In this episode of The Safety Meeting from Novara, we talk with Haleyanne Freedman, Novara’s own manufacturing sector expert, about why near misses in manufacturing may go unreported, and how to fix that. Haleyanne explains that production pressure, a lack of immediate consequences, the paperwork burden, and fear of blame or discipline may suppress reporting. She emphasizes how supervisor behavior, no-blame investigations, visible feedback loops, and leadership accountability can help. She even outlines a 90-day plan: first, diagnose cultural friction, then simplify and broaden access to reporting tools, and lastly, publicly communicate corrective actions and safety trends.

1. (00:00 Introducing Novara’s Haleyanne Freedman
2. (01:02) What Counts as a Near Miss and Why They’re Underreported
3. (04:00) Psychological Safety on the Floor
4. (07:06) Leadership and Supervisor Impact
5. (10:18) Turning Around Safety Culture
6. (14:38) Building a Better Reporting System
7. (17:49) Closing the Loop After Reports
8. (21:01) Lessons from High Consequence Industries
9. (25:42) A 90 Day Action Plan

Thanks for joining another episode of The Safety Meeting, the podcast that makes you smarter about current trends and best practices in workforce safety. From employee engagement to actionable data, and everything in between, tune in to hear how you can work more safely.

If you'd like to receive new episodes as they're published, please subscribe to The Safety Meeting in Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. If you enjoyed this episode, please consider leaving a review in Apple Podcasts or Spotify. It really helps others find the show.

Podcast episode production by Dante32.

In this episode of The Safety Meeting’s Safety Lab, we delve into the relationship between physical injuries at work and mental health. Highlighting a comprehensive meta-analysis by Granger and Turner involving data from 147 studies with 1.5 million people, we discuss the bidirectional connection between workplace injuries and mental health challenges. We explore the impact of injury severity and frequency on mental health, and unpack the importance of integrating both psychological support and physical rehabilitation, for an employee returning to work.

1. (00:17) The Link Between Physical Injuries and Mental Health
2. (01:26) The Cost of Treating Physical and Mental Health Separately
3. (02:25) Underreporting and Its Impact on Safety Metrics
4. (03:45) How Injury Leads to Mental Health Issues
5. (04:27) Understanding Uncertainty and Illness Theory
6. (06:39) Mechanisms Connecting Physical Injuries to Mental Health
7. (08:01) The Role of Cognitive Reframing in Early Intervention
8. (08:27) How Mental Health Challenges Lead to Physical Injuries
9. (10:08) Practical Applications for Safety Programs
10. (12:40) The Importance of Nuanced Measurement in Safety Management

Thanks for joining another episode of The Safety Meeting’s Safety Lab, the podcast that makes you smarter about current trends and best practices in workforce safety. From employee engagement to actionable data, and everything in between, tune in to hear how you can work more safely.

If you'd like to receive new episodes as they're published, please subscribe to The Safety Meeting in Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. If you enjoyed this episode, please consider leaving a review in Apple Podcasts or Spotify. It really helps others find the show.

Podcast episode production by Dante32.

In this episode of The Safety Meeting from Novarro, we talk with Jason Wernex, Director of Safety at Utilitra, a 350-person, woman-owned engineering, technology, and construction firm with a mix of office and field workers. Jason explains how Utilitra moved from paper-based safety processes to a digital system, achieving over 90% adoption in the first year. He shares how user experience, configurability, and flexibility helped his team encourage engagement and demonstrate quick time-to-value. His takeaways: invest time up-front, follow a clear roadmap, start with familiar processes, and launch with groups likely to become ambassadors.

1. (01:19) Introducing Utilitra’s Jason Wernex
2. (04:58) Utilitra’s Implementation Game Plan
3. (06:03) Digitizing Near Misses & Audits First
4. (07:25) Leveraging Ambassadors and Unexpected Self-Serve Adoption
5. (09:26) Why Adoption Hit over 90%
6. (10:58) New Use Cases, and Cross-Department Momentum
7. (14:54) Culture Shift and Reporting Transparency
8. (17:06) Keys to Success: Flexibility, Fast Fixes, and Designing for the End User

Thanks for joining another episode of The Safety Meeting, the podcast that makes you smarter about current trends and best practices in workforce safety. From employee engagement to actionable data, and everything in between, tune in to hear how you can work more safely.

If you'd like to receive new episodes as they're published, please subscribe to The Safety Meeting in Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. If you enjoyed this episode, please consider leaving a review in Apple Podcasts or Spotify. It really helps others find the show.

Podcast episode production by Dante32.