PODCAST · business
The Risk Matrix
by Veriforce
The Risk Matrix brings weekly safety conversations that cut through the noise. Hosted by Dr. L.F. Martin (32-year veteran, Board of Global EHS Credentialing Impact Award winner) and James Junkin (ASSP's 2024 Safety Professional of the Year), they tackle OSHA rollbacks, legal trends, and the topics keeping safety managers up at night. Featuring guests from regulators to frontline leaders. New episodes every Tuesday. Powered by Veriforce. www.veriforce.com
Episodes
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Your Safety Records Are Evidence: Data Mapping and E-Discovery with Tom O’Connor
“It’s better to disclose it than to get caught not disclosing it and it’s far even worse to manufacture evidence.” This week Dr. Logan F. Martin and James Junkin welcome back Tom O’Connor, Director of the Gulf Coast Legal Technology Center, to discuss data mapping, electronic discovery, and what...
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When Cost-Cutting Becomes a Safety Risk: Lessons from Boeing
“Every shortcut they had became an engineering assumption.” This week Dr. Logan F. Martin and James Junkin use the Boeing documentaries Downfall and Free Fall as a jumping-off point to examine what happens when cost-cutting and production pressure begin creating safety risks. They discuss how...
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Delete Is a Myth: ESI, Data Preservation, and Attorney Client Privilege with Tom O'Connor
"The duty to preserve arises when you have a reasonable likelihood of litigation. A lot of people think it only arises when I'm sued. Not true. The onus is on the people who own the data to preserve it when they think there's a reasonable likelihood they might get sued." This week Dr. Logan F....
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One in Three Coal Miners Has Black Lung. Compliance Isn't Enough.
"We got a standard, we may be quote unquote compliant with the standard, but does that mean that risk stays controlled?" This week Dr. Logan F. Martin and James Junkin discuss a NIOSH study published in August 2026 showing black lung disease among Appalachian coal miners has returned to levels…
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Suicide Prevention in Construction: What Safety Professionals Can Actually Do
“Check your ladder, check the scaffold, check on your people.” This week Dr. Logan F. Martin and James Junkin discuss suicide prevention in construction and what safety professionals can actually do when they recognize that a worker may be struggling. From chronic overload and understaffing to...
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The Heart and Soul of Safety: Leading from the Heart with Paul Espenan
"Titles have nothing to do with safety. Titles mean nothing. I'm just a guy trying to help people get home safe." This week Dr. Logan F. Martin and James Junkin welcome Paul Espenan, SVP of Environmental Health Safety and Regulatory at Diversified Energy and author of "The Heart and Soul of…
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What the Watson Grinding Explosion Teaches Us About Process Safety
"This is not an incident primarily about a hose being left on at night. It's bigger than that." This week Dr. Logan F. Martin and James Junkin walk through the Watson Grinding explosion in Houston, Texas, the Chemical Safety Board investigation, and the Harris County jury verdict that awarded…
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What Construction Gets Wrong About Worker Readiness with Corey Silverman
"Guard your signature. Guard your reputation. Because safety, even though there's a good many of us, it's a small world indeed." This week Dr. Logan F. Martin and James Junkin welcome Corey Silverman, Safety Specialist at Highwire, a Veriforce company, to discuss what the construction industry…
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Paper Safety Is Not Real Safety: The Truth About Stop Work Authority
"If nobody can name the last stop that cost real money, you do not have stop work authority. You have a slogan." This week Dr. Logan F. Martin and James Junkin mark Episode 150 by going back to where it all started. Episode 1 of The Risk Matrix was called Paper Safety Is Not Real Safety. One...
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Preparing Utility Workers Before the Storm
“You play like you practice.” This week, Dr. Logan F. Martin and James Junkin discuss James’ June 2026 article, Remembering Hurricane Katrina and Confronting Hurricane Season 2026, and the lessons Hurricane Katrina still teaches about worker preparedness, emergency planning, and business...
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Why Most Incident Investigations Stop Too Soon
"The best investigations are the ones you have to run less often because a strong pre-incident risk assessment already caught the problem first." This week Dr. Logan F. Martin and James Junkin discuss Dr. Martin's July 4, 2026 article "Untangling Direct, Underlying, and Root Causes After a...
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The Myth of Zero Risk: Why Chasing Perfect Safety Is Bankrupting Good Intentions
Zero risk was never the goal. A deliberately defined, defensible, and economically sound threshold is." This week Dr. Logan F. Martin and James Junkin discuss Dr. Martin's July 7, 2026 article "The Myth of Zero Risk and Why Chasing Perfect Safety Is Bankrupting Good Intentions." Safety management...
