The Employee Safety Podcast (AlertMedia)

Physical security teams will always be a critical component of organizational risk management, no matter how many technological advances come along.  According to today’s guest, the key to developing a successful and scalable physical security program is having the right balance of staff, technology, and external relationships. 

Chad Bosques is Head of Physical Security at Chime, the online banking and money management platform. In today’s episode, Chad shares his advice on managing physical security from his fifteen years of experience, from public law enforcement to major organizations like Bank of America, Twitter, and DocuSign.

Listen in to learn: 

• Best practices for gaining employee and executive buy-in on your program’s initiatives
• How to evaluate the program’s effectiveness and improve on it
• How to scale programs to meet the growing needs of an organization

The Employee Safety Podcast is hosted by Peter Steinfeld, SVP of Safety Solutions at AlertMedia.

Get every episode delivered straight to your inbox by subscribing at https://www.alertmedia.com/podcast/.

June is National Safety Month, so we’re sharing a special two-part series on preventing serious injuries and fatalities in the workplace. 

In part one, Laurel and Russ Youngstrom, Co-Owners of Youngstrom Safety, share their deeply personal story of how a serious workplace injury changed everything. Laurel and Russ have dedicated their lives to speaking with organizations to ensure that leaders and workers take safety to heart.

Listen to hear:

• How to transform safety from rules and regulations into relationships 
• The mindset behind the mistake that cost Russ his health and mobility
• What organizations can do to better engage employees around safety

The Employee Safety Podcast is hosted by Peter Steinfeld, SVP of Safety Solutions at AlertMedia.

You can find this interview and many more by following The Employee Safety Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or subscribing here.

Listening on a desktop and can’t see the links? Just search for The Employee Safety Podcast on your favorite podcast player.

There’s no such thing as too much preparation for active shooter events. But what’s the best way to train your people to respond in a real scenario?  And how do you support impacted employees if or when it happens at your organization? 

Chris Nelson, SVP and Head of Asset Protection at Gap Inc., joins the show to answer these questions and explain how organizations can: 

• Leverage the Left-of-Boom strategy to stay ahead of threats 
• Coordinate employees and first responders in active shooter scenarios  
• Implement  the Tell-Show-Do training method for hands-on preparation 
• Support affected employees through aftercare 

With poignant anecdotes and actionable takeaways, this episode equips leaders and teams with the tools to tackle active threats head-on. 

The Employee Safety Podcast is hosted by Peter Steinfeld, SVP of Safety Solutions at AlertMedia. 

Get every episode delivered straight to your inbox by subscribing at https://www.alertmedia.com/podcast/. 

From climate extremes to escalating geopolitical tensions, 2024 presented significant disruptions that reshaped how business leaders approach employee safety, security, and business continuity. As we enter 2025, emerging trends suggest the global threat landscape will become even more interconnected, complex, and challenging to navigate. 

In this episode, Sara Pratley, Senior Vice President of Global Intelligence at AlertMedia, breaks down the key threats likely to impact organizations in 2025 and shares her expert recommendations for navigating them. 

Sara discusses: 

• Climate Extremes 
• Rising Global Elections Tensions 
• Concurrent Wars 
• Economic Uncertainty 
• Cybercrime 
• Infrastructure Vulnerabilities 

Take a look at the full 2025 Threat Outlook Report for even more business resiliency insights and advice. 

The Employee Safety Podcast is hosted by Peter Steinfeld, SVP of Safety Solutions at AlertMedia. 

Get every episode delivered straight to your inbox by subscribing at https://www.alertmedia.com/podcast/. 

H-E-B provides food, prescriptions, and fuel for more than half of the state of Texas. For this top-rated grocer, keeping stores open is critical to disaster response and recovery in each community it serves.

Staying on the front lines of disaster relief with mobile kitchens, food banks, and supporting local charity organizations, H-E-B maintains a “last to close, first to open” policy so Texans can get the supplies they need to recover faster.

Director of Emergency Preparedness Justen Noakes unpacks how H-E-B rises to the challenges of today’s threat landscape to better support its partners, customers, and communities.

Tune in to hear how Justen and his team:

• Navigate rollercoaster supply chain challenges
• Utilize modern threat intelligence solutions to protect their people
• Prepare employees to respond to disasters at work and at home
• Develop strategies for upleveling their emergency preparedness program

The Employee Safety Podcast is hosted by Peter Steinfeld, SVP of Safety Solutions at AlertMedia. 

You can find this interview and many more by following The Employee Safety Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or subscribing here. 

Listening on a desktop and can’t see the links? Just search for The Employee Safety Podcast on your favorite podcast player. 

Safety leaders often receive a myriad of technical training for their roles, but one crucial aspect— how to lead people through a crisis — can be overlooked. The National Preparedness Leadership Initiative (NPLI) at Harvard University strives to change that by offering a crisis leadership training program that prepares safety and security leaders.

To honor National Preparedness Month in September, we are showcasing the incredible work of the NPLI by interviewing Eric McNulty, Associate Director, about what it takes to excel at crisis leadership. Eric is also the author of numerous books and articles on the topic and has spent more than 20 years teaching graduate level courses at Harvard, M.I.T., and other major institutions.

Listen to the episode to learn how safety leaders can:

• Avoid common mistakes in emergency preparedness
• Use data to drive decisions and measure success
• Prevent secondary crises after an emergency
• Get buy-in and “lead up” with executive leadership

The Employee Safety Podcast is hosted by Peter Steinfeld, SVP of Safety Solutions at AlertMedia.

You can find this interview and many more by following The Employee Safety Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or subscribing here.

Listening on a desktop and can’t see the links? Just search for The Employee Safety Podcast on your favorite podcast player.

With flights circling the globe from Dallas to Tel Aviv to Port-au-Prince, American Airlines operates in zones of significant risk. For Mohammed Baloch, Manager of Geopolitical Risk, strategic and tactical intelligence combine to ensure true risk resilience—an approach they call “stractical” intelligence.

Mohammed joins the show to discuss:

• How strategic and tactical intelligence teams work together at American Airlines 
• The impact of AI on the field of intelligence analysis 
• How American Airlines tackles crisis response 
• How to build relationships that enhance information sharing and situational awareness

The Employee Safety Podcast is hosted by Peter Steinfeld, SVP of Safety Solutions at AlertMedia.

Get every episode delivered straight to your inbox by subscribing here.

Winter weather can be unpredictable, and the 2024-2025 season is shaping up to be no exception. With La Niña conditions influencing weather patterns across the U.S. and beyond, organizations must stay vigilant and proactive.

Peter Steinfeld is joined by AlertMedia’s Senior Meteorologist, Jason Moreland, to discuss how global weather patterns, climate change, and historical trends shape winter weather forecasts. Jason shares insights into how organizations can prepare for unexpected cold snaps, protect outdoor workers, and educate employees on weather and safety alerts. 

Listen in to learn:

• Early season global forecast predictions
• How La Niña will impact the upcoming winter weather season
• Why understanding weather terminology is crucial for safety professionals
• The importance of flexibility as forecasts evolve

Jason encourages listeners to visit theweatherprediction.com and Comet MetEd’s site for education and training on weather forecasts. Also, visit weather.gov to better prepare yourself for this winter weather season.

The Employee Safety Podcast is hosted by Peter Steinfeld, SVP of Safety Solutions at AlertMedia.

Get every episode delivered straight to your inbox by subscribing at https://www.alertmedia.com/podcast/.

Employee safety is a major consideration in-home healthcare work. After all, the job involves entering into an unknown, uncontrolled, and unpredictable home environment.

Kristen Husen, Senior Director of Home, Health, and Hospice at CentraCare, joined Peter on this episode to talk about what her organization does to ensure the safety of its home healthcare workers.

They also talk about:

• A typical day in the life of a home health worker
• Safety concerns that arise from being in unfamiliar home environments
• Ways to ensure the safety of home health workers
• The benefits of Employee Safety Monitoring (formerly SafeSignal)

The Employee Safety Podcast is hosted by Peter Steinfeld, SVP of Safety Solutions at AlertMedia.

You can find this interview and many more by subscribing to The Employee Safety Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or here.

Business resilience is not about bouncing back. It’s about bouncing forward.

This is exactly what Michele L. Turner, Author and Head of Global Business Resiliency at Amazon, realized and channeled into her book, Lessons Learned: Short Stories of Continuity and Resilience.

