Punk Rock Safety

Sometimes bad shit happens to good people. We know it's weird, but here's another episode with a NOFX title. This time, it's a song about Tony Sly's (from No Use For a Name) death. Good dude and an awesome musician, but dead way too early.What about when organizations that are trying really hard to do safety stuff have an accident? Or a fatality?That can feel tough to reconcile, even though we can (and should) separate outcomes from building systems that effectively reduce safety risk. What do we do when there are emotional or political calls for something more? There's something unsatisfying about saying that sometimes shit happens. There's some tension there, and that's what the episode is about.The boys talk about who decides what a "good" organization is and what a "bad" outcome is. Dave - the lover of zero - makes a good point about understanding the difference between doing lots of things and an actual, meaningful change to work. How do we figure our way around failures of foreign, peeling back layers of monotony, and all that other stuff.We're biased, but we think it's a conversation worth having. You could be really good at safety management and have a fatality (and the other way around).  "What if all organizations are just as fucked as each other?" Exactly.NOFX I'm So Sorry Tony  DISCLAIMER: You probably shouldn't take anything in this podcast too seriously. Punk Rock Safety is for entertainment only. It's definitely not a replacement for professional or legal advice, and the fair amount of piss-taking, shithousery, and general ridiculousness ought to clue you into the fact that no one - and no organization - is endorsing (or un-endorsing, if that's a thing) any products, ideas, or other things. Except NOFX. We definitely endorse them.Oh, and give your money to Punk Rock Saves Lives. They're a rad organization that works in mental health, addiction, and human rights. And they're awesome people who can use your help to keep on kicking ass at what they do.https://www.punkrocksaveslives.org/Let us know what you think at info@punkrocksafety.com or on our LinkedIn page.Merch at punkrocksafetymerch.com

We keep forgetting (except for now, because we're definitely mentioning it) to say that there's some evidence that Fat Mike from NOFX loves the podcast. We'd go so far as to say it's his favorite pod.We're the "Seal Team 6 of podcasts," says Ron, because there's no prep at all except Provan. That guy has always been pre-gaming.So, the boys take on the topic of evidence-based safety, whether safety is a science or if we're just doing it for The Cause (see, there's a NOFX reference).Who gets to decide what evidence matters? Probably Ron, because he was in school the longest of anyone. Is evidence saved for those things we don't agree with, because it sure seems that way sometimes.Safety is a little weird in that there isn't a lot of experimental evidence, but that might be a feature, not a bug. It is a challenge though, and maybe something that makes it tough for safety professionals to know what to rely on as a sound foundation for practice.Not sure relying on this pod as a source of knowledge is best, but you should listen anyway.NOFX The Cause  DISCLAIMER: You probably shouldn't take anything in this podcast too seriously. Punk Rock Safety is for entertainment only. It's definitely not a replacement for professional or legal advice, and the fair amount of piss-taking, shithousery, and general ridiculousness ought to clue you into the fact that no one - and no organization - is endorsing (or un-endorsing, if that's a thing) any products, ideas, or other things. Except NOFX. We definitely endorse them.Oh, and give your money to Punk Rock Saves Lives. They're a rad organization that works in mental health, addiction, and human rights. And they're awesome people who can use your help to keep on kicking ass at what they do.https://www.punkrocksaveslives.org/Let us know what you think at info@punkrocksafety.com or on our LinkedIn page.Merch at punkrocksafetymerch.com

Yet another NOFX inspired title, huh? Yep. We're a one-trick pony around here.The boys have finally gotten around to human error, which is a theme for this podcast anyway. Maybe there's a difference between fuck-up and error, though?It's been a "squishy" part of understanding safety, incidents, performance, efficiency, etc. for a long time. Mostly, Ron just likes saying "squishy."So, what is human error? Is it a legitimate concern or a red herring? Where does intent and context come into the equation? Somewhere in the mix of stupid conversation, there's some useful discussion on all of those topics and more.What do you think? Is error just a function of random variation or is it the dumb people that are causing all the problems?NOFX "War on Errorism"  DISCLAIMER: You probably shouldn't take anything in this podcast too seriously. Punk Rock Safety is for entertainment only. It's definitely not a replacement for professional or legal advice, and the fair amount of piss-taking, shithousery, and general ridiculousness ought to clue you into the fact that no one - and no organization - is endorsing (or un-endorsing, if that's a thing) any products, ideas, or other things. Except NOFX. We definitely endorse them.Oh, and give your money to Punk Rock Saves Lives. They're a rad organization that works in mental health, addiction, and human rights. And they're awesome people who can use your help to keep on kicking ass at what they do.https://www.punkrocksaveslives.org/Let us know what you think at info@punkrocksafety.com or on our LinkedIn page.Merch at punkrocksafetymerch.com

