PreAccident Investigation Podcast

Todd Conklin explores how safety programs, despite good intentions, often degrade over time: leading metrics turn lagging, bureaucracy self-reinforces (the "iron law"), and helpful tools can become weaponized in hindsight. He illustrates with examples like restrictive approval rules for breathing apparatus and reliance on machine safeguards that can encourage risky behaviour.

The episode urges organizations to declutter processes, monitor and adapt systems continuously, and treat safety as an active capacity that must be supported in real time rather than audited for blind obedience.

Dr. Todd Conklin interviews Dr. Sidney Decker about his work on safety, accountability, and just culture. They discuss the Safety Differently approach: viewing people as solutions, addressing work conditions rather than behavior, and shifting from retributive to restorative justice.

Decker also covers cultural differences in safety practices across regions, the rise of compliance, and offers practical advice for safety and human factors professionals on understanding why actions made sense in context.

This is an historic podcast - enjoy the listen.

Host Todd Conklin visits Golden Gate National Recreation Area with safety specialists Rik Hansen and Leo Shea to explore a shift in safety thinking — from focusing on risk to supporting mission performance. They discuss visits to Alcatraz, Ocean Rescue teams, and Trail Crews, highlighting how listening to frontline workers reveals practical, predictive knowledge.

The episode emphasizes building relationships, staying curious and adaptable, and treating expertise and wellness as core parts of a safety program. Real-world stories from lifeguards and park teams show how pre-planning, shared language, and workforce engagement improve reliability and resilience.

In this episode, Todd explores the evolution of safety thinking—from blaming human error to creating systems that support reliable work. He discusses the normalization of deviance versus a deliberate shift toward a normalization of excellence, learning teams, and practical examples of redesigning work to prevent repeats of incidents.

Through conversations about AI-created interviews, Southwest Airlines' practices, and Case studies, Todd emphasizes treating error as normal, asking better questions, and designing systems that make work safer and more effective.

This episode explores the promises and pitfalls of AI in safety work, centered on the book The AI Paradox in Safety by Brent Sutton and Brent Robinson. Todd and Brent discuss how AI can either amplify blame and surveillance or enable learning and improvement, and why organizational culture shapes which path wins.

Topics include surveillance concerns (Flock cameras, wearables), AI amplifying existing culture, neurodiversity, leader assurance questions, and practical advice for using AI to listen to frontline workers rather than punish them.

This episode argues that meaningful improvement rarely happens overnight. Big-bang rollouts and sudden change cause chaos, bugs, and unintended consequences, while slow, incremental implementations let organizations prototype, find hidden flaws, build buy-in, and protect core operations.

The host reflects on a difficult personal week and reminds listeners that steady, small steps — passo y paso — are the reliable path to safer, more resilient organizations. Be kind, be patient, and be safe.

In this episode Todd Conklin talks with David Keeling, Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health, about OSHA’s shift toward partnership, refreshing VPP, the new Safety Champions program, and focusing on serious injuries and fatalities (SIF).

They discuss mental health, vehicle safety, leadership’s role, predictive analytics, and incentives to drive abatement and innovation so employers and regulators can work together to prevent catastrophic events.

Todd joins James Newman and Ken Madsen on a special excerpt from the Counter-Errorism podcast to discuss productive safety, leadership change, and how investigations should inform solutions rather than impose them.

They cover practical ideas: shifting leaders' thinking, treating workers as problem-solvers, using judgments of need, and how DOE-style investigations differ from industry practices.

Todd Conklin hosts Jen Long on the Pre-Accident Investigation Podcast to introduce "accountability labs": practical, small-group exercises that help teams practice having each other’s back instead of weaponizing blame.

The episode explains how labs create psychological safety and readiness through real scenarios, skill-building, and debriefs so participants develop the language and muscle memory to speak up when it matters.

Listeners will learn who benefits (middle managers, safety teams, healthcare, operations), what to expect from a lab, and the promise—and risks—of turning accountability into a sustained, constructive practice.

Host Todd talks with safety professional and singer-songwriter Toni Vere about human and organizational performance (HOP), accountability, and the power of fixing systems instead of blaming people.

Toni performs "Don't Shoot the Dog," a song that turns shop‑floor experience and worker expertise into a memorable lesson on creating safer, smarter workplaces.