In this conversation, Michele shares concepts and anecdotes that can help business continuity practitioners build better resiliency programs for their companies and communicate more effectively with their stakeholders.

We discuss:

• Methodologies for creating sustainable resiliency strategies
• The framework of The Three Cs: Clarity, Communication, and Cost
• How to “slow down to speed up”
• The importance of active listening in the planning process

Contact Michele on LinkedIn or Twitter.

The Employee Safety Podcast is hosted by Peter Steinfeld, SVP of Safety Solutions at AlertMedia.

You can find this interview and many more by subscribing to The Employee Safety Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or here.

Listening on a desktop and can’t see the links? Just search for The Employee Safety Podcast on your favorite podcast player.

As a remote-first organization with cloud-based headquarters, Zillow maintains its resilience with a 24/7 approach to business continuity and crisis management. Business Resiliency Manager Ryan Williams and his team of two rely on modern tools and technology to ensure any incident – from an app outage to an active threat – gets an immediate and effective response.  

Listen in to learn: 

• How a small team can achieve and maintain organizational resilience 
• The importance of robust threat intelligence and emergency communication solutions 
• Strategies for gaining leadership buy-in for new resources and headcount 
• How to support strategic decision-making at the leadership level 

The Employee Safety Podcast is hosted by Peter Steinfeld, SVP of Safety Solutions at AlertMedia. 

Get every episode delivered straight to your inbox by subscribing at https://www.alertmedia.com/podcast/. 

Work-related hearing loss can have devastating effects on an employee’s physical and mental health and significantly impact an organization’s safety culture. Even work environments with relatively low noise intensity levels can cause hearing damage over time. To help prevent hearing loss in the workplace, employers must educate their workers on noise hazards and protect them from potential impacts, such as communication breakdowns and long-lasting fatigue.

Dr. Brian Taylor is the Senior Director of Audiology at Signia, a leading hearing aid manufacturer. Brian joined the show to discuss how:

• Workplace conditions contribute to hearing loss
• Extended noise exposure influences mental health and cognitive decline
• Hearing health shapes job satisfaction and workplace turnover
• Organizations can create safe hearing environments 
• To accommodate employees experiencing hearing loss

The Employee Safety Podcast is hosted by Peter Steinfeld, SVP of Safety Solutions at AlertMedia.

You can find this interview and many more by following The Employee Safety Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or subscribing here.

Listening on a desktop and can’t see the links? Just search for The Employee Safety Podcast on your favorite podcast player.

Content Warning: This episode includes sensitive information about mental health conditions and suicide, including risk factors and warning signs, which may elicit an emotional response in some listeners. If you need support at any time, please call or text the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 988.

September is National Suicide Prevention Month. To learn more, we spoke with Maggie Mortali, Senior Program Director at the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP), about the importance of mental health and suicide prevention programming in the workplace. Maggie shares why businesses play a critical role in mental health and how they can set the tone for the well-being of our workforce.

We discuss:

• How mental health and suicide prevention education creates a stronger workforce
• Risk factors or warning signs that could indicate an employee needs help
• Guidance on how to incorporate suicide prevention programming into your Employee Assistance Program (EAP)
• Mental health resources available to all organizations

Check out AFSP’s events and initiatives supporting National Suicide Prevention Day, Week, and Month.

Connect with Maggie on Twitter.

The Employee Safety Podcast is hosted by Peter Steinfeld, SVP of Safety Solutions at AlertMedia.

You can find this interview and many more by subscribing to The Employee Safety Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or here.

The workforce has evolved. Studies show that many workers don’t want to return to a traditional work environment.

Some say the nature of work changed, but according to today’s guest, what actually changed is the values of today’s workers. They want to be seen, heard, and appreciated at their jobs.

Bonnie Canal, Founder and Managing Partner at The Resiliency Institute, joins the show to explain why embracing this paradigm shift will allow companies to attract and retain top talent.

We discuss:

• Why management should be more flexible in how they define “work”
• The importance of remembering that employees are humans
• How to establish a culture that reflects employee values

The Employee Safety Podcast is hosted by Peter Steinfeld, SVP of Safety Solutions at AlertMedia.

You can find this interview and many more by subscribing to The Employee Safety Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or here.

Listening on a desktop and can’t see the links? Just search for The Employee Safety Podcast on your favorite podcast player.

Accidents happen, but workplace incidents shouldn’t cost life or limb for employees. For Mark Jones, the key to reducing serious injuries and fatalities (SIFs) is building a capacity to fail safely.

Mark is the EHS Director at Plastipak, a packaging and recycling leader with more than 50 sites worldwide. Mark instituted a culture of transparent dialogue with associates to ensure that day-to-day operations don’t result in life-altering injuries or fatalities.

Mark shares his proven SIF prevention strategies and success metrics in the second of our two-part series on the topic.

Listen to learn:

• How equipment reliability influences safe operations
• Safety success metrics to track company-wide
• Tips to encourage near-miss reporting
• Mark's solution to bring SIFs to down zero

The Employee Safety Podcast is hosted by Peter Steinfeld, SVP of Safety Solutions at AlertMedia.

You can find this interview and many more by following The Employee Safety Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or subscribing here.

Listening on a desktop and can’t see the links? Just search for The Employee Safety Podcast on your favorite podcast player.

Psychological safety has a measurable impact on organizations. When employees feel psychologically safe, they are eight times more likely to be engaged, three times more likely to be productive, and three and a half times more likely to be innovative. 

So, how do organizations measure the psychological safety of their workforce, and what is the safety leader’s role in creating a culture of psychological safety?

Dr. Rajni Walia is an organizational psychologist, consultant, and Vice President of DEKRA North America. Rajni joined the show to answer those questions and explain: 

• How to evaluate psychological safety gaps 
• Three factors of employee well-being that safety leaders can influence
• Tips to overcome reluctance to change
• How to turn transactional interactions into transformational conversations

The Employee Safety Podcast is hosted by Peter Steinfeld, SVP of Safety Solutions at AlertMedia.

You can find this interview and many more by following The Employee Safety Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or subscribing here.

Listening on a desktop and can’t see the links? Just search for The Employee Safety Podcast on your favorite podcast player.

Knowing what to expect during an OSHA inspection can be a challenge for any organization. With more than 400 pages in OSHA's Field Operations Manual, companies need expert advice to prepare for unexpected visits from an inspector.

Michael Rubin is a shareholder and OSHA attorney at Ogletree Deakins. Michael joined the show to explain how to:

• Prepare people, documents, and facilities
• Conduct mock inspections to ensure readiness
• Avoid common pitfalls like inaccurate admissions
• Build a strong defense to contest an OSHA citation

Loaded with practical tips and advice, this episode helps safety leaders stay inspection-ready.

The Employee Safety Podcast is hosted by Peter Steinfeld, SVP of Safety Solutions at AlertMedia.

Get every episode delivered straight to your inbox by subscribing at https://www.alertmedia.com/podcast/. 

A “good-on-paper” security program isn’t enough to reduce risk and protect employees in today’s threat landscape. It takes a visionary leader to scale a siloed corporate security function into a robust, successful company-wide program.

Andrew “Drew” Schrader, Head of Corporate Security at Panasonic North America, knows this all too well. He joined the company to help build strategic partnerships and secure stakeholder buy-in on security initiatives that protect Panasonic’s more than 250,000 employees. Drew joins the show to share how his background in law enforcement and non-traditional skillset contributed to Panasonic’s transformative security evolution.

Listen to our conversation to learn how to:

• Approach security improvement like Panasonic
• Secure buy-in for new security initiatives
• Align safety goals with company goals
• Bring the private and public sectors together to share information

The Employee Safety Podcast is hosted by Peter Steinfeld, SVP of Safety Solutions at AlertMedia.

You can find this interview and many more by following The Employee Safety Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or subscribing here.

Listening on a desktop and can’t see the links? Just search for The Employee Safety Podcast on your favorite podcast player.

Maintaining workplace safety is a challenge in its own right, but at the Dallas Zoo, wildlife adds an extra layer of complexity.

What does it take to keep workers, guests, animals, and the 106-acre park safe and secure while still providing the fun, memorable experience the Dallas Zoo promises?

