Paul Balmert
Leadership

The Journey To Zero

This month Paul discuss the annual performance review process on The Journey to Zero. He reflects on safety goals and the measurement of safety performance and if there is a measurement there is a need for comparison — aka benchmarking. This is where it gets really interesting — compared to what? Then he points out the part of the process that in his experience is not done well. I think you’ll find his conclusions quite interesting and even useful.

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January 31, 2023 No Comments
Safety Meeting Topics

About Awareness

In this edition of the Flash, Paul raises some interesting questions about what being aware of a hazard actually means.

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January 16, 2023 No Comments
Execution

On Further Review

This month Paul reflects back on the annual tradition of reflecting back during the holidays about what matters most and sending people home alive and well at the end of the year. He discusses the value of reflecting back on incidents and near misses — the root cause of root causes. And he shares his thoughts on the flaws in most investigations, but I am going to stop there and let him have the last word.

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December 16, 2022 No Comments
Leadership

Seeking Understanding

This month Newton Scavone, one of our senior teacher/consultants, who was born and raised in Brazil, shares his thoughts on many aspects of understanding and why it matters to sending people home alive and well at the end of the day. He shares his journey seeking understanding and explains the difference, in his terms of art, between “square feet” and “cubic feet” of understanding.

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November 30, 2022 No Comments
Safety Meeting Topics

A Little Doubt

Doubt is a feeling of uncertainty; a lack of conviction. Feel unsure, you’ll be reluctant to commit and take action. Thinking that sounds like a bad thing, but it that really true – for safety?

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November 16, 2022 No Comments
Leadership

Owning Safety

This month Paul steps aside so that Gary Rivenes, one of our senior teacher/consultants, can share his thoughts on the responsibility of leaders to own safety — theirs and that of those who work for them. Gary makes the case that owning safety is critical to getting great safety performance but that owning it, without acting on it, is not enough.

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October 31, 2022 No Comments
Safety Meeting Topics

A Reset

This month Paul takes a moment to hit the reset button when it comes to running effective safety meetings, and revisits the simple approach of asking the right questions to help you make the most of yours.

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October 17, 2022 No Comments
Hazard/Risk

Recognizing Hazards

This month Paul does a deep dive into understanding hazards — what can hurt us – and hazard recognition. Actually, that is not exactly correct, he does a deep dive into understanding the failure to recognize hazards and getting to the truth about what really happened. As long as I have known him, Paul has had a fascination of trying to understand what really happened when things go wrong. He puts the “axe of truth” to the reported findings. He has done Root Cause of Root Cause investigations analyzing the findings of reports in his organization and those in the public domains. Whatever your role in your organization, understanding what he shares this month can make a difference sending people home alive and well at the end of the day.

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October 3, 2022 No Comments
Safety Meeting Topics

Knowing And Understanding

There’s a world of difference between knowing something and understanding it. In this edition of the Flash, Paul gives some insight as to how we come to understand, as well as what might be done with that important knowledge.

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September 15, 2022 No Comments
Execution

The More Things Change

This summer Paul has locked himself in his hut, affectionately known as “The Cave”, working on the Second Edition of Alive And Well At The End Of The Day. Last week Paul finished the task and has reemerged from The Cave. This month he shares some of what he was thinking about while writing. He reflects on making change happen, accountability and culture while discussing recent headlines. He’s included some insight into the writing process as well.

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September 6, 2022 No Comments

Popular Topics

Popular Articles

The Journey To Zero

This month Paul discuss the annual performance review process on The Journey to Zero. He reflects on safety goals and the measurement of safety performance and if there is a measurement there is a need for comparison — aka benchmarking. This is where it gets really interesting — compared to what? Then he points out the part of the process that in his experience is not done well. I think you’ll find his conclusions quite interesting and even useful.

Read More »

On Further Review

This month Paul reflects back on the annual tradition of reflecting back during the holidays about what matters most and sending people home alive and well at the end of the year. He discusses the value of reflecting back on incidents and near misses — the root cause of root causes. And he shares his thoughts on the flaws in most investigations, but I am going to stop there and let him have the last word.

Read More »

Seeking Understanding

This month Newton Scavone, one of our senior teacher/consultants, who was born and raised in Brazil, shares his thoughts on many aspects of understanding and why it matters to sending people home alive and well at the end of the day. He shares his journey seeking understanding and explains the difference, in his terms of art, between “square feet” and “cubic feet” of understanding.

Read More »

A Little Doubt

Doubt is a feeling of uncertainty; a lack of conviction. Feel unsure, you’ll be reluctant to commit and take action. Thinking that sounds like a bad thing, but it that really true – for safety?

Read More »

Owning Safety

This month Paul steps aside so that Gary Rivenes, one of our senior teacher/consultants, can share his thoughts on the responsibility of leaders to own safety — theirs and that of those who work for them. Gary makes the case that owning safety is critical to getting great safety performance but that owning it, without acting on it, is not enough.

Read More »

A Reset

This month Paul takes a moment to hit the reset button when it comes to running effective safety meetings, and revisits the simple approach of asking the right questions to help you make the most of yours.

Read More »

Recognizing Hazards

This month Paul does a deep dive into understanding hazards — what can hurt us – and hazard recognition. Actually, that is not exactly correct, he does a deep dive into understanding the failure to recognize hazards and getting to the truth about what really happened. As long as I have known him, Paul has had a fascination of trying to understand what really happened when things go wrong. He puts the “axe of truth” to the reported findings. He has done Root Cause of Root Cause investigations analyzing the findings of reports in his organization and those in the public domains. Whatever your role in your organization, understanding what he shares this month can make a difference sending people home alive and well at the end of the day.

Read More »

Knowing And Understanding

There’s a world of difference between knowing something and understanding it. In this edition of the Flash, Paul gives some insight as to how we come to understand, as well as what might be done with that important knowledge.

Read More »

The More Things Change

This summer Paul has locked himself in his hut, affectionately known as “The Cave”, working on the Second Edition of Alive And Well At The End Of The Day. Last week Paul finished the task and has reemerged from The Cave. This month he shares some of what he was thinking about while writing. He reflects on making change happen, accountability and culture while discussing recent headlines. He’s included some insight into the writing process as well.

Read More »
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