The Safety Guru

Real leaders leave a legacy. They capture the hearts and minds of their teams. Their origin story puts the safety and wellbeing of their people first. Great companies ubiquitously have safe yet productive operations. For those companies, Safety is an investment, not a cost for the C-Suite. It’s a real topic of daily focus. The SAFETY GURU with host Eric Michrowski, a globally recognized Ops & Safety Guru, public speaker and author explores through leader interviews how to leave a safety legacy. Your legacy success story begins now.

The Safety Guru is a business podcast hosted by Eric Michrowski, with 165 episodes on record and a Required Pod Score of 80.

Eric Michrowski hosts The Safety Guru, a business show with 165 episodes published.

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  Episode #164

  Episode 164 - A Systems Approach to Risk Management: Identifying Risk Before It Happens with Dr. Lianne Lefsrud

  Oct 1, 202645 minS7

  Join us for another insightful episode with returning guest Dr. Lianne Lefsrud, a seasoned risk management expert and Risk, Innovation & Sustainability Chair (RISC) in the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Alberta. Following her previous episode on “Safety Through Design,” Dr. Lefsrud dives deeper into a systems approach to risk management, highlighting the importance of building safety into the system and recognizing how effective risk management can create capacity, strengthen resilience, enhance productivity, and contribute to operational excellence across your organization. Dr. Lefsrud explores systems thinking and why viewing risk through a broader, more holistic organizational lens can help leaders better understand the conditions and interactions that influence safety and performance, enabling more informed decision-making. She emphasizes the importance of moving beyond a reactive mindset and integrating risk management into everyday operations and culture, offering practical insights on recognizing critical connections across the system, empowering employees, and fostering continuous learning. Tune in to explore how an effective systems approach to risk management can strengthen safety while driving productivity, efficiency, quality, learning, and innovation within your organization. Join us! About the Guest: Dr. Lianne Lefsrud, PEng (CEO), is the Risk, Innovation & Sustainability Chair (RISC) at the Faculty of Engineering, University of Alberta, where she leads interdisciplinary research and teaching in risk management. She has analyzed decades of incident data in diverse, high-hazard industries like hydrogen, mining, construction, railroading, and bioengineering. With a PhD in Strategic Management and Organization, and over 25 years of experience in operations, regulatory affairs, and strategy advising to governments and senior leaders, she brings a unique systems-level approach to risk management. For more information: https://insightrisksystems.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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  Episode #163

  Episode 163 - Servant Leadership in Safety: Building Community in the Workplace with David Sarkus

  Sep 17, 202630 minS7

  What can we learn from servant leadership in safety? “Servant leadership has such great breadth and depth in terms of establishing a great philosophical and applied foundation for greater learning and performance in safety.” In this energetic and engaging episode, we welcome David Sarkus, Chief Servant Leader and Founder of David Sarkus International Inc., who explores what servant leadership truly means in the context of safety and how it can transform safety culture by building a strong sense of community in the workplace. David introduces the Five Dimensions of Community and shares how safety leaders can foster greater belonging, trust, and connection through caring, listening, and meaningful relationships, creating an environment where people feel valued, heard, supported, and committed to protecting one another. He also explores the concept of the “risk ceiling,” revealing why organizations can plateau in their safety journey and the profound impact this can have on long-term safety success. Don’t miss this episode filled with actionable strategies to implement servant leadership to strengthen community, build trust, and enhance safety performance across your organization. Tune in now! About the Guest: David J. Sarkus, MS, CSP, is the Chief Servant Leader and Founder of David Sarkus International Inc., a leading health and safety management consulting and training firm. David is a motivational safety speaker who delivers keynotes, training, and consulting in various industries. With more than 30 years of experience, he has successfully applied strategies and tactics across a wide range of work environments to achieve measurable and sustainable improvements in safety performance. He has proven that these results can be scalable and sustainable. David holds master’s degrees in Safety Management and Organizational Psychology and has been recognized by ISHN as one of the “Top 50 Leaders” in the field. He is also the author of five books and more than 100 evidence-based articles and works with some of the world’s leading organizations to advance sustainable excellence in safety. For more Information: https://davidsarkus.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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  Episode #162

  Episode 162 - Proactive Risk Management: The Board's Role in Safety Leadership with Dr Mark Taylor

