Shows
Punk Rock SafetyEp. 36: The Process of Belief (w/ Ian Madison)Ian Madison rolls in with a background of ethically hunted animals (that's what he told us), evidence of like eight million Bad Religion shows, and some serious desire to talk about how traditional safety measurements are about as useful as a broken guitar string. Not a bass string, because a broken bass string is about as useful as the rest of them anyway.Seriously, though. Check out the video on YouTube to see what Ian has going on behind him.The episode title is one of the best punk albums of all time, The Process...2025-07-2357 minPunk Rock SafetyEp. 35: Please Play This Song On The Radio (w/ Michael Bathgate and Taylor Hewlett)Even though they're not really into punk rock, Michael and Taylor from Imperial Oil are pretty badass (and the title of this episode is a NOFX song that Michael somehow remembered, so we'll take it). And they're movie stars in a video from Energy Safety Canada about the 4Ds from Learning Teams, Inc.The Imperial boys are the first to tell you they aren't safety people - they're field ops guys just trying to solve some problems. Pretty fucking punk, right? Shit wasn't going the way it should, so they just figured out what would work. Not...2025-07-0958 minPunk Rock SafetyEp. 34: Career Opportunities (With David Strano)"Sometimes work just fucking sucks"That's what David Strano said back on the Decline episode, and if you're not careful, saying smart things gets you volun-told for a guest appearance on the pod. David's a former touring roadie turned HSE director. That basically means he knows a lot about both parts of the PRS podcast, so the boys are considering just handing over the reins. Shit, he even knows what episode number we're on.It's a rare episode when there's not a NOFX song title involved, but this one goes way back in time with...2025-06-2555 minPunk Rock SafetyEp. 33: It’s My Job to Keep Punk Rock (Safety) EliteThis week, the boys are talking about theory and practice, because, as the listener who submitted the question says, "fuck you, that's why."It's true, there's a lot of safety literature out there that's gotten more head-up-its-own-ass. Moralizing about safety is cool until it isn't, and the question is a good one (it was something like wanting to hear more about decision-making and doing things instead of recycling ideas as a career by itself).It can feel like things get way too academic and maybe even elite. That said, the boys argue that p...2025-06-1149 minPunk Rock SafetyEp. 32: Authority Zero"I think the context was kind of like, how do you go about trying to maybe introduce or convince your organization on some of the more contemporary ideas, when your organization is deeply rooted in zero harm and... Well, I think that's mostly it. Or something like that." It's our first *official* episode dedicated to a listener question, and Dave totally nailed the summary with the leadoff quote.So what happens when people in authority are focused on zero? Well, for one, you name the episode after the band Authority Zero.It's not s...2025-05-2850 minPunk Rock SafetyEp. 31: The DeclineIt was sort of like a NOFX show. People had the wrong time, Ron rolled in when he felt like it, a lot of friends were there, and a few hooligans showed up to make sure we actually did something.Seriously, though, thanks to the gang for ideas and discussion. It wasn't quite as messy as inviting Fletcher on stage, but we've got time to work up to it.With the faithful there (and Ron later on), the discussion started out by asking: "Is any of this actually new?" There is a sense sometimes that...2025-05-141h 06Punk Rock SafetyEp. 30: First Ditch EffortFirst off, every new episode is sort of a surprise, but making it to Episode 30 is about 29 more than the boys expected. And of course the title is from a NOFX album.In celebration of Ron's (new) real job at a bit of a startup, we thought that talking about how you'd build your safety empire from scratch might look. The boys' discussion centers on starting with executive leaders to create a vision for what really good safety would look, sound, and feel like. There's - shockingly - a fair bit of BS in the m...2025-04-3057 minPunk Rock SafetyEp. 29: Wolves in Wolves’ ClothingTwo-thirds of the dickheads on this podcast are consultants, so an episode about consulting seemed like a good idea.Also, there's a lot of chatter at conferences, online, and probably in bars that play ska music about how safety has just become commoditized and monetized. Usually, it's a consultant trying to sell something who's saying that.Ben, Ron, and Dave head into the dimly lit back alleys where consultants apparently live to look at the good, the bad, and the sometimes fucked up realities of bringing external help into organizations. The reality for many organizations...2025-04-1653 min