Diana Worden, Director of Safety & Security at the Dallas Zoo explains:

• The unique challenges of keeping visitors, employees, volunteers, and animals safe year-round
• How the zoo embraces a positive safety culture with buy-in at every level of the organization
• The importance of regular safety training that is fun and engaging
• Why maintaining relationships with emergency services and outside agencies is crucial to support safety and security initiatives

The Employee Safety Podcast is hosted by Peter Steinfeld, SVP of Safety Solutions at AlertMedia.

You can find this interview and many more by subscribing to The Employee Safety Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or here.

Listening on a desktop and can’t see the links? Just search for The Employee Safety Podcast on your favorite podcast player.

Environmental health and safety is a constantly evolving challenge. As new issues arise, EHS professionals are the ones there to help organizations—and their employees—adapt and respond to changes in their environment to keep people safe.

Michael Zalle, CEO of YellowBird joins Peter on this episode to discuss environmental health and safety policies and procedures in our ‘new normal’ as organizations learn to navigate the pandemic. They talk about:

• Managing OSHA, EPA, and other safety processes
• How COVID is pushing ahead technology in the EHS industry
• The depth of knowledge expected to be held by a few individuals

The Employee Safety Podcast is hosted by Peter Steinfeld, SVP of Safety Solutions at AlertMedia.

You can find this interview and many more by subscribing to The Employee Safety Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or here.

For the Texas Rangers Baseball Club, a safe and secure season requires careful planning and coordination of 200+ employees, vendors, contractors, and public safety officials. 

Donald Paisant is the Senior Director of Event Security & Special Projects for the Texas Rangers. Donald has decades of high-profile sports security experience, from protecting Super Bowl stadiums to NCAA Final Four arenas. He joined the show to share how his team provides fans, players, and staff with safe and unforgettable experiences at Globe Life Field and Choctaw Stadium. 

Listen in to learn: 

• The nuances of securing hundreds of games and events each season 
• Why winning baseball seasons pose additional security challenges 
• How Donald collaborates with venues across Arlington to ensure community safety 
• Insight into hosting and securing the 2024 All-Star Game 
• How the Rangers conduct on-the-job security training 

The Employee Safety Podcast is hosted by Peter Steinfeld, SVP of Safety Solutions at AlertMedia. 

Get every episode delivered straight to your inbox by subscribing at https://www.alertmedia.com/podcast/. 

As The Great Resignation continues, investing in your employees and their happiness is more important than ever.

Jenn Lim, Co-Founder, CEO, and Chief Happiness Officer at Delivering Happiness, believes that companies should build a workplace culture where employees can experience meaningful happiness, feel psychologically safe, and personally align with the company’s core values.

When organizations double down on their people, it comes back to them financially.

In this episode, we discuss:

• How Jenn and Tony Hsieh (the late CEO of Zappos) created the framework for Delivering Happiness
• Why workplace happiness leads to better employee retention and more profitable business
• The importance of adaptive intelligence within a leadership team
• Why aligning purpose with profit is a competitive advantage and differentiator for organizations

The Employee Safety Podcast is hosted by Peter Steinfeld, SVP of Safety Solutions at AlertMedia.

You can find this interview and many more by subscribing to The Employee Safety Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or here.

Listening on a desktop and can’t see the links? Just search for The Employee Safety Podcast on your favorite podcast player.

HR teams seek to empower employees with the tools and resources they need to be successful at their jobs while ensuring their safety and well-being.

Saad Qureshi, Human Resources Manager at Campbell Soup Company, believes that a one-size-fits-all approach to human resources is not effective. Instead, HR professionals should involve employees in the conversation to learn what works and what doesn’t.

In this episode, Saad shares the tactics Campbell’s uses to improve culture and enhance employee engagement.

We discuss:

• The evolving responsibilities of HR leaders
• Tactics for improving employee engagement
• How a focus on employee safety boosts retention
• The importance of mental health resources for HR professionals

The Employee Safety Podcast is hosted by Peter Steinfeld, SVP of Safety Solutions at AlertMedia.

You can find this interview and many more by subscribing to The Employee Safety Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or here.

Listening on a desktop and can’t see the links? Just search for The Employee Safety Podcast on your favorite podcast player.

In a time of “permacrisis,” the complexity of navigating modern threats, from climate change to misinformation campaigns, highlights the necessity of building strong partnerships cross-functionally.

In this episode, Mary Hackman, Senior Director of Global Intelligence at Visa, shares best practices in global security and intelligence from her two decades of experience in both the public and private sectors.

Listen in to learn: 

• How to maintain a high level of engagement with executives while setting sustainable expectations
• How to use “listening tours” to better understand company needs
• How to offer real-time support to employees during a crisis

The Employee Safety Podcast is hosted by Peter Steinfeld, SVP of Safety Solutions at AlertMedia.

Get every episode delivered straight to your inbox by subscribing at https://www.alertmedia.com/podcast/.

Content Warning: This episode includes sensitive information about mental health conditions and suicide. If you or someone you know need support at any time, please call or text 988 to reach the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. 

Situational awareness is the ability to analyze, identify, and take action to prevent bad things from happening. While commonly associated with active shooter scenarios, situational awareness empowers employees to recognize and respond to all kinds of threats that organizations face today — from cyber-attacks to the warning signs of suicide. It’s a skill that simultaneously pays dividends in organizational safety and develops exceptional interpersonal skills in your employees.  

As Founder and President of Paratus Group, Retired Colonel Brian Searcy coaches organizations of all sizes and industries through a program uniquely crafted to improve safety and security through situational awareness. 

Brian joins the show this week to explain: 

• The key to developing habits, behaviors, and mindsets of situational awareness
 
• The critical skills needed to become situationally aware 
 
• How to recognize and respond to warning signs in the workplace
 
• How to ensure situational awareness resonates with all employees 

The Employee Safety Podcast is hosted by Peter Steinfeld, SVP of Safety Solutions at AlertMedia. 

You can find this interview and many more by following The Employee Safety Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or subscribing here. 

Listening on a desktop and can’t see the links? Just search for The Employee Safety Podcast on your favorite podcast player. 

Many companies are redefining the meaning of employee safety when it comes to their remote workforces.

Mari Anne Snow, CEO & Founder of Sophaya, joins Peter to talk about how companies should invest in skill development so that managers and team members know how to operate safely no matter where they sit.

The two also talk about:

• The current state of remote work
• Biggest concerns regarding remote worker health, well-being, and safety
• Advice for engaging and connecting with remote workers

The Employee Safety Podcast is hosted by Peter Steinfeld, SVP of Safety Solutions at AlertMedia.

You can find this interview and many more by subscribing to The Employee Safety Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or here.

A paradigm shift is taking place.

As younger generations enter the workforce, employees desire better integration of life and work—and if they don’t receive it at their current job, they aren’t afraid to leave.

As a result, companies are becoming more aware of the emotional and psychological well-being of their people.

David Hassell and Shane Metcalf, Co-Founders of 15Five and hosts of the HR Superstars podcast, join the show to discuss how organizations can make psychological safety a top priority.

We discuss:

• HR challenges that business leaders are facing today
• The benefits and impacts of psychological safety
• Strategies for fostering a psychologically safe environment
• How to communicate clear cultural expectations

The Employee Safety Podcast is hosted by Peter Steinfeld, SVP of Safety Solutions at AlertMedia.

You can find this interview and many more by subscribing to The Employee Safety Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or here.

Listening on a desktop and can’t see the links? Just search for The Employee Safety Podcast on your favorite podcast player.

When you operate an organization with a large geographical footprint, it can be difficult to manage operational tasks consistently and efficiently. A lot of companies have turned to automation to provide solutions for daily business-critical functions and to guarantee nimble responses to emergency situations.

In this episode, Matt McMahan, Senior Manager of Business Continuity and Records at Texas Roadhouse, joins Peter to discuss how they have integrated automation to enhance operational efficiency and safety.

What they talked about:

• Restaurant safety concerns that don’t initially come to mind
• Adjusting safety protocols for the pandemic
• How Texas Roadhouse delivers critical communication
• Automating tasks that impact operations during emergencies

Want to reach out to Matt? Connect with him on LinkedIn

The Employee Safety Podcast is hosted by Peter Steinfeld, SVP of Safety Solutions at AlertMedia.

You can find this interview and many more by subscribing to The Employee Safety Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or here.

The 2024 Summer Olympic Games in Paris begin July 26, and ensuring safety for athletes and visitors at the world’s largest multi-sport event is no small feat.