This one's a little different. The title may give some of that away (and it's a Bad Religion song).None of your three hosts are tech wizards, but Collette Alexander joins the pod, and she is (even though she might argue that).Colette has been a professional cellist, worked in software engineering at Spotify, and earned a Master's degree from Lund University in Human Factors. She's got a lot of tattoos, too.There's a lot of banter, but the thing this episode really looks at is how reliability in software compares to other kinds of human work. And there's some thinking about why folks in safety often look at software as a sort of savior (hint: the software people are the first ones to tell you that reliance on software is a pretty fucking bad idea).Colette shares experience with "shallow metrics," iterative design and test environments, and what Dave has named the five Cs.We learned a lot on this one. Software, AI, and digital safety tools are still a weird, wild world - at least if we don't understand the limitations. Bad Religion "21st Century Digital Boy"  DISCLAIMER: You probably shouldn't take anything in this podcast too seriously. Punk Rock Safety is for entertainment only. It's definitely not a replacement for professional or legal advice, and the fair amount of piss-taking, shithousery, and general ridiculousness ought to clue you into the fact that no one - and no organization - is endorsing (or un-endorsing, if that's a thing) any products, ideas, or other things. Except NOFX. We definitely endorse them.Oh, and give your money to Punk Rock Saves Lives. They're a rad organization that works in mental health, addiction, and human rights. And they're awesome people who can use your help to keep on kicking ass at what they do.https://www.punkrocksaveslives.org/Let us know what you think at info@punkrocksafety.com or on our LinkedIn page.Merch at punkrocksafetymerch.com

It's Episode 16, punks.The boys start this one with a peek behind the curtain into just how much prep goes into the pod. Spoiler: not a lot. It's sort of like a punk show that way.The topic for 16 is regulators, which means it's a great time for Pennywise's Fuck Authority (link in the show notes).That's probably not a great way to handle regulation, though. So what can you do? Are all regulations important? Do we have to respond to each one with some sort of 'thing' we can point to to satisfy a rule, or are we just making shit up sometimes?That's the topic when the guys can focus, but there's the usual bullshit, too. Check it out, there's actually some good stuff in there. Pennywise "Fuck Authority"Yep, they played it at Punk in Drublic in LA.   DISCLAIMER: You probably shouldn't take anything in this podcast too seriously. Punk Rock Safety is for entertainment only. It's definitely not a replacement for professional or legal advice, and the fair amount of piss-taking, shithousery, and general ridiculousness ought to clue you into the fact that no one - and no organization - is endorsing (or un-endorsing, if that's a thing) any products, ideas, or other things. Except NOFX. We definitely endorse them.Oh, and give your money to Punk Rock Saves Lives. They're a rad organization that works in mental health, addiction, and human rights. And they're awesome people who can use your help to keep on kicking ass at what they do.https://www.punkrocksaveslives.org/Let us know what you think at info@punkrocksafety.com or on our LinkedIn page.Merch at punkrocksafetymerch.com

In punk, being a sellout means you've abandoned the punk rock culture: anti-authority, DIY, non-conformity, and tearing apart systems that don't work for the people.So what happens if you shake up the idea of safety culture as a cornerstone? Fucking sellouts.The boys talk about culture, some new publications on it, and how it's used as a lazy response to issues with safety or resilience.And there are some discussions about how to make the culture something more than just an excuse when shit goes wrong.Maybe it's not about selling out? You'll figure it out. Listen to the episode.Oh, and don't forget the 1st Annual PRS Field Trip October 4-6 in LA at the Punk in Drublic Fest.  DISCLAIMER: You probably shouldn't take anything in this podcast too seriously. Punk Rock Safety is for entertainment only. It's definitely not a replacement for professional or legal advice, and the fair amount of piss-taking, shithousery, and general ridiculousness ought to clue you into the fact that no one - and no organization - is endorsing (or un-endorsing, if that's a thing) any products, ideas, or other things. Except NOFX. We definitely endorse them.Oh, and give your money to Punk Rock Saves Lives. They're a rad organization that works in mental health, addiction, and human rights. And they're awesome people who can use your help to keep on kicking ass at what they do.https://www.punkrocksaveslives.org/Let us know what you think at info@punkrocksafety.com or on our LinkedIn page.Merch at punkrocksafetymerch.com