This is Fine! A podcast about resilience engineering and softwareResilience, Complexity, and Your Boss a collab w/Punk Rock SafetyBen (Goodheart), Dave (Provan) and Ron (Gantt) have the very awesome podcast Punk Rock Safety (punkrocksafety.com) - you can get your own punk rock safety merch at punkrocksafetymerch.comCharles Perrow wrote Normal Accidents and talks about safety and power in his essay (book, really), Complex Organizations.Drew Rae lit the stage on fire about safety work as soothing rather than actually improving safety: EHS Congress Berlin 2024 - Day2Dr. Richard Cook’s concepts of ‘Above the Line/Below the Line’ got a shout out - here’s...2025-04-0955 minPunk Rock SafetyEp. 28: Insulted By Germans (Again)It's almost a theme at this point, but if you guessed the episode title is also a NOFX song, you're the winner. It's a pretty deep cut from the Backstage Pass album, but it gets right to the point of this episode - that culture shapes meaning. And safety can mean a lot of different things when we aren't careful to understand it in the context of culture. We could have gone with the Pennywise song "Society," but we didn't. It's cool if you like that one better.In this episode of the PRS podcast, the boys...2025-04-0249 minPunk Rock SafetyEp. 27: Eat The MeekHey, you guessed it - a title from a NOFX song.This time, the boys are talking about power. It's a pretty punk rock topic, because there's a lot of music about subverting power.The conversation starts with the same BS as usual - you're welcome. Eventually, it moves to the good stuff of complexities of power and politics in safety and the importance of decentralized decision-making and deference to expertise. The boys discuss the impact of power imbalances on team dynamics, communication, and safety, and links to studies and real-world examples. Really, t...2025-03-1955 minPunk Rock SafetyEp. 26: Anarchy in the U(S)Like the Sex Pistols song, but with more cowboys and stuff.There's been some talk of abolishing the health and safety regulator - OSHA - in the US. It's pretty punk to think of full-scale safety anarchy, but is that what would really happen?Maybe leaving safety performance up to companies wouldn't be so bad. After all, things were going great before regulation, right? It was a magical place where FSMM reigned supreme. At least sometimes.The boys haven't been good about predicting the future so far, so this episode probably isn't much...2025-03-0550 minPunk Rock SafetyEp. 25: Safety Is Easy (Like Your Mom)Ron is back!Turns out that even a punk band needs a lead guitar, no matter how simple some people say it is to play.In this episode, the boys stumble onto the topic of whether safety can be a simple formula. There are some recent publications that represent it that way, but it's sort of like trying to define punk music. There are probably a million ways to describe it, and in the end, it doesn't matter anyway. We've already covered safety metrics on PRS, but this is a little different. It's a...2025-02-1957 minPunk Rock SafetyEp. 24: Digging A Hole For Myself (With Josh Bryant)Josh Bryant joins the pod for this episode because Ron's out doing real work, apparently. Joshie is a big-time safety and risk guy in the mining industry, and he's Australian, so this episode gets a Frenzal Rhomb song title to match.Not wanting to disrupt the norm of unpreparedness, the boys figured it out on the fly (even though it was Josh's job, and if he cared more, he'd have done it better).The topic: "What's going on out in industry with all this safety stuff?"The two guys without actual jobs are...2025-02-0657 minPunk Rock SafetyEp. 23: Los Angeles is BurningShit. Things are crazy, man. As the Bad Religion song says, "Los Angeles Is Burning." Link to the song below, if you're into that sort of thing.Seriously, though, if you're one of the 11 listeners and you're out in LA and need help, drop PRS a line at info@punkrocksafety.com. Punks help punks - always.In the middle of all the chaos out on the West Coast of the US, there are some really cool stories of resilience.So, that's what the boys are talking about in this episode. Resilience isn't something...2025-01-2254 minPunk Rock SafetyEp. 