Today’s guest, Scott Kim, is the Director of the Office of Protection at the Diplomatic Security Service, the agency that helps protect Team U.S.A. during the Olympic Games.

Listen in to learn: 

• The unique challenges of securing the Olympics
• The importance of rapid communication across languages
• Advice for companies on how to keep their employees safe at the Olympics

The Employee Safety Podcast is hosted by Peter Steinfeld, SVP of Safety Solutions at AlertMedia.

Get every episode delivered straight to your inbox by subscribing at https://www.alertmedia.com/podcast/.

Austin Pets Alive! is not your average animal rescue organization. It has multiple locations, hundreds of employees and volunteers, and has saved nearly 100,000 animals over the last decade.

But the organization has a number of safety and security challenges to overcome, like workplace hazards in an older building, dispersed workers and pets, severe weather, and location-based security concerns. Stephanie Bilbro, Director of Lifesaving Operations at Austin Pets Alive!, and her team have created unique solutions to these challenges that any organization can learn from and apply.

Stephanie describes many of these solutions in this episode, as well as:

• Why two-way communication is crucial in an emergency
• The importance of involving frontline employees in preparedness planning and after-action reports
• Creating adaptive protocols versus fixed protocols
• Working with partners and third-party organizations to conquer logistical challenges

The Employee Safety Podcast is hosted by Peter Steinfeld, SVP of Safety Solutions at AlertMedia.

You can find this interview and many more by subscribing to The Employee Safety Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or here.

Listening on a desktop and can’t see the links? Just search for The Employee Safety Podcast on your favorite podcast player.

30+ years after the American Disabilities Act, many organizations still struggle with granting reasonable accommodations. Requesting accommodation often forces individuals with disabilities to disclose private health information, putting both employees and employers in uncomfortable positions.

This episode features Hannah Olson, Co-Founder and CEO of Disclo, a tech company that helps organizations manage health disclosures and accommodation requests. Hannah shares valuable insights on:

• Cultivating an inclusive safety culture that prioritizes privacy
• Ensuring compliance in the face of discrimination lawsuits
• Encouraging able-bodied individuals to educate themselves on disabilities in the workplace

Hannah also recommends the Job Accommodation Network for employees and the Disability Management Employer Coalition for organizations.

The Employee Safety Podcast is hosted by Peter Steinfeld, SVP of Safety Solutions at AlertMedia.

You can find this interview and many more by following The Employee Safety Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or subscribing here.

Listening on a desktop and can’t see the links? Just search for The Employee Safety Podcast on your favorite podcast player. 

In today’s episode, Peter is joined by two guests who manage security for Cox Enterprises. Tony Putzig, a Supervisor of East Region Security, and Joe Holokan, a Manager of Central Region Security, discuss how an effective security program builds trust and ensures that employees feel safe and heard.

Topics they covered include:

• The basic elements every organization should include in their security plan
• Extending duty of care beyond the workplace during the pandemic
• How security departments can build trust with employees
• The importance of consistency in communication

The Employee Safety Podcast is hosted by Peter Steinfeld, SVP of Safety Solutions at AlertMedia.

You can find this interview and many more by subscribing to The Employee Safety Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or here.

Safety and security training can feel tedious and dull—but it doesn’t have to be. When organizations prioritize onboarding, training, and development, the entire business and workforce builds resiliency. 

For Adam Corn, Director of Safety & Security and Training & Development at GoFundMe, the key to a successful training program is making it fun, thought-provoking, and adaptable to different learning modalities. 

Listen to learn: 

• How to incorporate stories into your training to make it memorable 
• Tips for designing interesting onboarding, training, and development programs 
• How to track and articulate the ROI of training initiatives 
• Strategies to engage employees in program development 

The Employee Safety Podcast is hosted by Peter Steinfeld, SVP of Safety Solutions at AlertMedia. 

Get every episode delivered straight to your inbox by subscribing at https://www.alertmedia.com/podcast/. 

In the two years since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, global supply chain disruptions, ballooning inflation, and unpredictable risks to employee safety have left organizations scrambling to adapt. 

Today, as several global conflicts rage on with no end in sight, a new era of misinformation challenges resilience leaders to rise to a new level of vigilance—one that requires human-gathered and human-vetted intelligence—to succeed. 

AlertMedia’s Senior Vice President of Global Intelligence, Sara Pratley, sits down with Ian Phillips, Director of the News & Media Division at the United Nations, to discuss: 

• The organizational impacts of conflicts in Ukraine, Gaza, and the Sudan
• How the UN supports on-the-ground reporting in war zones  
• What to expect amidst concurrent global conflicts for years to come 
• How to fight misinformation with verified intelligence 

Check out the Oscar-winning documentary Ian mentioned here. 

Get every episode delivered straight to your inbox by subscribing at https://www.alertmedia.com/podcast/. 

On January 2, 2023, Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin collapsed on the field during a road game in Cincinnati.  

The Bills’ Associate Head Athletic Trainer Denny Kellington quickly determined that Hamlin was experiencing cardiac arrest and worked with an expert team of medical professionals to perform CPR and restore Hamlin’s heartbeat. Hamlin has since made a full recovery.    

In this episode, Denny shares the details of his team’s emergency action plan and how proper preparation and rapid response resulted in a positive outcome that fateful evening.   

Listen in to learn:  

• How the Bills coordinate their emergency response before, during, and after an incident  
• Denny’s approach to building trust with players and staff 
• The contingency communication plans that ensure player health and safety 
• How the NFL’s robust mental health response supported the team 
• What every organization can do to prepare for cardiac emergencies 

The Employee Safety Podcast is hosted by Peter Steinfeld, SVP of Safety Solutions at AlertMedia. 

Get every episode delivered straight to your inbox by subscribing at https://www.alertmedia.com/podcast/. 

Throughout his 30+ year career, Bart Brown has led teams of hundreds, securing both the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad and critical national infrastructure. 

In his current role as Vice President and Chief Security Officer at Frontier Communications, the keys to creating an effective security organization are adaptability, scalability, and automation.  Listen in to learn:  

• Which processes to outsource versus keep in-house 
• How to lead the change from manual SOPs to automation 
• The importance of public-private partnerships and external relationship-building 
• How to scale a security function up or down based on the situation 

The Employee Safety Podcast is hosted by Peter Steinfeld, SVP of Safety Solutions at AlertMedia. 

Get every episode delivered straight to your inbox by subscribing at https://www.alertmedia.com/podcast/. 

A new research study revealed that 2.8 million workplace accidents and injuries occur in the U.S. private sector each year. One of the best ways to prevent and control occupational injuries, illnesses, and fatalities is to “design out” or minimize hazards and risks. This concept is known as Prevention Through Design.

Mike Taubitz, Senior Advisor at FDRsafety, joins us this week to explain how applying the Prevention Through Design program can help organizations identify risks and embed hazard prevention into their safety culture.

Listen to our conversation with Mike to hear about:

• Why you should incorporate Prevention Through Design early in the design process and continue it throughout the lifecycle of materials and processes
• How lean thinking can work in conjunction with Prevention Through Design to prevent or even eliminate hazards
• Why there is no such thing as zero risk in the workplace
• The importance of implementing task-based risk assessments that include frontline workers and safety managers

The Employee Safety Podcast is hosted by Peter Steinfeld, SVP of Safety Solutions at AlertMedia.

You can find this interview and many more by following The Employee Safety Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or subscribing here.

Listening on a desktop and can’t see the links? Just search for The Employee Safety Podcast on your favorite podcast player.

Bob Smith has more than twenty years of experience in emergency management and communication roles in both the public and private sectors. He currently serves as Director of Service Assurance and Compliance at GCI Communication Corporation, the largest telecommunications carrier for the state of Alaska 

Working on large-scale events, including the Olympics, the World Cup, and the Super Bowl, Bob developed safety exercises for global teams coordinating across cultural barriers, led engaging large-scale tabletop exercises in different time zones remotely, and taught a crisis workshop during an actual earthquake. In this episode, Bob shares his proven tactics for improving tabletop exercises and other safety training at scale.    

Listen in to learn how to:  

• Effectively engage both remote and live audiences during training 
• Get the most out of large-scale exercises 
• Recognize and overcome common safety training challenges 
• Adapt your training procedures for changing environments 

The Employee Safety Podcast is hosted by Peter Steinfeld, SVP of Safety Solutions at AlertMedia. 

