The Occupational Safety Leadership Podcast · Dr. Ayers/Applied Safety and Environmental Management

Episode 274 - Rod Courtney Part 2 of his book 8 Habits of a Highly Effective Safety Culture

·29 min·25 clips

The episode opens as a continuation of Rod Courtney's earlier appearance on the show. Rod introduces himself as the Director of Health and Safety for Power Grid Services and describes a career that spans about 30 years in health and safety, with work in the power industry since 2006. The conversation returns to his book, 8 Habits of a Highly Effective Safety Culture, and the idea that the habits are meant to be followed in sequence. That order matters because the habits are meant to work as a progression, not as stand-alone slogans. The host says the earlier conversation only made it through two habits, so this visit is meant to cover habits three and four. Rod then turns the discussion toward practical influence. He talks about starting with why, pointing to a start-with-why approach so people can understand the purpose before they are asked to accept the method. He emphasizes that when workers understand the reason, they are usually more open to the how and the what. From there, he gets specific about making safety personal in the field. He says leaders may need to make people laugh, cry, or feel a sharp enough emotional jolt that the point sticks. He describes humor as part of his own style, but also walks through a more serious example built around a worker's children and the fear of having to tell a daughter that her father will not be coming home. The example shows how a safety conversation can become deeply personal. Rod also points out that a person's own name is one of the sweetest words to the human ear, which is why direct, personal language can matter in a conversation about risk. The exchange stays practical, with the host pressing for tactics that would work in real interactions on the job. Rod also describes a review process for client projects: audit them, observe them, review the data, and then advise the client on the best way to fix things and give options for doing it. By the end, the conversation has circled back to the everyday mechanics of safety leadership: explain the reason, speak in human terms, and make the consequence real enough that behavior changes. The episode closes with Rod inviting listeners to reach him by email and noting that future conversations will keep working through the remaining habits. It is less a polished keynote than a working session between people who live in the safety world. The value is in the examples, the pacing, and the sense that safety culture changes through repeated, ordinary conversations.

As heard by us

A practical, example-driven conversation about persuading crews to change safely.

Rod Courtney keeps the eight-habits discussion grounded in how safety leaders actually get crews to change. The best moments are the practical communication moves: begin with why, then lay out the how and what once the reason lands, and make the message feel personal when it…

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You want practical ways to talk safety so people hear the why before the how.

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