In this episode, Dr. I. David Daniels will speak with Chris Linton, a Risk and Compliance professional with a significant background in health and safety.

There are two essential sides to efforts to create a safe culture. The side that tends to receive the most significant focus is the lagging indicator side of the equation. This is where Risk managers, who are generally assigned to either the Finance or Human Resource segments of an organization, focus a significant amount of their efforts. However, Occupational/Environmental Health and Safety efforts generally focus on leading indicators or what you do before something goes wrong. This difference can sometimes create challenges for organizations trying to decide which side they should focus on the most.

It’s also sometimes difficult for professionals in either space to make a difference when they don’t understand the operational business side of the organization. A growing number of form safety professionals are expanding into risk and compliance roles and spaces and coming to understand the business and operations of organizations. This multifaceted perspective allows them to contribute to the organization’s overall success much more cogently. The world nor any human being in it is perfect, so both are essential. Chris Linton is the kind of risk and compliance professional that understands not only the leading and lagging indicator view of safety but can make the case that risks, including those that arise from psychosocial hazards, can and need to be identified, assessed, and mitigated to ensure business effectiveness.