Get every episode delivered straight to your inbox by subscribing at https://www.alertmedia.com/podcast/. 

A great safety leader possesses more than just business continuity, security, and risk mitigation skills. To be a well-rounded leader, individuals must also develop soft skills and a holistic mindset to help keep their employees and business safe.

In this episode, Rick Kelly, Senior Vice President of Global Safety, Security, and Business Continuity at Chubb, explains why emotional intelligence is an important aspect of effective leadership and how he prepares the next generation of safety leaders for success.

We discuss:

• Rick’s approach to cultivating leadership in a multi-generational workforce
• The skills and experience Rick looks for when hiring future leaders
• Why incorporating servant leadership helps reinforce Chubb’s safety culture
• Advice for professionals looking to pursue a career in safety or security

The Employee Safety Podcast is hosted by Peter Steinfeld, SVP of Safety Solutions at AlertMedia.

You can find this interview and many more by subscribing to The Employee Safety Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or here.

Listening on a desktop and can’t see the links? Just search for The Employee Safety Podcast on your favorite podcast player.

Artificial Intelligence is here—and it’s here to stay. But when it comes to safeguarding employees, do the benefits of AI outweigh the risks?

Guest host Sara Pratley sits down with Dean Baratta, Group Regional Security Manager at Microsoft, to discuss how AI and large language models can impact the intelligence and security functions at organizations today.

Listen as Dean shares his advice on:

• How organizations can leverage the benefits of AI while staying vigilant against its risks
• Three major weaknesses of AI and how to work around them
• Advice for those considering implementing AI to support corporate security

You can find this interview and many more by following The Employee Safety Podcast on Spotify or Apple Podcasts.

Get every episode delivered straight to your inbox by subscribing at https://www.alertmedia.com/podcast/.

Business resilience is essential for major financial institutions responsible for managing customer funds.  In an emergency, finance companies must protect their employees and facilities while ensuring their customers’ cash is always accessible.  

Jeff Dow is Manager of Protection and Resiliency at a major financial organization, after serving as a commanding officer in the U.S. Coast Guard. In this episode, Jeff discusses how technology helps his team of four manage business continuity planning, threat intelligence, and crisis communications for a geographically dispersed workforce and millions of customers.  

Listen to learn how to: 

• Support organizational growth strategies with modern technology 
• Gain leadership buy-in on technological investments 
• Navigate resiliency challenges unique to the financial industry 

The Employee Safety Podcast is hosted by Peter Steinfeld, SVP of Safety Solutions at AlertMedia. 

Get every episode delivered straight to your inbox by subscribing at https://www.alertmedia.com/podcast/. 

Extreme heat is a growing threat, nationally and globally. With temperatures rising—especially in traditionally cooler regions—it’s crucial that organizations understand how extreme heat impacts their people, facilities, and business.

In part one of our two-part series on extreme heat, Paul Yura, Warning Coordination Meteorologist at the National Weather Service, shares significant heat trends throughout the U.S. and how organizations can prepare their people and property. 

Listen to our conversation with Paul to learn about:

• Tips to keep employees safe during heat waves
• The impacts of extreme heat on infrastructure
• Early and immediate symptoms of heat-related illnesses
• Why organizations should develop and implement extreme heat plans and trainings

The Employee Safety Podcast is hosted by Peter Steinfeld, SVP of Safety Solutions at AlertMedia.

You can find this interview and many more by following The Employee Safety Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or subscribing here.

Listening on a desktop and can’t see the links? Just search for The Employee Safety Podcast on your favorite podcast player.

The 2011 Super Tornado Outbreak was historic. Between April 25-28, more than 360 tornadoes were confirmed by the National Weather Service in 21 states from Texas to New York.

In this episode, recorded on the 10-year anniversary of the event, John De Block, Warning Coordination Meteorologist at the National Weather Service, talks about the importance of having a safety plan for tornadoes so that you can protect life and property wherever you may be.

Topics discussed:

• The experience of living and working through a severe tornado outbreak
• Getting people to move from curiosity and fascination to active preparation
• Actionable takeaways from the outbreak

Want to reach out to John? Connect with him on LinkedIn.

The Employee Safety Podcast is hosted by Peter Steinfeld, SVP of Safety Solutions at AlertMedia.

You can find this interview and many more by subscribing to The Employee Safety Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or here.

Whether your Business Continuity Plan (BCP) is inherited or created from scratch, it must be practical, efficient, and up to date—not put on the shelf to be ignored.

In this episode, Barry Morgeson, Business Continuity Director at Ryan Specialty, draws on his two decades of experience to offer actionable insights and recommendations for crafting a Business Continuity Plan that achieves ROI across the business.

Listen in to learn: 

• Why you should prioritize revenue-generating business verticals when building your BCP
• Why you need internal champions to help your BCP succeed
• How to identify the “must-haves” versus “nice to haves” for your BCP
• How to develop a personalized approach to planning to maximize adoption across departments

The Employee Safety Podcast is hosted by Peter Steinfeld, SVP of Safety Solutions at AlertMedia.

Get every episode delivered straight to your inbox by subscribing at https://www.alertmedia.com/podcast/.

Mergers and acquisitions are common in business. When they occur, it is paramount to create a holistic plan that unifies culture and operations, including emergency preparedness.

In this episode, John Brooker, Director of Industrial Security for Space and Airborne Systems at L3Harris, describes how his team consolidated existing plans to develop a cohesive, standardized crisis management program for all locations.

We discuss:

• How their newly-merged company handled the switch to remote work
• Upgrading infrastructure and technology for more collaborative crisis planning
• How to create and disseminate a standardized crisis management plan
• The importance of including your entire team in the development and execution of your emergency response plans

The Employee Safety Podcast is hosted by Peter Steinfeld, SVP of Safety Solutions at AlertMedia.

You can find this interview and many more by subscribing to The Employee Safety Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or here.

Listening on a desktop and can’t see the links? Just search for The Employee Safety Podcast on your favorite podcast player.

Creating a strong emergency management program starts with people, not planning.

Vincent B. Davis, Founder and President of Preparedness Matters, is committed to helping organizations improve their emergency preparedness and response programs by encouraging them to embrace diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in the process.

After all, diversity is not just about racial disparities, it’s about bringing a group of diverse individuals to the table to offer different perspectives on preparedness and how to respond to disasters.

In this episode, Vincent discusses:

• How past roles at Walgreens, Amazon, and FEMA inspired him to help other organizations diversify
• Intentionally recruiting, hiring, and mentoring people of diverse backgrounds
• Steps for eradicating racism in emergency management
• Why organizations should strive to build a sense of community around emergency preparedness

Mentioned during the podcast:

https://www.vincedaviscem.com/

https://www.thenativefamilydisasterhandbook.com/

The Employee Safety Podcast is hosted by Peter Steinfeld, SVP of Safety Solutions at AlertMedia.

You can find this interview and many more by subscribing to The Employee Safety Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or here.

Listening on a desktop and can’t see the links? Just search for The Employee Safety Podcast on your favorite podcast player.

Workplace safety is more important than ever, yet employees’ perceptions and opinions are often missing from the conversation.

To help change that, AlertMedia surveyed more than 2,000 American workers to uncover how safe employees feel at work and if their employers’ efforts to protect them are meeting their expectations. AlertMedia used the findings of this survey to create its inaugural State of Employee Safety Report.

Danielle Sherman, VP of Communications at Material, the research firm behind the survey, joins the show to share how the results can help organizations improve the safety and well-being of their employees.

We discuss:

• Which emergencies and disasters employees are most concerned about experiencing in the workplace
• How prepared employees are to respond to those emergencies
• If employers’ safety communications are meeting employee expectations
• What employers can do to help their people feel safer at work

For more insights and findings, download the full 2022 State of Employee Safety Report.

The Employee Safety Podcast is hosted by Peter Steinfeld, SVP of Safety Solutions at AlertMedia.

You can find this interview and many more by subscribing to The Employee Safety Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or here.

Listening on a desktop and can’t see the links? Just search for The Employee Safety Podcast on your favorite podcast player.

There's nothing like an NFL game day. With 50,000+ people pouring into FedExField, the Washington Commanders rely on the elite coordination and collaboration of Director of Security & Transportation, Matthew Van Norton, to keep fans and staff safe. 