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How to Build Contractor and Subcontractor Safety Partnerships with Tim Rich
"If we have an injury, that's our injury. That is a combined shared injury between us. We get together shoulder to shoulder, we roll up our sleeves and we look at what systems, what behaviors led us to that. We don't look at it as you failed. We share the fault, we share the responsibility and we...
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Inside ASSP Safety 2026: AI, Contractor Management, and the Future of Safety
"It feels like a safety revival. You get there with six thousand of your best friends, you're all speaking the same language, you're supporting each other." This week Dr. Logan F. Martin and James Junkin welcome Rachel Tash, Veriforce VP of Marketing, for a first-timer's perspective on the ASSP...
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When AI Watches: Worker Monitoring and Psychological Safety
"Does a corporate paycheck grant you the ethical right to monitor and analyze a person's physical geometry while they work forty hours a week?" This week Dr. Logan F. Martin and James Junkin tackle one of the most pressing questions in safety right now: where is the line between using AI to…
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Treating OSHA Standards as Suggestions: The Real Cost of Non-Compliance
"When you get a violation, it's not a suggestion to fix your safety management system. It's not a suggestion to do the training." This week Dr. Logan F. Martin and James Junkin break down why some companies treat OSHA violations as suggestions, what happens when willful and repeat violations…
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Moving Beyond Paper Safety: Contractor Management and Training Gaps
"Paper is not real safety. Just the acknowledgement that you've had training doesn't mean that worker has the knowledge, skills, and abilities to go out there and perform their job safely. That's the true test." This week Dr. Logan F. Martin and James Junkin break down why a strong...
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Prepare Before the Storm: Heat Safety and Severe Weather Planning
"It's too late to draw it up in the dirt after something happens." This week Dr. Logan F. Martin and James Junkin break down OSHA's updated heat National Emphasis Program, why indoor heat is just as dangerous as outdoor exposure, and why contractors who rely on the hiring client's emergency plan...
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Using AI to Improve Your Safety Practice with Todd Hudson
"With AI, you can practice these difficult safety conversations, like convincing a CFO or interviewing a reluctant witness, again and again and again, which you can't do with a human." Season 4 is here! This week Dr. Logan F. Martin and James Junkin kick off the new season with Todd Hudson,...
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The Heavy Cost of Dirt: Excavation Safety and the Price of Negligence
"There's a heavy cost. And it's not just heavy dirt. It's reputational, it's future work, it's citation fines, it's litigation costs, it's civil penalties. All these things add up. And for what?" In the Season 3 finale of The Risk Matrix Podcast, Dr. Martin and James break down the full cost of...
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The Industrial Athlete: Rethinking How We Protect Workers' Bodies
This week, Dr. Martin and James welcome Matt Stewart, GSP, RSO, President of Mariner-Gulf Consulting & Services, to introduce the concept of the industrial athlete and challenge safety professionals to rethink how we prepare workers for the physical demands of their jobs. This episode goes beyond...
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The Great Safety Hypocrisy: Why Metrics Are Failing Workers
This episode drops during Workers Memorial Week, April 20-24, a time set aside to honor the roughly 5,500 workers killed in American workplaces every year. This week, Dr. Martin and James dig into Dr. Martin's LinkedIn article "The Great Safety Hypocrisy" to tackle why the safety industry keeps...
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It's Conference Season: Are You Ready to Make It Count?
Conference season is here, and if you show up without a plan, you're leaving professional development on the table. This week, Dr. Logan F. Martin and James Junkin explore how to maximize conference season and how intentional planning, strategic session selection, and purposeful networking can…
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Subcontractor Management: The Hidden Costs of Poor Oversight
"The further down the chain of responsibility you go, the less robust the safety management systems are, but the risk is greater." This week, Dr. Logan F. Martin and James Junkin tackle the hidden costs of poor subcontractor oversight and what contractors and hiring clients can do to protect...
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Operation Epic Fury: What It Means for Your Safety Program
"When one thing rises, especially on existing bids within a supply chain, you have to make that up some other way. And a lot of times that some other way goes with not using the materials that you planned to use, maybe using something different, something cheaper, maybe something not quite as...