  Sep 3, 202638 minS7

  In this compelling episode, Dr Mark Taylor, a leading industrial psychologist and founder of Behavico Ltd, joins us to explore the board’s role in safety leadership and how proactive risk management can help transform safety culture into a strategic organizational advantage. Dr Taylor explains the complex relationship between safety culture, human behavior, and the systemic conditions that shape safety outcomes. He discusses the factors that contribute to incidents and how organizations can move beyond reactive approaches to recognize and act on early warning signs before conditions escalate into serious events. He also highlights the dangers of over-relying on certain lagging indicators and shares valuable insights on governance, leadership, and effective risk management to help build safer organizations and strengthen safety performance. This episode is packed with solid research, real-world examples, and practical strategies, offering a thought-provoking perspective on how boards and executives can strengthen safety culture and build a more proactive and resilient organization. Don’t miss it! About the Guest: Dr Mark Taylor is a leading practitioner in industrial psychology and founder of Behavico Ltd, a specialist boutique consultancy focused on safety, human factors, and organisational resilience in high-hazard industries. He has held executive leadership roles, advised boards and executive teams, and helped transform safety performance across numerous organisations. He contributed to crowd safety for the London Olympic Games and serves as a Board member of the Tripod Foundation, supporting the advancement of incident investigation and organisational learning to help organisations prevent major accidents. For more Information: https://behavico.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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  Episode #161

  Episode 161 - Managing Psychosocial Risks to Build Safer Workplaces with Kylie Long

  Aug 20, 202625 minS7

  Don’t miss the latest episode of The Safety Guru! Join us as Kylie Long, a seasoned expert in workplace health and safety, explores the critical role of managing psychosocial risks to build safer workplaces. She provides a practical guide for leaders to better understand psychosocial risks, their business impacts, and how they can be effectively managed across organizations. Kylie explores the psychosocial risks that can impact workers’ mental health, including the importance of identifying and addressing aspects of work design and management that may cause harm. She also dives into the significant financial and cultural impacts psychosocial risks and injuries can have on organizations, from burnout, high turnover, and absenteeism to broader impacts on workplace culture and performance. Learn practical strategies for overcoming leadership challenges, managing psychosocial risks, and creating sustainable improvements. Tune in for valuable takeaways on strengthening psychosocial safety in your organization, building safer, more supportive workplaces, and enhancing overall performance and well-being. Listen now! About the Guest: Kylie Long is passionate about creating safe, healthy, and thriving workplaces where people feel valued, supported, and empowered to perform at their best. As the Founder of Support & Safety Solutions, Kylie brings over 20 years of experience in work health and safety, psychosocial risk management, and workplace wellbeing across industries including resources, mining, construction, healthcare, rail, manufacturing, education, and government. Her career began as a Registered Nurse, where she saw firsthand how health, leadership, and culture shape safety outcomes. That experience now underpins her consulting approach, helping organizations go beyond compliance to build workplaces where people genuinely feel safe, respected, and engaged. Kylie is known for her calm, strategic, and people-centered approach, as well as her ability to translate complex work health, safety, and wellbeing requirements into clear, actionable steps that make sense in real workplaces. For more Information: www.supportsafetysolutions.com.au Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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  Episode #160

  Episode 160 - Ergonomics Meets Human Factors: Building Safer, Smarter Workplaces with Dr. Era Poddar

  Aug 6, 202633 minS7

  In this week’s episode of The Safety Guru, we’re joined by Dr. Era Poddar, who shares her extensive expertise in ergonomics and human factors to explore what these principles are, why they matter, and how organizations can proactively integrate them into workplace design to transform safety outcomes, boost productivity, and build safer, smarter workplaces. She discusses the wide-ranging benefits of integrating these principles, including better decision-making, reduced cognitive load for employees, fewer errors, a lower risk of serious injuries and fatalities, and measurable returns on investment (ROI) through improvements in quality, productivity, and overall safety performance. This insightful discussion also highlights how leaders can champion ergonomic improvements, leverage emerging technologies that are reshaping workplace design, and foster a culture of continuous learning and improvement. Tune in to discover how ergonomics and human factors work together to build safer, healthier, and more productive organizations. Don’t miss this episode! About the Guest: Dr. Era Poddar is a Canadian Certified Professional Ergonomist (CCPE) and safety specialist, with broad international experience across North America, the Middle East, and Asia. With more than twenty years in consulting, coaching, training, and research related to ergonomics, human factors, workplace accommodation, and safety, Dr. Poddar helps organizations meet goals in health and safety, ergonomics, and MSI control. Her expertise covers industry, academia, corporate, and government sectors. She holds a Ph.D. in Industrial Ergonomics, a NEBOSH International General Certificate in Occupational Health and Safety (practical applications), and a mini-executive MBA from the Sauder School of Business, UBC. For more Information: https://ergoera.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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