22: The Idiots Are Taking OverDon't you think Punk Rock Safety isn't taking safety seriously enough? Making jokes about safety is surely a sign that some idiot doesn't care enough, right?Uhhh, no. And that applies to safety pros who are having a good time, laughing, and joking as they do their jobs, too.Why aren't people saying, "Whoa, this is fucking awesome!" when the safety folks come around? If the seriousness that a lot of people think is associated with safety was working, we wouldn't be fighting to get folks' attention all the time. If safety is s...2025-01-0859 minPunk Rock SafetyEp. 21: Do They Owe Us a Living?It's a Christmas miracle! We made it to 21. Seriously, though, this episode is coming out on Christmas or the day after, depending on where you are in the world. You're welcome.Man, some weird shit's been going down in the world of CEOs lately. We promise we have nothing to do with it. But this episode does. First, it's important to point out it's not a NOFX reference this time. It is a song from Crass, though, so this one's for you if you like old-school shit.There are a lot of references in safety...2024-12-2552 minPunk Rock SafetyEp. 20: I'm So Sorry TonySometimes bad shit happens to good people. We know it's weird, but here's another episode with a NOFX title. This time, it's a song about Tony Sly's (from No Use For a Name) death. Good dude and an awesome musician, but dead way too early.What about when organizations that are trying really hard to do safety stuff have an accident? Or a fatality?That can feel tough to reconcile, even though we can (and should) separate outcomes from building systems that effectively reduce safety risk. What do we do when there are emotional or...2024-12-1153 minPunk Rock SafetyEp. 19: The CauseWe keep forgetting (except for now, because we're definitely mentioning it) to say that there's some evidence that Fat Mike from NOFX loves the podcast. We'd go so far as to say it's his favorite pod.We're the "Seal Team 6 of podcasts," says Ron, because there's no prep at all except Provan. That guy has always been pre-gaming.So, the boys take on the topic of evidence-based safety, whether safety is a science or if we're just doing it for The Cause (see, there's a NOFX reference).Who gets to decide what evidence...2024-12-031h 00Punk Rock SafetyEp. 18: The War On ErrorismYet another NOFX inspired title, huh? Yep. We're a one-trick pony around here.The boys have finally gotten around to human error, which is a theme for this podcast anyway. Maybe there's a difference between fuck-up and error, though?It's been a "squishy" part of understanding safety, incidents, performance, efficiency, etc. for a long time. Mostly, Ron just likes saying "squishy."So, what is human error? Is it a legitimate concern or a red herring? Where does intent and context come into the equation? Somewhere in the mix of stupid conversation, there's some...2024-11-1355 minPunk Rock SafetyEp. 17: 21st Century Digital Boy (With Colette Alexander)This one's a little different. The title may give some of that away (and it's a Bad Religion song).None of your three hosts are tech wizards, but Collette Alexander joins the pod, and she is (even though she might argue that).Colette has been a professional cellist, worked in software engineering at Spotify, and earned a Master's degree from Lund University in Human Factors. She's got a lot of tattoos, too.There's a lot of banter, but the thing this episode really looks at is how reliability in software compares to other...2024-10-301h 02Punk Rock SafetyEp. 16: Fuck AuthorityIt's Episode 16, punks.The boys start this one with a peek behind the curtain into just how much prep goes into the pod. Spoiler: not a lot. It's sort of like a punk show that way.The topic for 16 is regulators, which means it's a great time for Pennywise's Fuck Authority (link in the show notes).That's probably not a great way to handle regulation, though. So what can you do? Are all regulations important? Do we have to respond to each one with some sort of 'thing' we can point to to...2024-10-1653 minPunk Rock SafetyEp. 15.5: Someone Else Is HurtAlright, the First Annual PRS Field Trip was a success.Well, Ron fucked up our TRIR, but it was a success other than that.We recorded a short episode midway through the 3-day Punk in Drublic Festival. Ben is sleepy, Dave's jetlagged, and Ron's head hurts, but we made it.This episode is short because we've got video of some of the live performances. Until someone complains and they get taken down.Watch it on YouTube, ya animals. It's better that way.
