Uncategorized
What’s Normal?
This month Paul asks what “normal” looks like when it comes to wearing PPE. It’s a simple question, and one well worth asking.
March 18, 2024
No Comments
Leadership
THE Priority
This month Bill Wilson, one of our senior consultant/teachers, examines the decision making that can lead to people getting seriously injured or worse at work. He discusses why part of the problem may be found in the defining and communicating of priorities. He helps us focus on what really matters when it comes to setting and making THE Priority the priority.
February 29, 2024
No Comments
Safety Meeting Topics
Intervening On – And Off – The Job
In this edition of the Flash we look and the difference in approach required when intervening on safety outside of the workplace. The difference is an important one, and knowing it will help you make a bigger difference back on the job, too.
February 16, 2024
No Comments
Leadership
Responsibility
This month Paul examines the responsibilities of leaders, especially when the goal is to make sure everyone goes home alive and well at the end of each and every shift. He explores the challenges of getting everyone working safely and the supervisor’s responsibility for making sure that happens.
January 31, 2024
No Comments
Safety Meeting Topics
Perceiving Hazards
This month Paul looks into how our minds recognize and perceive different types of hazards. You might not be surprised to hear that we aren’t always the best at recognizing what is most likely to hurt us.
January 16, 2024
No Comments
Execution
A Lesson from the Richest Man in Town
This month Paul unravels the mystery of the handshake. Not only does he solve it, but he ties it together with Jimmy Stewart’s It’s A Wonderful Life AND the goal of sending people home alive and well at the end of the day.
December 21, 2023
No Comments
Safety Meeting Topics
Keeping The Lights On
In this month’s Flash Paul nudges us to remember what is most important, and shares some perspective on how to think better when a task seems critical.
December 15, 2023
No Comments
Execution
The Risk Takers
This month, Jay Bizarro is our guest contributor and shares more of his great thinking about how to do exactly that and improve safety performance. He introduces us to “skydivers”, “The Safety Switch”, “The Probability Problem”, and “The Unsafe Behavior Database.”
November 30, 2023
No Comments
Execution
The Individual and the Team
This month Paul has been out on assignment visiting many of our clients. Last week he visited a client’s Safety Day and asked, “What is the secret of your great safety performance?” It lead to a fascinating discussion and some very important learning. In this edition of the News he dives into learning from success and failure on the road to great safety performance.
October 31, 2023
No Comments
Safety Meeting Topics
Stop The Job?
In this month’s Flash Paul shares some very simple thinking about stopping to assess risk. He also shares a tragic story that offers some perspective as to why it is so important to do, especially when problems and pressure are running high.
October 17, 2023
No Comments
Popular Topics
Popular Articles
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.
Resetting PPE Habits
In this months Flash we are re-visiting the fundamental concept of getting folks to follow all of the rules, all of the time. As to how you might move the needle a great place to start is with PPE.
The Holiday Season
This month Paul shares that for twenty-five years, our work has been grounded in disciplined observation, analysis, and testing. That process has shaped how we identify the leadership practices that most directly influence safety performance—the same ideas we teach.
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.
English 
Portuguese 
Spanish 
Russian 
French 
Italian