The Road to Safety: Conversations on Leadership and Ethics with Kevin Goodwin

Excited to share some insights from the latest episode of the Safety Bros podcast!  We had the pleasure of speaking with Kevin Goodwin, an EHS manager, about the journey and challenges in the world of construction safety.

Here are 3 key takeaways:

• Leadership Through Action: Kevin emphasizes that true leadership comes from actions, not words. Leading by example sets the tone for others to follow in maintaining safety standards.
• Adaptability and Learning: The construction safety landscape is dynamic. Being open to learning from both successes and failures helps professionals anticipate risks and innovate safer practices.
• Building Relationships: In the safety profession, fostering relationships is crucial. It's not just about issuing orders; it's about engaging with the team to build trust and advocate for a safer work environment.

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Here are other key highlights from Kevin:

The Reality of Planning: "When I applied at Berkeley, one of the questions they asked me, you know, in the interview, they said, you know, do you, you know, do you have a crystal ball, you know, like, can you just see every scenario and know what's going on? I say, you know, that's. Anybody who tells you that's lying to you."

— Kevin Goodwin [00:11:27 → 00:11:42]

"Fostering Open Communication: Let's have a talk about, is there a better way to do that? Technically, what you're doing doesn't follow our requirements. But let's talk about it."

— Kevin Goodwin [00:20:29 → 00:20:37]

"The Importance of Ethics in Life-Saving Work": "The only way to do this job is to be unmercifully attached to your ethics and your Morals, Right. To know that I am responsible for that person going home safe just as much as they are."

— Kevin Goodwin [00:23:17 → 00:23:29]

"Your Best Ability is Availability": "I tell my people that all the time. Like I, you make mistakes, I don't care. You know, you, you make poor decisions, I don't care. But if you're not available, if you're not engaged, if you're not ready to put in the work for the job, then I just, I got no use for you because you're gonna get calls in the moment in time when you could help somebody."

— Kevin Goodwin [00:25:19 → 00:25:40]

"Embracing the Next Wave in Industry": "Well, this next wave is a whole different animal. And it has to be because the industry's changing, right? Everything these days is about real time data, upstream, understanding, kind of task by task level, kind of risk and hazards and controls."

— Kevin Goodwin [00:27:06 → 00:27:25]

The Power of Active Listening: "A lot of times I may have been listening to someone tell me something and I'm already kind of crafting why it's wrong or what I would do instead. And oftentimes it's better to listen."

— Kevin Goodwin [00:32:43 → 00:32:56]

"The Coming Knowledge Vacuum in the Safety Profession": "Yeah, rely on the young people, right? Pass your knowledge on, first of all, right? Because you know there's going to be a vacuum here real soon because the safety profession kind of started, so all those people who filled all those jobs are all retiring, like we talked about earlier. There is going to be a vacuum there and if you don't transfer that knowledge, it's like starting over."

— Kevin Goodwin [00:36:15 → 00:36:43]

Spotting Leadership Potential: "Everybody on my team's a potential leader. But you see certain things in people that you realize, okay, that was a hard spot, and this person really navigated it. That's a leader, right?"

— Kevin Goodwin [00:37:54 → 00:38:04]

Thanks for tuning in!

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