DISCLAIMER: You probably shouldn't t...2024-10-1044 minPunk Rock SafetyEp. 15: SelloutsIn punk, being a sellout means you've abandoned the punk rock culture: anti-authority, DIY, non-conformity, and tearing apart systems that don't work for the people.So what happens if you shake up the idea of safety culture as a cornerstone? Fucking sellouts.The boys talk about culture, some new publications on it, and how it's used as a lazy response to issues with safety or resilience.And there are some discussions about how to make the culture something more than just an excuse when shit goes wrong.Maybe it's not about...2024-10-0256 minPunk Rock SafetyEp. 14: Risk Assess-holesWhen's the last time the outcome of a risk assessment was a surprise? Thought so.So why do we do risk assessments, anyway? Are we really making decisions based on them? It doesn't sound like it. Is it a social process, then? Shit, man, that's a lame party.The boys try to sort through the mess of matrices, JHAs, JSAs, safety risk committees, and all that to get to what we actually expect from an assessment of risk. Oh, and don't forget the 1st Annual PRS Field Trip October 4-6 in LA at t...2024-09-1857 minPunk Rock SafetyEp. 13: I Heard They Suck Live! (With Sam Goodman)Fine. You're right. The title is also the name of a NOFX album. NOFX is rad, though, so we're keeping it.This week, we're talking to a kickass guest, Sam Goodman, about making safety less sucky. Sam even wrote a book about it.The truth is, a lot of people have experienced working with safety folks that just come across as assholes, or buzzkills, or cops, or knobs. It's not a surprise that most people aren't super-stoked to hear the safety person is on-site next week, right?There are a few things that...2024-09-041h 05Punk Rock SafetyEp. 12: Fuck Safety, Make MoneyIt's episode 12, and we've got a new quote for a T-shirt, and instead of "goal conflicts," we just went with the title of the episode. Watch the merch store; we'll get it sorted.So, safety first, right? Maybe. Sometimes. Definitely, when someone asks, I guess. Like we say in the episode, there's probably not a room of executives who hate everything safety. It'd be a weird party, though.The boys talk through some stories, goal conflicts, impossible positions, error traps, and some other stuff that isn't exactly related but is fun anyway. It's a little...2024-08-2156 minPunk Rock SafetyEp. 11: People SuckSnake eyes, MFers!It's episode 11, and with a minute of prep or so, we settled on figuring out if people really are the solution to things, especially safety things.Toxic Narcotic has a song called "People Suck"I mean, sometimes, people are assholes, right? Or dumb? Or aren't they? Sometimes some moron tries to smash a can of triple-expanding foam with a forklift.We don't really think people suck, to be clear. We humans are actually pretty cool. But maybe we're not the only cool thing or the only solution to...2024-08-0758 minPunk Rock SafetyEp. 10: Wanna Go To A Joint Party?The fact that we've made it to episode 10 is sort of miraculous. Like a stage diver, you don't have to want it, but it's happening.We're talking about contractor management—or, as Ron calls it, "cross-boundary joint activity." Ron talks about agents and stuff like that, not even in the context of Agent Orange, which is probably a better conversation.Ok, what we're really looking at is some of the mismatch between why we hire contractors to begin with. How do we reduce friction between clients and contractors? Is it about the alignment of goals? Da...2024-07-241h 00Punk Rock SafetyEp. 9: Ron Goes to CollegeBy the time this episode comes out, Ron will have defended his doctoral dissertation, a whole lot like Milo from The Descendents did. Except Ron is cooler.We're talking about investigations in this episode. What are they for? Ron thinks they're a little different than Dave and Ben do, but the consensus from the boys is that a lot of the espoused values of investigating don't make it into practice. Is it a process of creating closure or are we just dumb?There's some leftover conversation after returning from CHOL, but mostly, we talk about...2024-07-101h 02Punk Rock SafetyEp. 8: PRS Fucking RulesWe said we were going to livestream, but we definitely didn't. Sorry. This shit's harder than it seems like it should be.You should 100% check out the YouTube on this one. Other Ben did some sweet background editing because we were in a hotel meeting room with gold striped fabric walls that looked like a United Nations briefing room. That made it really fucking hard to switch the background, and Other Ben did some solid work here, so give him some love.Uhhhh. Did we mention Ron's defense is on Friday the 28th? h...2024-06-2650 minPunk Rock SafetyEp. 7: Diane Saw the Sex Pistols and You Didn't (With Diane Chadwick-Jones)There's no better title than to make sure we've got Diane's name in it. Why? If you have to ask, go find out, then listen to the episode. There's a punk band called FEAR. Diane hasn't seen them. Anyway, fear of something different is sort of the topic for this episode.We're posting a little early because the CHOL conference is happening this week, and we'll be live there, too.Back to the important stuff: DCJ is kind of a big deal. Even bigger than Ron, and that's saying something. Diane shames us all by...2024-06-1059 minPunk Rock SafetyEp.6: I Wanna Be Your Dog(ma)Ron's halfway done with a dissertation draft, too, so that's a pretty important advance. Don't forget to check out merch at www.punkrocksafetymerch.comWe'll be at CHOL in Henderson, Nevada in a few weeks, so catch up with us there, and look for a live stream episode during the conference!