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Ladder Safety: Tips, Resources, and Lessons from the Field
"I've seen duct-taped rungs on a ladder once. There are all types of things that you see. This is why ladder safety has its own month." This week Dr. Martin and James tackle ladder safety head on, covering what OSHA is looking for, common mistakes seen in the field, free resources most safety…
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Simultaneous Operations (SimOps) Is Not Just a Safety Checkbox
"Simultaneous operations is not a checkbox. Just by the nature of the term, simultaneous operations mean more than one operation, and that means calling out exactly what's happening." This week, Dr. Martin and James Junkin break down why SimOps coordination failures keep killing workers, using...
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Sleep Debt and Workplace Safety
"Organizations don't have a tool to effectively measure and manage fatigue, so it's very difficult for them to know how much of a problem it is." This week, Dr. Logan F. Martin and James Junkin are joined by Marcus de Guingand, Managing Director at Third Pillar of Health, to discuss his workplace...
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The Contractor Worker Credentialing Gap
"509 expired drug and alcohol tests. 91 missing background checks. 52 fake IDs." This week Dr. Martin and James sit down with Chris Detillier, HSE Manager at Veriforce, to discuss the contractor worker credentialing gap that's costing companies millions and creating serious safety and security...
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Defining Your Company's Risk Tolerance
"Workers will define your risk tolerance if you don't. That's why people crawl out of aerial man lifts and unhook. That's why people don't tie off." This week Dr. Martin and James discuss how companies need to establish clear risk tolerance collectively instead of letting individual workers…
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Safety Leadership and Influence with Justin Barksdale
"We've got to be learn-it-alls, not know-it-alls." This week Justin Barksdale, CSP, joins Dr. Martin and James to discuss professional development for safety professionals. Justin shares insights from his new ebook "The Safety Pro's Edge" on building professional presence, influence, and…
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A Safety Professional's Guide to OSHA's Multi-Employer Citation Policy
"Your worker may not have been exposed. But if you were involved in the chain of responsibility related to exposure of the hazard, you can be cited." This week James and Dr. Martin break down OSHA's Multi-Employer Citation Policy, one of the most confusing and misapplied topics in workplace…
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NIOSH Is Back: Here's What You Need to Know
NIOSH is bringing back 600+ employees. If you use the NIOSH Pocket Guide, rely on chemical exposure data, or need training resources for your safety program, this matters. This week Dr. Martin and James break down what NIOSH actually does: the difference between NIOSH and OSHA, the Pocket Guide…
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Safety Outlook for 2026
Are you planning your 2026 safety strategy, or is 2026 planning you? Dr. Martin and James break down the 7 safety trends you need on your radar this year: heat standards moving to states, AI making bad decisions, enhanced OSHA penalties, mental health enforcement gaps, and whistleblower…
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Beyond Heinrich's Triangle: Defining What Serious Really Means
6,000 workplace deaths annually. That number isn't budging. Dr. Martin and James tackle the hardest question in safety right now: what does "serious" actually mean, and why can't we agree on it? After Dr. Martin's LinkedIn article "The Safety Triangle is Broken" sparked discussion, they address…
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OSHA Logs Are Due: Don't Make These 5 Costly Mistakes
We're back for Season 3! Dr. Martin and James kick off 2026 with the topic on every safety pro's mind: OSHA 300 logs are due, and these 5 pitfalls could cost you. From first aid confusion to a $2,500 electronic filing mistake, they break down the recordkeeping traps that catch even experienced...
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Holiday Safety Tips from Dr. Martin & James
The holidays are here, and Dr. Martin and James are taking a quick break from regular programming to share practical safety tips to help you and your family stay safe this season. Extension cords. Fire hazards. Winter driving. Ladder safety. Kids with new toys. Carbon monoxide detectors. Five...
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Mental Health at Work: Why Awareness Isn't Enough
"We've identified mental health as a workplace issue. Now what? Most companies stop at awareness." Pete Smith, Founder & CEO of Confyde, joins Dr. Martin and James to discuss a platform designed to move beyond awareness and into action. From confidential check-ins to real-time data on workforce...
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2025 Predictions Revisited: What We Got Right and What We Missed
We made some predictions for 2025. Some stuck. Some didn't. This week Dr. Martin and James take a hard look at what actually happened in workplace safety this year. They break down where the industry missed the mark on AI, why heat illness keeps killing workers, and why mental health discussions...
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Preventing Workplace Violence: Warning Signs, Culture, and Preparedness
"You do not rise to the occasion in an emergency. You always descend to your level of training." – James Junkin This week Dr. Martin and James examine a tragic workplace incident and walk through what every safety leader needs to know. They explore the warning signs that escalate into crisis, the...
