Hazard/Risk
Safety Rules and the Wise
Remember when you were a kid and some grown-up would see you with your shoelaces untied?
February 15, 2018
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Execution
Perspective – And Leadership
In this month’s Managing Safety Performance News Paul examines the perspective of leaders, how perspective can effect a leaders action, and how leaders can get a new perspective. He suggests the right perspective about safety is helpful, even critical, to sending everyone home alive and well at the end of the day.
January 31, 2018
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Hazard/Risk
Taking Care of Safety
The question of what comes first – production or safety – is one that is asked the world over. It’s easy to get caught up in the moment…
January 15, 2018
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Execution
The Danger Zone
In this month’s Managing Safety Performance News Paul starts the New Year by examining the challenges of leadership and looking at how complacency plays into the goal of sending everyone home, at the end of each and every shift, alive and well.
January 1, 2018
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Uncategorized
The Perfect Gift
In this month’s Managing Safety Performance News Paul makes his suggestion for the best gift of all for your followers. Want to give a gift that really makes a difference, check out Paul’s suggestion.
December 22, 2017
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Hazard/Risk
Harm’s Way
When it comes to getting hurt, there are only three ways that can happen: from something you do; from something someone else does to you; by an Act of God.
December 15, 2017
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Execution
Effect – And Cause
In this month’s Managing Safety Performance News Paul digs into some of those recent events to see what we can use back on the job to make sure everyone goes home alive and well at the end of each and every day.
November 30, 2017
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Hazard/Risk
A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words
Behind every safety rule stands a reason. And that reason almost always has something to do with someone getting hurt, making “every safety rule written in blood.”
November 15, 2017
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Execution
Word Games
In this month’s Managing Safety Performance News I sent Paul to an ancient place and he came back with some very interesting and useful insights that he shares in this month’s News. I was rewarded and I suspect you will be too.
October 31, 2017
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Hazard/Risk
Got Machines?
Machinery is everywhere: all that production equipment; maintenance equipment like mills lathes, welders; equipment moving equipment…
October 13, 2017
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Popular Topics
Popular Articles
Appreciating Feedback
In this month’s Flash what might get in the way of intervention, why feedback matters, and how a simple “thank you” can encourage the conversations that help prevent injuries.
Coaching Leaders
In this month’s Managing Safety Performance News, Gary Rivenes explores what effective coaching looks like when safety leadership moves from the classroom to the field. Gary writes from experience: before joining Balmert Consulting, he spent more than thirty years in mining leadership roles, from supervising a seventy-person crew to serving as Chief Operating Officer. In those roles, coaching leaders was not a theory or a program. It was part of getting the work done safely and sending people home alive and well at the end of the day.
All “Those” Rules…
In this month’s Flash we discuss “dumb rules”, and re-visit an easy way to put on great Tool Box Safety Meetings. Unfortunately those sorts of rules are often unwanted and seen as unnecessary, here’s one idea to help you reduce the chance a new one might be needed in the first place.
A Case Study
This month Paul explains that investigation reports are valuable leadership tools not simply because they identify technical causes, but because they reveal how familiar execution challenges—such as limited training, inexperience, weak supervision coverage, fatigue, time pressure, and inconsistent use of PPE—combine to produce serious outcomes. The primary purpose of an investigation is to help ensure an event does not happen again, but equally important is the Performance Visibility investigations provide: a clearer understanding of what is actually happening where work is being performed.
Situational Awareness
In this month’s Flash we look at static hazard recognition. Knowing and understanding where stored energy exists, which might not always be obvious, helps us ensure everyone goes home alive and well.
Looking In The Mirror
In this month’s Managing Safety Performance News, guest contributor and Balmert Consulting senior teacher Van Long reflects on a simple but powerful idea: the most effective safety leadership begins with self-reflection.
Expectations and Assumptions
In this month’s Flash we look at the difference between an expectation and an assumption. That distinction might seem subtle at first glance, however the difference found in the definitions proves a very critical point for anyone who leads and manages safety.
Environment And Safety
In this issue of Managing Safety Performance News, Paul looks at why separating “environment” from “safety” misses the point. Using real work examples—from hauling tools over a snowbank to executive debates about compliance—he makes the case that many hazards don’t come from the job itself, but from the conditions in which the work is done. By stripping injuries down to simple “headlines” and sorting them by the source of the hazard, patterns start to emerge that are easy to miss in root cause analysis reports. The takeaway is straightforward: environment and safety are inseparable, and leaders who want better safety performance need to see the work—and its hazards—clearly, from the moment it begins.
Finding “The Source”
In this month’s Flash, we explore where hazards come from—and why that matters. Understanding their sources is a critical step in identifying what could cause harm.
It’s Just Common Sense
This month Paul examines how leaders often misuse the phrase “it’s just common sense”—either to dismiss learning or to assume shared understanding without definition. He argues that many leadership statements presented as fact are really opinions, and that poor communication stems from assuming others interpret words, experience, and expectations the same way.
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