By partnering with vendors, federal, state, and local officials, and the league itself, Matthew and his team ensure a secure and memorable experience for all.  

Matthew joined the show to discuss: 

• How his team complies with the NFL’s best practices for stadium security and fan conduct 
• The technology and training the Commanders use to secure their facilities 
• The nuances of securing an open-air stadium 
• Special safety and security measures for high-profile concerts and events 

The Employee Safety Podcast is hosted by Peter Steinfeld, SVP of Safety Solutions at AlertMedia. 

Get every episode delivered straight to your inbox by subscribing at https://www.alertmedia.com/podcast/. 

FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™ will be an event like no other. With 500,000 fans and 32 teams descending on Qatar’s capital, Doha, it will be the most compact World Cup in history. 

For Director of Safety, Security, and Access, Helmut Spahn, success is built not on individual performance, but on teamwork. Through careful collaboration between FIFA and Qatari leaders, professionals, and citizens, Helmut has laid the groundwork for a safe and secure Cup and a festive atmosphere for all.  

In this episode, Helmut unpacks: 

• His culturally aware approach to safety and security  
• How this Cup’s security challenges compare to past years 
• Qatar-wide training for everyone from venue officials to taxi drivers 
• When to stick to the formula versus think out of the box 

The Employee Safety Podcast is hosted by Peter Steinfeld, SVP of Safety Solutions at AlertMedia. 

You can find this interview and many more by following The Employee Safety Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or subscribing here. 

Listening on a desktop and can’t see the links? Just search for The Employee Safety Podcast on your favorite podcast player. 

Building a culture of preparedness is one of the best things you can do for your organization today.

But where do you start?

In this episode, Jeffrey Trask, the Enterprise Emergency Management, Business Continuity, and Insurance Risk Manager at ISO New England, joined Peter to share his advice for creating a strong safety culture in your workplace.

Topics they discussed:

• How to assemble an effective communications infrastructure
• The importance of building relationships with local public safety officials
• 4 steps to create a “culture of preparedness” in your organization

The Employee Safety Podcast is hosted by Peter Steinfeld, SVP of Safety Solutions at AlertMedia.

You can find this interview and many more by subscribing to The Employee Safety Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or here.

Facility security presents unique challenges for safety leaders. Whether you’re managing a small office for a few hundred employees or a large event venue with a capacity for thousands, the overarching goal remains the same: keep people safe at all times.

Kevin Dooley, Sr. Director of Security & Transportation for the San Diego Padres, joins Peter in this episode to share his insights on the best technology and procedures he uses to keep stadiums secure.

Additionally, they discuss:

• How to tackle the challenges of different types of facilities
• Why optimizing available technology is crucial for security
• Communication best practices for mitigating risks
• The importance of learning from incidents

The Employee Safety Podcast is hosted by Peter Steinfeld, SVP of Safety Solutions at AlertMedia.

You can find this interview and many more by subscribing to The Employee Safety Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or here.

Salesforce released its return to the workplace plan in April 2021, which the company refers to as “Success from Anywhere.” It allows employees to choose the model that best suits their needs, whether that’s working from home, the office, or both.

The plan revolutionized how Salesforce employees work. However, it presented new challenges for safeguarding the physical and mental well-being of the organization’s global workforce.

In this episode, Stasha Wyskiel, Senior Director of Resilience, Global Safety, and Security at Salesforce, shares how her team navigates employee safety for 60,000 employees across 28 countries.

We discuss:

• The specifics of the “Success From Anywhere” plan
• Safety and security challenges of a dispersed workforce
• How Salesforce’s Global Operations Center assists employees no matter where they are

Reach out to Stasha at swyskiel@salesforce.com.

The Employee Safety Podcast is hosted by Peter Steinfeld, SVP of Safety Solutions at AlertMedia.

You can find this interview and many more by subscribing to The Employee Safety Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or here.

Listening on a desktop and can’t see the links? Just search for The Employee Safety Podcast on your favorite podcast player.

2021 was the deadliest year on record for gun violence, and this year is already on track to surpass it. Considering the recent mass shooting events and millions of employees going back to the office, it’s important for organizations to re-evaluate their workplace violence preparedness plans to ensure the safety of their people.

Proper preparedness and training can mean the difference between life and death in an active shooter situation.

In this episode, Bill Flynn, Co-founder and Chief Strategy Officer at The Power of Preparedness, discusses how organizations can assess workplace risks to create or improve a violence preparedness program.

Bill shares:

• Why “checking the box” on workplace violence preparedness is no longer acceptable
• How full employee participation and executive buy-in is crucial for an effective preparedness plan
• The importance of building muscle memory through active shooter training
• Why probability, vulnerability, and potential consequence evaluations are necessary for accurate risk assessments

The Employee Safety Podcast is hosted by Peter Steinfeld, SVP of Safety Solutions at AlertMedia.

You can find this interview and many more by following The Employee Safety Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or subscribing here.

Listening on a desktop and can’t see the links? Just search for The Employee Safety Podcast on your favorite podcast player.

You can’t predict every incident that might happen to your organization. But you can have a robust business continuity plan that helps mitigate the effects of unpredictable circumstances.

In this episode, Peter speaks with Larry Pomykalski, the Director of National Programs & Business Continuity at SAC Wireless. The two discuss…

• Why a big imagination leads to better business continuity planning
• 3 things every company needs in their business continuity plan
• How to get leadership’s buy-in on safety
• Best ways to communicate with employees in remote locations

The Employee Safety Podcast is hosted by Peter Steinfeld, SVP of Safety Solutions at AlertMedia.

You can find this interview and many more by subscribing to The Employee Safety Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or here.

Emergencies are always going to happen.

But a little preparation can make all the difference to the outcome. 

I’m Peter Steinfeld, Senior Vice President of Sales at AlertMedia, and I’m happy to announce the upcoming release of The Employee Safety Podcast.

The goal of this podcast is to build a community around the topic of employee safety.

In this inaugural episode, I explain:

- Why safety is such an important consideration for any organization

- How to prepare for the unexpected

- What to expect in upcoming episodes

You can find this interview and many more by subscribing to The Employee Safety Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or here.

Listening on a desktop and can’t see the links? Just search for The Employee Safety Podcast in your favorite podcast player.

FEMA has supported businesses and communities before, during, and after disasters for more than 40 years. It provides emergency assistance that includes ongoing coordination, integration, planning, and training exercises to improve organizational resilience.

Robert Glenn, Director, Office of Business, Industry, and Infrastructure Integration at FEMA, explains how businesses can receive disaster assistance, help their communities, and better prepare for emergencies.

We discuss:

• How a disaster gets declared
• The resources and services FEMA provides
• How businesses can apply for disaster assistance
• Important lessons for preparedness and recovery

Contact the Office of Business, Industry, and Infrastructure Integration at ob3i@fema.dhs.gov.

The Employee Safety Podcast is hosted by Peter Steinfeld, SVP of Safety Solutions at AlertMedia.

You can find this interview and many more by subscribing to The Employee Safety Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or here.

Listening on a desktop and can’t see the links? Just search for The Employee Safety Podcast on your favorite podcast player.

It’s not easy to secure huge campuses, multiple buildings, and hundreds of employees and visitors. Emergency communications can be a complicated challenge for organizations with a large geographic footprint and a steady flow of people coming in and out of their facilities.

David Markley, Director of Operations at Grace Covenant Church, joins the show to share the tools and strategies he uses to effectively communicate with his employees, volunteers, and congregation during emergency situations.

We discuss:

• The benefits of maintaining a “defense mindset”
• The importance of disseminating critical information quickly and accurately
• How two-way communication improves incident outcomes
• Why organizations should not wait to implement a modern emergency communication solution

The Employee Safety Podcast is hosted by Peter Steinfeld, SVP of Safety Solutions at AlertMedia.

You can find this interview and many more by subscribing to The Employee Safety Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or here.

Listening on a desktop and can’t see the links? Just search for The Employee Safety Podcast on your favorite podcast player.

Do your employees know who’s in charge during an emergency? As long as your organization’s leaders are acting as a team, employees should feel comfortable reaching out to any of them, including HR.

John Muller, Director of Growth at Gehring Group, joins Peter to discuss HR’s role in employee safety, as well as…

• How to transfer disaster frameworks from one emergency to another
• How to prioritize safety in your organization
• How organizations benefit when they prioritize employee safety

The Employee Safety Podcast is hosted by Peter Steinfeld, SVP of Safety Solutions at AlertMedia.