When's the last time the outcome of a risk assessment was a surprise? Thought so.So why do we do risk assessments, anyway? Are we really making decisions based on them? It doesn't sound like it. Is it a social process, then? Shit, man, that's a lame party.The boys try to sort through the mess of matrices, JHAs, JSAs, safety risk committees, and all that to get to what we actually expect from an assessment of risk.  Oh, and don't forget the 1st Annual PRS Field Trip October 4-6 in LA at the Punk in Drublic Fest.  DISCLAIMER: You probably shouldn't take anything in this podcast too seriously. Punk Rock Safety is for entertainment only. It's definitely not a replacement for professional or legal advice, and the fair amount of piss-taking, shithousery, and general ridiculousness ought to clue you into the fact that no one - and no organization - is endorsing (or un-endorsing, if that's a thing) any products, ideas, or other things. Except NOFX. We definitely endorse them.Oh, and give your money to Punk Rock Saves Lives. They're a rad organization that works in mental health, addiction, and human rights. And they're awesome people who can use your help to keep on kicking ass at what they do.https://www.punkrocksaveslives.org/Let us know what you think at info@punkrocksafety.com or on our LinkedIn page.Merch at punkrocksafetymerch.com

Fine. You're right. The title is also the name of a NOFX album. NOFX is rad, though, so we're keeping it.This week, we're talking to a kickass guest, Sam Goodman, about making safety less sucky. Sam even wrote a book about it.The truth is, a lot of people have experienced working with safety folks that just come across as assholes, or buzzkills, or cops, or knobs. It's not a surprise that most people aren't super-stoked to hear the safety person is on-site next week, right?There are a few things that probably help dispel the myth that safety is about catching someone doing it wrong, though. That's what the lucky 13th episode is all about: what are we doing to make safety more relatable, useful, and less shitty?  DISCLAIMER: You probably shouldn't take anything in this podcast too seriously. Punk Rock Safety is for entertainment only. It's definitely not a replacement for professional or legal advice, and the fair amount of piss-taking, shithousery, and general ridiculousness ought to clue you into the fact that no one - and no organization - is endorsing (or un-endorsing, if that's a thing) any products, ideas, or other things. Except NOFX. We definitely endorse them.Oh, and give your money to Punk Rock Saves Lives. They're a rad organization that works in mental health, addiction, and human rights. And they're awesome people who can use your help to keep on kicking ass at what they do.https://www.punkrocksaveslives.org/Let us know what you think at info@punkrocksafety.com or on our LinkedIn page.Merch at punkrocksafetymerch.com

It's episode 12, and we've got a new quote for a T-shirt, and instead of "goal conflicts," we just went with the title of the episode. Watch the merch store; we'll get it sorted.So, safety first, right? Maybe. Sometimes. Definitely, when someone asks, I guess. Like we say in the episode, there's probably not a room of executives who hate everything safety. It'd be a weird party, though.The boys talk through some stories, goal conflicts, impossible positions, error traps, and some other stuff that isn't exactly related but is fun anyway. It's a little tricky, and maybe the punk rock thing is just saying that "safety first" isn't possible.Or whatever.Come hang with the boys at the Punk In Drublic fest in LA!   DISCLAIMER: You probably shouldn't take anything in this podcast too seriously. Punk Rock Safety is for entertainment only. It's definitely not a replacement for professional or legal advice, and the fair amount of piss-taking, shithousery, and general ridiculousness ought to clue you into the fact that no one - and no organization - is endorsing (or un-endorsing, if that's a thing) any products, ideas, or other things. Except NOFX. We definitely endorse them.Oh, and give your money to Punk Rock Saves Lives. They're a rad organization that works in mental health, addiction, and human rights. And they're awesome people who can use your help to keep on kicking ass at what they do.https://www.punkrocksaveslives.org/Let us know what you think at info@punkrocksafety.com or on our LinkedIn page.Merch at punkrocksafetymerch.com

Snake eyes, MFers!It's episode 11, and with a minute of prep or so, we settled on figuring out if people really are the solution to things, especially safety things.Toxic Narcotic has a song called "People Suck"I mean, sometimes, people are assholes, right? Or dumb? Or aren't they? Sometimes some moron tries to smash a can of triple-expanding foam with a forklift.We don't really think people suck, to be clear. We humans are actually pretty cool. But maybe we're not the only cool thing or the only solution to problems.Toxic Narcotic, People Suck - the video is here  DISCLAIMER: You probably shouldn't take anything in this podcast too seriously. Punk Rock Safety is for entertainment only. It's definitely not a replacement for professional or legal advice, and the fair amount of piss-taking, shithousery, and general ridiculousness ought to clue you into the fact that no one - and no organization - is endorsing (or un-endorsing, if that's a thing) any products, ideas, or other things. Except NOFX. We definitely endorse them.Oh, and give your money to Punk Rock Saves Lives. They're a rad organization that works in mental health, addiction, and human rights. And they're awesome people who can use your help to keep on kicking ass at what they do.https://www.punkrocksaveslives.org/Let us know what you think at info@punkrocksafety.com or on our LinkedIn page.Merch at punkrocksafetymerch.com