How has safety culture evolved over time and why does it matter today?

Safety culture has shifted from reactive measures to proactive approaches, emphasizing hazard reporting and leadership accountability. This evolution is significant because it strengthens workplace safety and fosters a culture of trust and responsibility.

What is the Power to Stop and why is it important?

The Power to Stop enables employees to pause work if safety concerns arise. It builds a culture of responsibility and accountability, benefiting employees, clients, and the overall business.

Safe Together: The podcast

Q: What does good safety leadership look like when no one is watching?

Good safety leadership involves visible leadership, building trust, and creating habits to keep people safe in real-life situations. It requires focusing on proactive measures like hazard reporting and leading by example.

Episode 2: Safety leadership that people can feel

What does good safety leadership look like when no one is watching?

Host Ellen talks with Matthew Courtney, Kiwa’s Chief Operating Officer for the Americas and Asia-Pacific, about visible leadership, trust, and creating habits that keep people safe in real life.

This episode is packed with practical leadership lessons, from how safety culture evolved over decades to why reporting small hazards matters more than most people think. Matthew also shares a concrete example of changing industry practice by redesigning equipment that kept injuring workers.

You’ll hear

How safety expectations changed over time and why that matters today
Why ‘leading by example’ is not a slogan, it’s the job
How to build a reporting culture without blame
Why the Power to Stop is good for people, clients, and business

Extra context for a couple of terms mentioned in this episode

Safe-T IMPACT: Kiwa’s digital safety platform that supports hazard reporting, leadership safety walks, action tracking, trend analysis, and shared insights to make safety more proactive and collaborative.
Construction Science: based in Australia and part of Kiwa since 2022, specializing in advanced testing, inspection, and certification for construction materials and techniques. Matthew Courtney was the CEO.