You can find this interview and many more by subscribing to The Employee Safety Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or here.

In a world full of disruptions, keeping your business running and your people safe can’t happen without an effective business continuity program in place. But where do you begin?

In this episode, Peter talks with Michele Schutte, Managing Director of Business Continuity and Incident Management at Charles Schwab, about how to create and improve business continuity programs.

They cover topics like:

• Creative ways to get people to buy into a safety culture
• Balancing employee safety with keeping your business operational during a pandemic
• Mistakes to avoid when building an original business continuity program
• How to mature your business continuity program
• Best practices for coordinating across teams

The Employee Safety Podcast is hosted by Peter Steinfeld, SVP of Safety Solutions at AlertMedia.

You can find this interview and many more by subscribing to The Employee Safety Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or here.

Safety and security leaders need relevant, accurate metrics to properly evaluate the effectiveness of their systems and processes. Some systems are not designed to generate metrics at all, so it’s up to the organization to develop reporting systems from scratch.

Scott Napier, Global Systems and Technology Lead at Zendesk is tackling this by capturing data that enables him to justify expenses, track GSOC operator response times, and increase efficiency. 

In this episode, Scott discusses how he aligned cross-functional priorities and operations to ensure a consistent security program across the organization. Listen in to learn how to:

• Structure security policies and procedures 
• Prioritize system updates for a fast-growing company
• Develop a cohesive access management and badging process
• Help GSOC operators identify and respond to security threats more efficiently

The Employee Safety Podcast is hosted by Peter Steinfeld, SVP of Safety Solutions at AlertMedia.

You can find this interview and many more by following The Employee Safety Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or subscribing here.

Listening on a desktop and can’t see the links? Just search for The Employee Safety Podcast on your favorite podcast player.

Drones are an emerging threat that can disrupt business operations and pose risks to employee safety. With the evolution of technology, there has been an uptick in bad actors using drones and other unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) with malicious intent. 

In this conversation, Ryan Wallace, Associate Professor of Aeronautical Science at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, discusses the threat implications of drones for businesses, highlighting their capabilities, the emerging threats they pose, and the challenges organizations face in addressing these risks.  

Listen in to learn:  

• Why organizations are often unprepared for drone-related threats 
• Key takeaways from real-world drone attacks 
• How laws and regulations for drones are varied and difficult to enforce 
• Why proactive measures are the key to understanding and mitigating drone risks 

The Employee Safety Podcast is hosted by Peter Steinfeld, SVP of Safety Solutions at AlertMedia. 

Get every episode delivered straight to your inbox by subscribing at https://www.alertmedia.com/podcast/. 

The 2021 hurricane season is upon us.

In part one of our three-part series on hurricane preparedness, Melissa Huffman, Warning Coordination Meteorologist for the National Weather Service, shares her expert knowledge on common and not-so-common hurricane hazards and how to prepare for them.

Topics covered:

• What to expect from this year’s season
• How hurricanes are measured
• Hazards that can impact you during and after a storm
• How Hurricane Harvey’s unprecedented rainfall influenced social science initiatives at the National Weather Service

For more information, visit hurricanes.gov.

The Employee Safety Podcast is hosted by Peter Steinfeld, SVP of Safety Solutions at AlertMedia.

You can find this interview and many more by subscribing to The Employee Safety Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or here.

To celebrate the first anniversary of the show, we invited Brian Cruver, founder and CEO of AlertMedia, to discuss his storied career path as an entrepreneur and how he arrived at the idea for AlertMedia.

In this episode, Brian describes the circumstances that led to his passion for creating businesses that help people during emergencies and how they influenced his decision-making while building a purpose-driven organization.

Establishing core values like “simplicity is a strength” and “customers come first” is essential to the company’s success, according to Brian.

We also discuss:

• His scientific method approach to starting a business
• The importance of transparency within an organization
• Why ease of use is essential in an emergency communications tool
• How he keeps products and employees mission-focused

The Employee Safety Podcast is hosted by Peter Steinfeld, SVP of Safety Solutions at AlertMedia.

You can find this interview and many more by subscribing to The Employee Safety Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or here.

Listening on a desktop and can’t see the links? Just search for The Employee Safety Podcast on your favorite podcast player.

Loss prevention isn’t only about protecting stores and merchandise from theft.

In part two of our two-part series on loss prevention in retail, Chris Hinger, Director of Loss Prevention, Corporate Security, Corporate Facilities, and Risk Management at Warby Parker, explains how loss prevention strategies have shifted into overall asset protection, including employee safety.

In this episode, Chris discusses:

• Identifying loss prevention goals
• The importance of making safety a company value, not just a priority
• Shifting strategies in asset protection
• Integrating emergency communication solutions into preparedness and response efforts

The Employee Safety Podcast is hosted by Peter Steinfeld, SVP of Safety Solutions at AlertMedia.

You can find this interview and many more by subscribing to The Employee Safety Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or here.

When you think about loss prevention, it might conjure an image of kids stealing bubble gum from a store. But in part one of our two-part series on loss prevention in retail, Jacque Brittain, Editorial Director at Loss Prevention Magazine, explains why it’s much more than that.

He talks with Peter about:

• Top challenges facing the retail industry today
• How loss prevention teams have adapted to the pandemic
• Safety challenges retailers face during times of civil unrest
• The importance of continuing education

The Employee Safety Podcast is hosted by Peter Steinfeld, SVP of Safety Solutions at AlertMedia.

You can find this interview and many more by subscribing to The Employee Safety Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or here.

No one could have predicted the sheer volume of medical support staff needed in New York at the epicenter of the pandemic.

Nonetheless, 4,000 nurses, nurse practitioners, paramedics, and physical therapists arrived just in time. Krucial Staffing was the company behind this logistical feat. In this episode, we speak to CEO Brian Cleary about how it was accomplished.

Topics covered:

• Deploying a huge volume of medical support staff to New York
• The logistical challenges of coordinating thousands of people
• The importance of communication in such a massive effort

The Employee Safety Podcast is hosted by Peter Steinfeld, SVP of Safety Solutions at AlertMedia.

You can find this interview and many more by subscribing to The Employee Safety Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or here.

Sometimes businesses need to look back to move forward.

Guest host Sara Pratley, Vice President of Global Intelligence at AlertMedia, joins us for a special bonus episode to reflect on the threats organizations faced in 2021 and how they can help companies prepare for 2022.

She discusses:

• Physical and economic threats that are on the rise
• Extreme weather event predictions
• The increase in cybersecurity threats
• How global events can have local impacts

The Employee Safety Podcast is hosted by Peter Steinfeld, SVP of Safety Solutions at AlertMedia.

You can find this interview and many more by subscribing to The Employee Safety Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or here.

Listening on a desktop and can’t see the links? Just search for The Employee Safety Podcast on your favorite podcast player.

The safety and security team for the Atlanta Hawks is charged with protecting guests, fans, and employees for 40+ NBA games and more than 150 events per year at State Farm Arena.

For the Hawks’ Senior Director of Safety and Security, Emily Drexler, her team’s comprehensive and continual training program is the key to providing a safe experience for all guests, inside and outside the arena.

In this episode, Emily shares how her team:

• Works with organizations across Atlanta to share information and best practices
• Utilizes a variety of structures and formats to continually train for any scenario
• Mitigates and prioritizes event-specific risks 
• Streamlines communication for lockstep decision-making

The Employee Safety Podcast is hosted by Peter Steinfeld, SVP of Safety Solutions at AlertMedia.

You can find this interview and many more by following The Employee Safety Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or subscribing here.

Listening on a desktop and can’t see the links? Just search for The Employee Safety Podcast on your favorite podcast player.

Does your company have a plan for responding to severe weather threats? Do you close down operations? Do you wait until it becomes a warning before alerting employees?

Although planning for severe weather events can feel like an attempt to predict the unpredictable, it’s crucial to have an emergency response plan in place long before the moment comes when you’ll require one.

Warning coordination meteorologist for the National Weather Service, Paul Yura, joins Peter to discuss:

• The growing accuracy of weather forecasts
• Best practices for businesses responding to severe weather
• The increasing expectations for businesses to protect their employees

For more information on severe weather response plans, visit https://www.weather.gov.

