In this episode, Mary Conquest speaks with Edward Tenner, a renowned author and lecturer at Princeton University, whose work explores the intersections of history, technology, and safety.

Edward draws on his seminar “Understanding Disasters,” examining major events like the Titanic, the World Trade Centre, Fukushima and Covid to expose how hidden risks can break safety systems.

He highlights how overlooked factors such as ‘gray rhinos’ and ‘mode errors’ have contributed to serious failures, demonstrating the unintended consequences of well-meaning safety measures.

Through examples of expert decisions and system designs that didn’t work as intended, he encourages safety managers to vigilantly scan the horizon for subtle signals of weaknesses..

This episode offers EHS professionals practical insights and historical lessons that help you identify emerging hazards to make workplaces safer.

Find out more about Edward’s work, books and essays: Edward Tenner - Welcome

You can read Edward’s latest essay here: Are We Getting Dumber? - Milken Institute Review

Other books recommended by Edward:

Engineers of Dreams: Great Bridge Builders and the Spanning of America: Petroski, Henry

Normal Accidents – Living with High Risk Technologies: Perrow, Charles

Edward Tenner on LinkedIn: Edward Tenner | LinkedIn

Safety Labs is created by Safety Products Global, the world's leading manufacturer of safety knives. Through our trusted brands, Klever, Slice and PHC, we empower companies to prevent injuries by providing safer cutting tools for every material and application. Find us at www.safetyproducts.global

If you have any questions, please email us at safetylabs@safetyproducts.global

In this episode, Mary Conquest speaks with Sarah Ischer, CIH, CSP, the Senior Director of Expertise at the What Works Institute, who recently published a ground-breaking report investigating neurodiversity in the workplace.

Roughly 1 in 5 people are neurodivergent, meaning their brains process information, perceive hazards, or communicate differently. Yet many traditional safety programs still assume a single way of thinking.

Sarah explores why neurodiversity isn’t given the same focus in the workplace as it now receives in the education system and highlights how this negatively impacts the well-being of your workers.

She provides EHS professionals with practical and affordable tactics to improve workplaces for neurodiverse - and neurotypical - workers, giving you a new lens to enhance safety systems at your organization.

Find out more about Sarah’s work: What Works Institute

The full report into neurodiversity at work: Neurodiversity in EHS

Sarah Ischer on LinkedIn: Sarah Ischer, CIH, CSP | LinkedIn

Safety Labs is created by Safety Products Global, the world's leading manufacturer of safety knives. Through our trusted brands, Klever, Slice and PHC, we empower companies to prevent injuries by providing safer cutting tools for every material and application. Find us at www.safetyproducts.global

If you have any questions, please email us at safetylabs@safetyproducts.global

In this episode, Mary Conquest speaks with Nippin Anand, an event investigation expert who founded a consultancy specialising in human-centred approaches to learning.

Using the Costa Concordia cruise ship disaster, Nippin examines how investigations often produce explanations that satisfy the need for closure but fail to reflect the complexity of events and help organizations actually learn.

Drawing on social psychology, mythology and anthropology, Nippin challenges many “safety myths” including normal work, zero harm and the role of blame in the workplace. He encourages the safety profession to uncover deeper insights through surfacing the unconscious, using our three minds and focusing on intelligent cues in accident investigations.

A key theme is that real learning lies in the tension, and Nippin argues for transdisciplinary thinking in safety, moving beyond root cause and corrective action towards context, meaning, individuality and uncertainty. This interview offers EHS professionals a more reflective approach to safety learning.

Find out more about Nippin’s work: About Nippin - Nippin Anand

Nippins’s book: Are We Learning from Accidents?

Nippin’s consultancy (including knowledge space): Home - Novellus Solutions

Recommended resources about the iCue (intelligent cues) process:

The iCue engagement program™

iCue engagement process

Dr. Robert Long’s excellent work: Social Psychology of Risk (SPoR)

Nippin Anand on LinkedIn: Nippin Anand | LinkedIn

Safety Labs is created by Safety Products Global, the world's leading manufacturer of safety knives. Through our trusted brands, Klever, Slice and PHC, we empower companies to prevent injuries by providing safer cutting tools for every material and application. Find us at www.safetyproducts.global

If you have any questions, please email us at safetylabs@safetyproducts.global

In this episode, Mary Conquest speaks with Doug Parker, former US Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health, whose illustrious career has spanned labor law, federal and state oversight, worker advocacy, policy leadership and consultancy.

Doug explains why regulators are often seen only through the lens of enforcement and what that view misses. Drawing on his time leading OSHA, he describes the broader role of guidance, dialogue and worker voice in improving safety outcomes.

The conversation explores how trust shapes the relationship between regulators and organizations, why engagement matters and how fear of enforcement can limit learning and transparency. Doug also reflects on the constraints regulators operate under and what that means in practice.

