Paul Balmert

Hazard/Risk

Complacency Arising?

This month, Paul examines the challenge of complacency for leaders and their followers. He asks the question when was the last time you read an investigation report that began, “The root cause of this terrible tragedy can be found in the simple fact that so many of those involved failed to treat things as seriously as they needed to be”? For some reason, it’s rare for complacency to be described as the cause of a safety event. He goes on to discuss what to do about the problem of complacency.

June 30, 2025 No Comments

Safety Meeting Topics

Without Warning?

This month’s Flash is prompted by several high profile catastrophic failures. While they’ll be the subject of in-depth investigation, they immediately raise a vitally important question for anyone interested in safety: how to decide what “non-event” events to take seriously?

June 16, 2025 No Comments

Hazard/Risk

The Critics Speak

This month, Paul focuses on the vital topic of hazard recognition, examining why failure to recognize hazards continues to show up in incident and near-miss reports. He underscores the reality that whenever someone is injured, a hazard is always present. Drawing on Dr. Daniel Kahneman’s psychological studies, Paul explores how human cognition impacts the way we perceive hazards. He concludes that leaders play a crucial role in fostering a culture where individuals feel compelled to take action when they detect a hazard or serious concern. The message is clear: if you see something, say something, and do something! This is an important read for any leader… and their followers.

May 30, 2025 No Comments

Safety Meeting Topics

Assuming That Can Never Happen

In last month’s Flash we looked at one Fatal Assumption too commonly made, assuming “That will never happen to me”. This month Paul looks at a second Fatal Assumption, assuming “That will never happen.”

May 15, 2025 No Comments

Execution

About Those Details

This month Paul applies some of the key lessons he and Dr. Pete Robison explored in last month’s Managing Safety Performance News and the accompanying That’s A Darn Good Question podcast to a real case study involving two fatalities. He draws three very important lessons about execution that can make all the difference between going home alive and well at the end of the day… or not.

April 30, 2025 No Comments

Safety Meeting Topics

Fatal Assumption?

In this month’s Flash, Paul looks into a tragic and fatal event for which two known facts and one likely assumption serve as important lessons in sending folks home alive and well.

April 15, 2025 No Comments

Hazard/Risk

What Was He Thinking?

This month Paul examines an off-the-job injury to the number one rated professional golfer, Scottie Scheffler who was seriously injured when he used an improvised tool to make dinner. Paul and colleague Dr. Pete Robison examine “What was he thinking?” framing the conversation around Thinking Fast.. And Slow teachings of Nobel Prize winner Daniel Kahneman.

March 31, 2025 No Comments

Safety Meeting Topics

Ladder Safety Month

In this month’s Flash we continue the campaign to help you improve your safety tool box meetings with an example on ladder safety.

March 14, 2025 No Comments

Execution

Execution and Leadership

This month Paul examines execution in business and as it relates to sending people home alive and well at the end of the day. He shares the story of one of his former bosses who thought like McKay. Paul explains plans are important, but execution is what is done, and how well things are done. He says, “Yes, there can be cases where failure was a function of a terrible plan fabulously executed, but they’re pretty rare.” He discusses the problems with execution and leaves us with some valuable lessons that can make a difference ensuring everyone goes home safe every day.

February 27, 2025 No Comments

Safety Meeting Topics

An Ask – Don’t Tell Safety Meeting

In this month’s Flash we provide another example for an Ask, Don’t Tell Safety Meeting. The example serves as a reminder on the use of the tool, and provides an important lesson to be learned about accidents.

February 18, 2025 No Comments

Popular Articles

Accountability

This month, we are pleased to feature an article by Newton Scavone, one of our most experienced members of the Balmert teaching team, based in São Paulo. Newton started as a client learning and using the MSP tools, then became one of the leaders developed to teach the course inside his company. For the last six years, many of you have known him as a Balmert Consulting teacher. He brings deep operational credibility and a clear understanding of what it takes to make these tools work in the real world.

Enough Said?

In this month’s Flash, we take a look at a very important first step to ensure conversations go as well as they ought to when expectations around safety haven’t been met.

Managing Hazards

This month, Paul takes on one of the toughest challenges every leader faces — managing hazards. Not just the big, obvious ones that make the “A List,” but the ordinary, everyday things that cause most of the injuries. He reminds us that managing hazards isn’t about eliminating every risk; it’s about handling them — and the people around them — “with a degree of skill and care.”

Beyond the Rules

In this months Flash we look at the importance of Safety Rules, and a very critical concept about the rules that ensures they help keep us safe.

My Supervisor

In this month’s Managing Safety Performance News Paul takes on the challenge of trust and credibility in leadership—he discusses why they’re eroding at the top, why supervisors hold the real advantage, and what that means for influencing followers to work safe. He makes the case that trust is not a given but a hard-earned reward—and the most powerful tool any leader has for sending everyone home safe, every day.

Setbacks

In this month’s Flash we take a look at setbacks, and the unique opportunity they provide to a leader in ensuring followers know and understand what is most important.

Blowing The Whistle

In this month’s Managing Safety Performance News Paul reflects on the investigations into Challenger and the Titan submersible. From Richard Feynman’s ice-water demonstration to the Coast Guard’s scathing report, Paul points out that history shows how truth can be buried, warnings ignored, and lives lost.

Leading With Questions

In this month’s Flash, we look at the important role questions have in ensuring Followers understand hazards and safe work practices.

Managing Success

In this month’s Managing Safety Performance, Bill Wilson explores the importance of analyzing and understanding success with the same diligence that organizations typically reserve for failures. He argues that leaders often overlook everyday successes, missing the opportunity to identify and replicate what works. He makes the case that by focusing on success organizations can focus resources on impactful initiatives, reduce waste, and improve long-term performance—ultimately making sustained improvement a strategic priority rather than a lucky outcome.

Don’t Know What You Don’t Know?

In this month’s Flash, we take a look at one method that can help when it comes to discovering problems unknown to leadership.

Paul Balmert

Popular Topics

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