The Heart and Soul of Safety: Leading from the Heart with Paul Espenan | Risk Matrix Episode 153

Risk Matrix #153: The Heart and Soul of Safety: Leading from the Heart with Paul Espenan

“Titles have nothing to do with safety. Titles mean nothing. I’m just a guy trying to help people get home safe.”

Safety leadership is not about the title on your email signature. It is about the stories you tell, the seeds you plant, and the people you bring home safe.

In this episode Dr. Logan F. Martin and James Junkin sit down with Paul Espenan, SVP of Environmental Health Safety and Regulatory at Diversified Energy and author of “The Heart and Soul of Safety: Leading Safety Performance from the Heart,” to discuss what safety leadership looks like when it comes from the heart rather than the policy manual.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• You have to carry the load before you are willing to let go of it. Safety professionals knee-jerk react by adding programs, policies, and procedures without asking what needs to be removed. As Paul puts it, the real leadership question is not what do we need to add but what do we need to examine, redo, or drop because we cannot connect its value to safety outcomes.
• Legacy is planting seeds in a garden you will not get to see. Paul refuses to put his title in his email signature because titles have nothing to do with safety. Your coaching tree is your legacy. The people you influence and what they go on to do is the true test of a safety leader.
• Psychological safety starts with amnesty. Write a policy that makes it impossible for workers to get in trouble for reporting near misses, good catches, or stop work. Let the early followers test the system. When nothing happens to them, everyone else will follow.

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