This episode gives EHS professionals a rare regulatory perspective on how to engage more constructively with oversight bodies and use regulation as a lever to support meaningful, lasting safety improvement.

Find out more about OSHA: Home | Occupational Safety and Health Administration

California State OSHA resources and templates: Cal/OSHA - Division of Occupational Safety and Health - Home Page

Worker-focused global resources Doug recommends: Hesperian Health Guides | Knowledge for Action - Action for Health

Doug Parker on LinkedIn: Doug Parker | LinkedIn

Contact Doug directly: dougparker1@gmail.com

Safety Labs is created by Safety Products Global, the world's leading manufacturer of safety knives. Through our trusted brands, Klever, Slice and PHC, we empower companies to prevent injuries by providing safer cutting tools for every material and application. Find us at www.safetyproducts.global

If you have any questions, please email us at safetylabs@safetyproducts.global

In this episode, Mary Conquest speaks with Shawn Connick, a safety consultant with decades of experience across construction and energy.

Shawn reflects on why safety professionals are surrounded by ideas yet often struggle to turn them into practice. Drawing on his own experience, he shares his success operationalizing new workplace safety approaches with (all too familiar) resource constraints.

Discover how to effectively implement learning teams, ensuring safety is aligned with production and quality, insights emerge before workers get hurt, and your organization improves in all these areas together.

Shawn emphasizes the importance of building ‘safety fluency’, helping leaders understand that organizational change is the key to creating safer workplaces. This episode gives EHS professionals invaluable guidance on making new safety approaches work in practice - and on a limited budget.

Find out more about Shawn’s consultancy work: Shawn Connick Construct Strategies

Books recommended by Shawn:
- Sidney Dekker’s: The Field Guide to Understanding 'Human Error'

- Todd Conklin’s: The 5 Principles of Human Performance

- Bob Edwards and Andrea Baker’s: Bob's Guide to Operational Learning

- Edgar Shein’s: Humble Inquiry

Podcasts recommended by Shawn:

PreAccident Investigation Podcast | Todd Conklin

A HOP Podcast (With No Name)

Podcasts - Freakonomics

Shawn Connick on LinkedIn: Shawn Connick, CSP | LinkedIn

Safety Labs is created by Safety Products Global, the world's leading manufacturer of safety knives. Through our trusted brands, Klever, Slice and PHC, we empower companies to prevent injuries by providing safer cutting tools for every material and application. Find us at www.safetyproducts.global

If you have any questions, please email us at safetylabs@safetyproducts.global

In this episode, Mary Conquest speaks with Dr. Todd Loushine, an Associate Professor, EHS professional, scientist and Data Analytics enthusiast who has extensively researched how we track safety.

Todd challenges the profession’s reliance on familiar aspirations and indicators, questioning whether established goals and metrics actually enhance workplace safety.

In this stimulating interview, he explores the current balance between compliance and people, and shares his extensive critical analysis of the data we rely on to measure performance. Other big-picture questions, such as safety’s role and alignment within an organization, also come under the spotlight.

Todd pushes EHS professionals to raise ambitions for safety. He urges you to think more deeply and critically about metrics, while broadening your perspective beyond hazards to a more empathetic approach.

Resources recommended by Todd:

Home - Safety On The Edge Conference

SafetyInsights.org – Home of safety & risk research summaries

Dr. Todd Loushine on LinkedIn:

Todd William Loushine, PhD, PE, CSP, CIH | LinkedIn

Safety Labs is created by Safety Products Global, the world's leading manufacturer of safety knives. Through our trusted brands, Klever, Slice and PHC, we empower companies to prevent injuries by providing safer cutting tools for every material and application. Find us at www.safetyproducts.global

If you have any questions, please email us at safetylabs@safetyproducts.global

In this episode, Mary Conquest speaks with Lori Guasta, a safety leader whose career spans frontline practice, academia and consultancy.

Lori reflects on the profession’s obsession with the next shiny object, even though the fundamentals that support safe work have been understood for decades. She explains that chasing the latest silver bullet will actually distract organizations from doing safety well.

Leadership development and cultural change are key themes throughout this inspiring conversation; however, Lori’s experience allows her to cover many important areas, including generational change and women’s role in workplace safety.

Lori encourages EHS professionals to step back from the noise, reconnect with proven principles and focus on what genuinely supports people to work safely. This episode offers practical guidance to get back to basics and ignore the temptation to search for safety shortcuts.

Explore the life’s work of Edgar Schein: Edgar H. Schein: books, biography

Lori Guasta on LinkedIn: Lori Guasta, Ph.D. | LinkedIn

Safety Labs is created by Safety Products Global, the world's leading manufacturer of safety knives. Through our trusted brands, Klever, Slice and PHC, we empower companies to prevent injuries by providing safer cutting tools for every material and application. Find us at www.safetyproducts.global

If you have any questions, please email us at safetylabs@safetyproducts.global