the job and off.
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The BP Texas City Explosion
On the 20th Anniversary of the BP Texas City explosion that claimed 15 lives and refocused the oil and gas industry on the importance of Process Safety, we take a deep dive into the Final Investigation Report on the incident by the CSB. Critical sections of the final investigation report are...
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The Three "P's" of Safety
In this episode we dive into the three "P's" of safety: Personal safety, Process Safety, and Psychological Safety and discuss how a focus on all three "P's" are needed to ensure that a safety culture is created within your organization.
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Cougar 491 Helicopter Crash
It was a cold morning on March 12, 2009. The sun had just begun to rise over the North Atlantic, casting a dull glow over the icy waters east of Newfoundland. The offshore oil fields of Hibernia and White Rose, bustling hubs of energy production, awaited their daily crew change. Eighteen men and...
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Ocean Ranger Marine Disaster
It was the evening of February 14, 1982, a night that began like many others on the Grand Banks of Newfoundland—cold, dark, and unforgiving. The Ocean Ranger, the world's largest semi-submersible drilling rig, stood sentinel over the icy waters of the North Atlantic, towering above the endless,...
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Boeing 737 Max 8
Today, we’re discussing The Boeing 737 Max 8 lessons learned — a sobering tale with powerful lessons for safety, leadership, regulatory oversight, and corporate integrity. We'll dive into what happened, the root causes, and how this crisis reshaped the aviation industry and beyond. We'll also...
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EP#13 - Emergency Preparedness and Response
In this episode, we’ll define what emergency preparedness and response entail, cover the fundamentals of implementing a successful plan, explore best practices, and examine real-world cases where the lack of preparedness led to tragic outcomes. So, whether you’re a safety manager, business…
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EP#12 - Psychological Safety
Psychological safety is the belief that one can speak up, share ideas, and take risks without fear of punishment, ridicule, or reprisal. It’s about feeling safe to bring your whole self to work without the anxiety of making mistakes or being judged. The term was popularized by Harvard Business...
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Lockout / Tag Out
During this episode, we’ll explore what Lockout/Tagout is, why it’s important, the fundamentals of how to perform it properly, some best practices, and real-world examples of what can happen when this process is neglected. So, whether you’re a safety professional, manager, or just passionate…
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Journey Management
Today we’re going to dive into a topic that is crucial for keeping everyone safe on the road—whether you're commuting to work or transporting goods across long distances—it's called Journey Management. And this is a perfect time to be thinking about Journey Management as the author of some of my...
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Operational Arrogance
It is a classic concept that hubris precedes the fall. Operational and technical arrogance—the idea that you and/or your organization is smarter than everyone else—is something that every leader needs to be constantly vigilant about. It is not only a signal of possible complacency, but it also…
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Shortcuts
Shortcuts, often seen as expedient routes to achieving goals with minimal effort, play a significant role in both everyday life and professional environments. While they can increase efficiency and save time, shortcuts can also pose substantial risks, particularly in safety-critical industries.…
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The Watermelon Effect
The "watermelon effect" is a term used in safety management to describe a situation where the external appearance of an organization's safety performance looks green (or safe) while the internal reality is red (or unsafe). Just like a watermelon appears green on the outside but is red on the...
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Becoming a Learning Organization
In today's rapidly evolving industrial landscape, the concept of a learning organization stands as a beacon of adaptability and resilience. Rooted in the pioneering work of scholars like Peter Senge, the notion of a learning organization transcends mere operational efficiency; it embodies a...
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Priming a Quality Safety Conversation
As we know, how we start a conversation inevitably dictates the quality and meaningfulness of the discussion and often, the outcome. This is especially true in a safety conversation. For example, if there is an undercurrent of fear, or blame, when having a post-incident review, the likelihood of...
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Risk Tolerance
Reducing risk tolerance at work is a critical activity. In this episodes we'll explore the ten factors that influence risk tolerance and some strategies to mitigate them.
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Episode 3: Dropped Object Prevention
I know that you all understand the importance of preventing dropped objects and while I believe that the reporting of dropped objects has substantially improved – we are still having way too many dropped objects. I know everyone is familiar with the drops calculator that allows us to understand…
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The Primacy of Supervision
The primacy of supervision is something that too many people overlook or don’t even think about. For many organizations we do a disservice to our teams and our people by referring to everyone that has accountability and responsibility of supervising others only as “leaders.” And while this label…
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Young Workers
As the weather warms up and the winter semester is coming to a close, we are close to young workers hitting the streets and starting their summer jobs. Young workers have a very different supervision and safety need than maybe some of our more experienced workers. And this is the first…
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
Safety itself is not the absence of injuries or incidents, but the attitudes, actions, behaviours, and processes that exist that assures that injuries and incidents don’t occur. Safety Starts With Me (SSWM) is a discussion of all things safety to help assure that nobody gets hurt.
HOSTED BY
Brent Janke
CATEGORIES
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does Safety Starts With Me have?
Safety Starts With Me currently has 27 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is Safety Starts With Me about?
Safety itself is not the absence of injuries or incidents, but the attitudes, actions, behaviours, and processes that exist that assures that injuries and incidents don’t occur. Safety Starts With Me (SSWM) is a discussion of all things safety to help assure that nobody gets hurt.
How often does Safety Starts With Me release new episodes?
Safety Starts With Me has 27 episodes. Check the episode list to see recent publication dates and frequency.
Where can I listen to Safety Starts With Me?
You can listen to Safety Starts With Me on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts Safety Starts With Me?
Safety Starts With Me is created and hosted by Brent Janke.
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