In this episode, Mary Conquest speaks with Crista Vesel, an academic, author and safety communication specialist whose work focuses on how language influences learning and decision-making in safety-critical environments.

Crista explores why safety professionals often rely on familiar approaches even though they fail to produce meaningful learning. She explains how language used around incidents can steer inquiry in particular directions, narrowing what is explored and what gets left out.

Drawing on her pioneering work on learning reviews, Crista explains how certain language patterns can unintentionally shut down inquiry, reinforce blame and limit understanding. She contrasts this with approaches that support open and collaborative dialogue to give organizations deeper understanding of workplace safety.

This conversation offers EHS professionals practical insight into using language more deliberately, strengthening insights after events and creating cultures where workers share and organisations learn.

The Masters of Engineering program where Crista teaches: Graduate | Advanced Safety Engineering and Management

Her (open access) thesis on agentive language: Language Bias in Accident Investigation

Crista and Ivan’s book: Human & Organization Potential

Find out more about their work: Dynamic Inquiry | All change starts with a question

Kenneth Gergen’s book recommended by Crista: An Invitation to Social Construction

Crista Vesel on LinkedIn: Crista Vesel, MSc | LinkedIn

Ivan Pupulidy on LinkedIn: Ivan Pupulidy, PhD | 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. Simon Goncharenko, a respected thought leader and author on a mission to make safety management theory more accessible.

He examines why many organizations continue to rely on specific philosophies, frameworks and metrics to manage safety, even as serious injuries and fatalities remain stubbornly high. He questions what established measures, such as TRIR, tell us and where they can distract attention from more meaningful risk.

Known for challenging narrow thinking in safety management, Simon revisits key concepts, including behavior-based safety and safety culture, highlighting the crucial gaps between theory and practice.

Throughout the interview, Simon returns to a central theme: safety is not a single-solution challenge. He encourages EHS professionals to broaden their approach, push boundaries and resist over-reliance on specific ideas. Safety is a journey, not a destination.

Simon’s safety management books:

Save Lives: Pushing Boundaries in Human Factors

Operationalizing Twenty-First Century Safety

Find out more about Simon’s work: Save Lives Global – Safety Consulting

Dr. Simon Goncharenko on LinkedIn: Dr. Simon G. | 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 Diane Chadwick-Jones, a former BP safety leader and long-time researcher whose work has shaped how organizations think about safety incentives.

Diane explains why linking pay and bonuses to injury rates often creates unintended consequences, including suppressed reporting and reduced learning. Drawing on years of internal and external research, she shows how incentives can reinforce belief systems that feel right but undermine safety in practice.

She shares how BP and other high-hazard organizations have moved away from injury-based bonuses, what replaced them and why peer recognition, transparency and supportive leadership matter more than annual rewards.

This conversation offers EHS professionals practical insight into influencing senior leaders, changing belief systems over time and building conditions where people feel safe to speak up about problems before they escalate.

Diane’s published research on safety incentives: Rewarding safety performance: Improving safety or maintaining beliefs?

Find out more about Diane’s work: Diane Chadwick-Jones / Safety Leadership / Human Performance

Energy Institute videos Diane recommends:

The modern view of incident causation

Human performance - what does it mean?

Walk through a task to prevent incidents

Safety leadership in the field

Diane Chadwick-Jones on LinkedIn: Diane Chadwick-Jones | 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