About this podcast
This podcast isn't meant to make you feel better about your ideas on safety. A lot of them are probably wrong. We're not saying you aren’t smart or that we are, but probability isn't in our favor. It’s just a recognition that there are a lot of shitty ideas about safety out there, and pure chance suggests we all share some of them. This podcast is here to fight safety bullshit.
The three of us – Ben, Dave, and Ron – are here to talk about organizational safety, resilience, and human performance, but with a different perspective on things than you might be used to. Punk rock is about abandoning ideas that aren’t useful, being unafraid to push boundaries and sometimes fail, and doing it yourself when the things you need don’t exist.
Here’s what Greg Graffin from Bad Religion says: “Punk is a process of questioning and commitment to understanding that results in self-progress, and by extrapolation, could lead to social progress. Punk is a belief that this world is what we make of it. Truth comes from our understanding of the way things are, not from the blind adherence to prescriptions about the way things should be.” Sounds good to us.
Question everything. Do cool shit that works.
Merch at www.punkrocksafetymerch.com
Episodes
The newest 20 of 50 episodes
- Ep. 50: Skinny Mike (w/ Mike Rayo) · 56 min · Episode 50It's big episode 50 over here at Punk Rock Safety, and the boys have made it exactly 49 episodes further than anyone would have thought. By now, you've probably caught on to the…
- Ep. 49: Jeff (Todd) Wears Birkenstocks (w/ Todd Conklin) · 1 h 17 min · Episode 49This episode is what happens when the boys hit record while hanging out with Todd Conklin and then decide, “Good enough, let’s roll with it.” The Toddfather has definitely been…
- Ep. 48: How Did The Cat Get So Fat? · 42 min · Episode 48The boys are back (and they're looking for trouble - see if you can sort out that lyric) for Episode 48, kicking off 2026 with the standard blend of profanity, punk rock…
- Ep. 47: When Did Punk Rock Become So Safe? · 38 min · Episode 47Happy New Year, you beautiful punks! It's not a NOFX song, but the title is from Separation of Church and Skate, so that counts. Shocking, but his one is a full “figure it out…
- Ep. 46: My Heart Is Yearning · 50 min · Episode 46My heart is yearning (yep, it’s a NOFX song) in anticipation. Of what? Well, that’s what the episode is, you jerk. Don’t ruin the surprise. Coming on the heels of the tragic…
- Ep. 45: And Now For Something Completely Similar (w/ Brian Hughes) · 54 min · Episode 45After the usual BS of “Did anyone invite a guest?” and “Let’s text random people while we're recording,” the boys get down to business: a whole lot of safety plans are the same…
- Ep. 44: Dinosaurs Will Die · 51 min · Episode 44This episode dives into the reality of safety management systems; how they often feel disconnected, bloated, and stuck in the past. You know. Like a dinosaur. Maybe worse than…
- Ep. 43: Punk Rock Saves Lives · 53 min · Episode 43If you've never read all the way to the bottom of the episode notes, you won't know what PRSL is. Now you do. It's a good name for an episode, but seriously, go check out…
- Ep. 42: The Age of Unreason · 47 min · Episode 42First things first, fun without Dave already happened. Ron and Ben saw The Casualties, Adolescents, Adicts, and Dwarves. All of those bands have been around for a long time…
- Ep. 41: Go to Work Wasted · 55 min · Episode 41It's a deep cut, but it's another NOFX song title for the episode. Probably don't go to work wasted, but if you do, make sure you talk about it in the pre-job brief. Pre-job…
- Ep. 40: Never Mind the Quality, Feel the Width · 43 min · Episode 40Another listener question. How good, right? The question? "I am still learning how to apply HOP principles. Can you talk about how they can be used to help us see and respond to…
- Ep. 39: Freedumb · 44 min · Episode 39We're finally back to a NOFX song title, so things are looking up. A lot of the time, when we decide someone did something dumb, we say things like "dude, how'd you fuck that up…
- Ep. 38: Simple Plan · 44 min · Episode 38Fine, Simple Plan is only sort of punk. Or punk adjacent. They're about as pop punk as pop punk gets. But it makes for a decent episode name. Why, because safety strategy gets…
- Ep. 37: Live Fast, Die Young (w/ James Kolozsi) · 1 h 2 min · Episode 37This episode dives into what it really means to “do safety” when your job is inherently dangerous, like military, police, or even things like aviation. The strategy has to be at…
- Ep. 36: The Process of Belief (w/ Ian Madison) · 58 min · Episode 36Ian Madison rolls in with a background of ethically hunted animals (that's what he told us), evidence of like eight million Bad Religion shows, and some serious desire to talk…
- Ep. 35: Please Play This Song On The Radio (w/ Michael Bathgate and Taylor Hewlett) · 58 min · Episode 35Even though they're not really into punk rock, Michael and Taylor from Imperial Oil are pretty badass (and the title of this episode is a NOFX song that Michael somehow…
- Ep. 34: Career Opportunities (With David Strano) · 55 min · Episode 34"Sometimes work just fucking sucks" That's what David Strano said back on the Decline episode, and if you're not careful, saying smart things gets you volun-told for a guest…
- Ep. 33: It’s My Job to Keep Punk Rock (Safety) Elite · 49 min · Episode 33This week, the boys are talking about theory and practice, because, as the listener who submitted the question says, "fuck you, that's why." It's true, there's a lot of safety…
- Ep. 32: Authority Zero · 51 min · Episode 32"I think the context was kind of like, how do you go about trying to maybe introduce or convince your organization on some of the more contemporary ideas, when your organization…
- Ep. 31: The Decline · 1 h 6 min · Episode 31It was sort of like a NOFX show. People had the wrong time, Ron rolled in when he felt like it, a lot of friends were there, and a few hooligans showed up to make sure we…