Host Todd Conklin chats with Harvard’s Amy Edmondson about psychological safety, learning from failure, and how leaders can create workplaces where people speak up and learn. They cover just culture, systems thinking, and practical steps to choose curiosity over certainty.

This warm, wide-ranging conversation blends research with real-world stories and leaves listeners with a clear call to action: build environments that support candid dialogue and collective learning.

Part two of a deep conversation with Professor David Woods examines five decades of safety practice and argues for a stronger science base, foresight, and continual revitalization. Topics include the Command–Adapt Paradox, the fluency law, the law of stretch systems, and the novelty inequality, showing why plans must be paired with guided adaptability.

The episode urges putting safe and effective outcomes first, working together to innovate, and rebuilding practical tools and research so safety programs scale and adapt in an increasingly complex world.

Here is the cited article for your reading pleasure:

https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-031-45055-6_8#:~:text=The%20Command%E2%80%93Adapt%20Paradox%20arises,%E2%80%9D%E2%80%94being%20poised%20to%20adapt.

https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-031-45055-6_8#:~:text=The%20Command%E2%80%93Adapt%20Paradox%20arises,%E2%80%9D%E2%80%94being%20poised%20to%20adapt.

Todd hosts Dr. David Woods in a two-part episode challenging the current state of safety science, arguing for more synthesis across disciplines and a shift from one-off fixes to ongoing capacity for safe, effective, and viable organizations.

They examine the history and fragmentation of safety work, the rise of resilience thinking, barriers like short-term pressure and limited budgets, and why the safety community must collaborate to create stronger, long-term approaches.

Join Ra Donda Vought and Todd Conklin and they meet up to discuss how Ra Donda has refined her message to the world and how surprised she is in other, non-medical industry. It is always so much fun to talk with Ra Donda - she has great energy and is so much fun to spend time in discussion.

See what you think - I think you will enjoy this Pod a bunch.

Join Todd and Dr. Anne Lynne from the CHOL conference as they explore “modern safety” in children’s hospitals and the SPS mission — how new lenses on risk, leadership behaviors, and a willingness to try small experiments are reshaping safety, reliability, and improvement work.

They discuss practical examples like reducing unplanned extubations, the role of leaders in creating capacity and permission, and how sharing success stories fuels innovation and wider adoption across healthcare.

Host Todd interviews his mother, Gyla Conklin, who recounts a true 1933 encounter when her father, Bill Brock, and friends were held up by Bonnie and Clyde near Meade, Kansas. The episode highlights a dramatic rescue at a park, a croquet mallet that saved the day, and a family newspaper account.

Short, vivid, and personal, this episode underscores why recording family stories matters and offers a human look at a famous criminal story.

Todd Conklin talks with Rob Fisher about how leadership, workforce shifts and compassion are reshaping safety and reliability. They explore why organizations must move from fixing problems to improving systems, and how worker engagement becomes the key source of learning.

The episode covers practical approaches—small experiments, better leader conversations, and data from observations (TEDS)—that help leaders act differently without adding more work. They also discuss legacy, cultural change, and why a pull from curious leaders and workers is replacing the old push.

Listen for concrete questions leaders can ask, ways to prototype improvements, and a reminder that compassion leads and safety follows.

This episode recounts a medical emergency that occurred during a large conference and explains how a quick critical incident stress debrief helped restore the group and the organization.

Todd outlines a simple restoration framework—who's hurt, what they need, and who will help—and walks through a seven-step debrief process that turns trauma into learning, supports people emotionally, and improves future response.

Host Todd Conklin interviews Red Bull athlete Will Gadd about adventure sports, recent tragic incidents (a parachute crash in Butler, Mo., a Moab base-jump, and a bungee failure), and how the outdoor world approaches risk.

The episode explores the difference between being robust and being resilient, the limits of individual skill, and how controls, recoverability, and community learning can reduce harm in high‑hazard activities.

In this episode Todd Conklin explores the paradox of procedures: they keep work stable but also limit flexibility. He explains how procedures can be both necessary and constraining in high-risk, high-consequence environments.

Todd highlights the value of incremental safety—making small, thoughtful changes over time—while building communities of practice to better prepare organizations for an uncertain future.

He closes with practical advice: treat procedures as thresholds rather than one right way, focus on learning from everyday work, foster resilient systems, and remember to take care of yourself while having some fun.