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Getting Ready for Winter What Safety Leaders Need to Know Now
This week, Dr. Logan F. Martin and James Junkin break down the winter hazards that put workers at risk as temperatures drop. From propane heater misuse to methanol ingestion cases, the hosts share practical, field-tested controls every safety leader should put in place before December arrives....
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Detecting Impairment, Not History: How Safety Leaders Navigate Legalization
"Your drug test came back positive, but that doesn't tell you if your worker is impaired right now." This week Dr. Martin and James sit down with Ken Fichtler, CEO at Gaize.ai, to discuss the critical gap between detecting past drug use and identifying actual impairment in safety-sensitive...
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The H2S Training Standard: What Safety Professionals Must Know
"A gas monitor is not PPE." This week Dr. Martin and James discuss critical misconceptions about H2S training and workplace safety. James sits on the ANSI Z390.1 committee and brings direct expertise on the 2024 updated standard. Over the past decade, 60 workers have lost their lives in hydrogen...
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From Piracy to Participation: Why Standards in the Training Industry Matter
"He took it for the rest of his crew. Two of those workers were badly burned over the majority of their body after the explosion happened." This week Dr. Martin and James sit down with Robert Day, Managing Director at Cognisense, to discuss critical vulnerabilities in how we verify and validate...
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More Than Orientation: Building Effective Safety Onboarding Programs
"Onboarding is not a one-and-done. Onboarding is a process." James and Dr. Martin address the critical vulnerability window that keeps safety directors up at night: the first 90 days. They've seen too many companies bring workers on with four-hour orientations, then struggle to defend their…
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The Documentation Defense: What OSHA Actually Wants to See
"If you don't document it, it didn't happen." James and Dr. Martin tackle the documentation paradox every safety professional faces. They've always said paper safety isn't real safety - but when OSHA shows up or litigation starts, documentation is how you prove you protected your workers. In this...
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Beyond the Checkmark: Can You Defend Your Training When It Matters Most?
This week Dr. Martin and James tackle the uncomfortable question most safety pros avoid: can you actually defend your training program when OSHA shows up? Drawing from thousands of field assessments where only 5% of contractors meet OSHA training standards, they reveal the critical gaps between...
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OSHA's Top 10 Violations: What Safety Pros Are Missing in 2025
This week Dr. Martin and James dive into OSHA's most cited violations for 2025, revealing the "low-hanging fruit" citations that are costing companies thousands and putting workers at risk. Fresh from the National Safety Council conference in Denver, they break down each of the Top 10 with...
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Top 10 Ethical Dilemmas for Safety Professionals
This week Dr. Martin and James channel David Letterman's classic countdown format to tackle the ethical challenges that define modern safety practice. From the Friday 4:30 PM confined space scenario to whistleblowing decisions, these aren't theoretical problems—they're the real-world situations...
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436 Heat Fatalities: The Litigation Safety Pros Need to Know
This week Dr. Martin and James dive into heat stress litigation. With 436 worker deaths over the past decade and federal heat standards stalled, courts are reshaping heat illness prevention through cases. The hosts discuss Matthew Arvin's article "The Heat of the Moment: Recent Litigation…
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
The Risk Matrix brings weekly safety conversations that cut through the noise. Hosted by Dr. L.F. Martin (32-year veteran, Board of Global EHS Credentialing Impact Award winner) and James Junkin (ASSP's 2024 Safety Professional of the Year), they tackle OSHA rollbacks, legal trends, and the topics keeping safety managers up at night. Featuring guests from regulators to frontline leaders. New episodes every Tuesday. Powered by Veriforce. www.veriforce.com
HOSTED BY
Veriforce
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does The Risk Matrix have?
The Risk Matrix currently has 157 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is The Risk Matrix about?
The Risk Matrix brings weekly safety conversations that cut through the noise. Hosted by Dr. L.F. Martin (32-year veteran, Board of Global EHS Credentialing Impact Award winner) and James Junkin (ASSP's 2024 Safety Professional of the Year), they tackle OSHA rollbacks, legal trends, and the topics...
How often does The Risk Matrix release new episodes?
The Risk Matrix publishes regularly with 157 episodes available. Check the episode list for the typical release schedule.
Where can I listen to The Risk Matrix?
You can listen to The Risk Matrix 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 The Risk Matrix?
The Risk Matrix is created and hosted by Veriforce.
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