DISCLAIMER: You probably shouldn't take anything in this podcast too seriously. Punk Rock Safety is for entertainment only. It's definitely not a replacement for professional or legal advice, and the fair amount of piss-taking, shithousery, and general ridiculousness ought to...2024-05-291h 00Punk Rock SafetyEp 5: Size MattersThe fame is getting to Ron's head a little bit. Dave's too. Ben doesn't get out much, but give it time. This one is a little more serious for some reason. Maybe it's because we're talking about metrics and measurement (not behavior-based safety). The boys are all pretty wound up about metrics anyway, so it's a decent topic. Ron's back from Hawaii. Dave's on the way to Denver. Ben's headed to Nashville. All fun and games. There's a really strong pull to measuring safety in some way, and there's a lot of misinformation out...2024-05-151h 01Punk Rock SafetyEp 4: Fuck! Are We Lost?There's some discussion around here about what the next topic should be, but we promise we'll figure something out.
DISCLAIMER: You probably shouldn't take anything in this podcast too seriously. Punk Rock Safety is for entertainment only. It's definitely not a replacement for professional or legal advice, and the fair amount of piss-taking, shithousery, and general ridiculousness ought to clue you into the fact that no one - and no organization - is endorsing (or un-endorsing, if that's a thing) any products, ideas, or other things. Except NOFX. We definitely endorse them.O...2024-05-011h 08Punk Rock SafetyEp 3: Can Anybody Sing? (With John Wilkes)Wait, can I be on the show? Good question. Talk to Ron, and make sure to bring bribery-flavored hot dogs.Seriously though, there's no real plan, but if you have ideas, let us know.This was an episode that included some discussion on leadership, but it won't be the only one. There's a lot to talk about, so it's probably safe to expect more on the topic.Did we mention John Wilkes is on this episode? Give that guy a round of applause for his occasional poor decision-making. Seriously, though, check out what...2024-04-171h 02Punk Rock SafetyEp 2: Here We GoThere was some very real belief that this was an April Fool's joke. It isn't. Sorry about that.Ron, Dave, and Ben discuss what it means to be a safety professional. Well, if safety professionals are even necessary in organizations, Ron's not sure. Ben can't figure out how to go to conferences, so there are some helpful hints about how to do anything useful there. Maybe the podcast could replace a person? Probably not, but we'll consider it along with other options. Anyway, they should maybe be skeptical of their own importance. We sh...2024-04-0650 minPunk Rock SafetyEp 1: Sound CheckIt's the first episode of Punk Rock Safety!Ben, Ron, and Dave are all over the place on this one, but we'll settle into a rhythm soon. In the true spirit of punk, if it isn't good, at least make it loud. So, you might want to turn this first one up.That's ok, though. Safety works the same way a lot of times. There's experimentation and a need for intelligent failure. We're doing our best to manage on that second part.In the next few episodes, we'll look at what makes a...2024-03-2551 min