The Association of Manufacturing Excellence Canada asked me to make (produce, interview, record, engineer) two episodes of their podcast just before a little thing called a global pandemic took their priorities towards saving their organization and their in-person conference.  As I am something of a ‘safety bear’, known for advocating for life jackets, fire extinguishers and first aid courses, the Safety Episode was my favourite topic in quite a while.

I spoke with Robert Hafey, Author of Lean Safety and to Bob Forrester of Neptune. As the man who wrote the book on how to merge lean or continuous improvement practices and safety, Robert Hafey was an obvious first choice. He’s also a great communicator, and with a track record managing front-line staff and directing innovative corporate wide programs from within major companies, he understands the sometimes rough-and- tumble world  of manufacturing as well as anyone around.

I had met Robert Hafey before, but I didn’t know what it would it would be like to interview Bob Forrester. If you have any interest in how to improve your organization by working better with people – no matter where you work – I think you could learn from his enlightened perspective. I’d like a world where more manufacturers talked about the significant personal and bottom-line advantages of caring. As Mr Forrester said: “If people know you truly care about them, they’ll do their best, no matter what….”