The Employee Safety Podcast is hosted by Peter Steinfeld, SVP of Safety Solutions at AlertMedia.

You can find this interview and many more by subscribing to The Employee Safety Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or here.

Now that business travel is back, risk management is a tall order. With a legal duty of care to protect employees while traveling, organizations have their plates full ensuring the physical and cyber security of their most precious assets. 

So, how does a small team tackle travel risk management for thousands of employees? 

Delia Midamba is Head of Physical Security at Cloudflare, where she sees a vast array of travel requests hit her desk. In this episode, Delia shares her approach to risk management that protects company IP, executives, and employees while traveling.

Listen in to learn how to:

• Conduct a pre-travel risk assessment for employees
• Rate, review, and manage travel requests
• Account for legal and tax implications for remote work and business travel
• Ensure executive protection while traveling
• Balance company duty of care with employee right to privacy

The Employee Safety Podcast is hosted by Peter Steinfeld, SVP of Safety Solutions at AlertMedia.

You can find this interview and many more by following The Employee Safety Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or subscribing here.

Listening on a desktop and can’t see the links? Just search for The Employee Safety Podcast on your favorite podcast player.

Wildfires are creating historic levels of danger and destruction in our communities each year. Fire behavior these days is entirely uncharacteristic of what urban and wildland firefighters dealt with in the past. What does this mean for businesses? It’s now more important than ever to build and implement a wildfire safety plan.

In this episode, Stan Szpytek (aka Stan the Fireman), President and CEO at Fire & Life Safety, Inc., gives actionable advice for conducting a vulnerability assessment that translates into an emergency management plan for wildfires and how it can save lives.

What we talked about:

• Why wildfires consistently break historical records
• Overlooked risks in wildfire incidents
• The importance of an all-hazards emergency management plan
• The concept of optimistic bias and how it relates to wildfire preparedness

Check out these resources we mentioned during the podcast:

• A Hazard Vulnerability Analysis Tool produced by Kaiser Permanente
• Episode 30 with Alexander Maranghides from NIST on lifesaving lessons from a wildfire study
• Episode 35 with Gianetta Jones from Coca-Cola UNITED on post-storm recovery

The Employee Safety Podcast is hosted by Peter Steinfeld, SVP of Safety Solutions at AlertMedia.

You can find this interview and many more by subscribing to The Employee Safety Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or here.

At Stratolaunch—the company that built the world’s longest aircraft—emergency planning is unique.  

From coordinating public safety officials to readying rescue operations, the experimental aviation company relies on an emergency response expert with experience at every altitude.

Linna Selbrede is the Emergency Response Program Lead with over a decade of experience in search and rescue spanning Virgin Galactic, Texas Search and Rescue, and more. In this episode, Linna joined the show to discuss: 

• A community approach to emergency planning 
• Preparing 95% of crisis communications in advance 
• Learning from other organizations’ tabletop drills 
• How volunteering in emergency services is a force multiplier for her career 

The Employee Safety Podcast is hosted by Peter Steinfeld, SVP of Safety Solutions at AlertMedia. 

Get every episode delivered straight to your inbox by subscribing at https://www.alertmedia.com/podcast/. 

Everyone benefits from safer communities, so why not help organizations around you improve their security and preparedness tactics? Individuals and businesses alike have the power to serve those around them, and in turn, can create an environment that keeps people safe.

Senior Safety Advisor at The Institute For Childhood Preparedness and former police officer, Ron Roszak, joins Peter to discuss how anyone can play a role in improving the safety and security of their community, including childcare facilities and under-funded organizations.

Plus, they talk about…

• Common safety/security flaws organizations should avoid
• The best ways to train childcare providers on emergency preparedness
• How you can start promoting safety in your own community
• Why fear tactics in emergency training aren’t effective

The Employee Safety Podcast is hosted by Peter Steinfeld, SVP of Safety Solutions at AlertMedia.

You can find this interview and many more by subscribing to The Employee Safety Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or here.

A traditional crisis management approach starts with planning, training, and exercises. Yet, in this linear model, organizations often find cracks in the system when the rubber meets the road.

Steven Kuhr is a crisis and emergency management leader with decades of experience spanning public service and private sector roles. For Steven, true resilience is a continuum of crisis management, business continuity, and preparedness—with one component flowing seamlessly into the next.

Steven sat down with Peter to explain his C.O.R.E. (Circle of Resilience and Excellence) process and how organizations can:

• Turn a crisis management plan into a holistic program
• Flip the script on traditional risk assessments
• Weave narrative and numerical data together in reporting
• Structure crisis management leadership training

The Employee Safety Podcast is hosted by Peter Steinfeld, SVP of Safety Solutions at AlertMedia.

You can find this interview and many more by following The Employee Safety Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or subscribing here.

Listening on a desktop and can’t see the links? Just search for The Employee Safety Podcast on your favorite podcast player.

As 2023 approaches, trendlines indicate that threats are on the rise globally.

The overlapping impacts of severe weather, economic uncertainty, geopolitical concerns, activism, and active shooter events are complex and difficult for any organization to navigate. According to AlertMedia’s VP of Global Intelligence, Sara Pratley, the number one thing safety leaders can do to protect their organizations is stay informed.

In this episode, Sara unpacks:

• The most impactful crisis events of 2022 and what we learned
• Data and insights on the top threat concerns for 2023
• How to prioritize and prepare for likely threats
• How timely intelligence supports business continuity, operations, and safety

The Employee Safety Podcast is hosted by Peter Steinfeld, SVP of Safety Solutions at AlertMedia.

You can find this interview and many more by following The Employee Safety Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or subscribing here.

Listening on a desktop and can’t see the links? Just search for The Employee Safety Podcast on your favorite podcast player.

Hurricane season officially begins June 1, and Colorado State University has predicted a historically active season for 2024.  

Patrick Forand is a certified incident commander and FEMA instructor and was a contract manager at the Florida Department of Health for more than 16 years. He currently leads emergency management, disaster planning, and response for CAN Community Health.  

In this episode, Patrick shares valuable lessons learned from two recent Florida hurricanes—Ian and Nicole. 

Listen in to learn how:  

• Streamlined communication alleviates stress for staff and patients 
• Unified threat intelligence and emergency communications improves disaster response 
• Two-way communication and multichannel notifications empower emergency managers 
• CAN Community Health scales and improves their communication and response plans 

The Employee Safety Podcast is hosted by Peter Steinfeld, SVP of Safety Solutions at AlertMedia. 

Get every episode delivered straight to your inbox by subscribing at https://www.alertmedia.com/podcast/. 

Mental health crisis services must be operational 24/7/365 to support communities, even during an emergency or severe weather event. But without effective communication, continuity of care can be compromised.

For Integral Care, the authority on local mental health and developmental disabilities in Austin, Texas, communication is the key to protecting employees and keeping vital programs up and running, no matter what.

In this episode, Teresa Williams, Director of Clinical Services, and David West, Associate Director of Integrated Systems of Care at Integral Care, share:

• Why they adopted a plain language system for emergency response
• Why communication should be a continuous area of improvement
• How to support staff through workforce quality and satisfaction committees
• How training builds employee competence and confidence

The Employee Safety Podcast is hosted by Peter Steinfeld, SVP of Safety Solutions at AlertMedia.

You can find this interview and many more by following The Employee Safety Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or subscribing here.

Listening on a desktop and can’t see the links? Just search for The Employee Safety Podcast on your favorite podcast player.

What good is your crisis plan if you haven’t prepared to use it? Building a strong crisis response plan starts with getting your people involved.

In this episode, Peter talks with Penny Neferis, Director of Business Continuity, Disaster Recovery & Emergency Response at JetBlue Airways. The two discuss…

• Best practices for keeping a mobile workforce safe
• The benefits of collaborating with other organizations during crisis planning
• The importance of response plan testing and continual improvement
• How to engage your entire organization in emergency response planning

The Employee Safety Podcast is hosted by Peter Steinfeld, SVP of Safety Solutions at AlertMedia.

You can find this interview and many more by subscribing to The Employee Safety Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or here.

Making safety and inclusion priorities in your workplace is the best way to ensure that employees feel happy, protected, and productive.

In this episode, Edgar Ndjatou, Executive Director at Workplace Fairness, joins Peter to talk about why empathy and transparency are integral to this process.

Edgar discusses:

• The most common reasons employees seek information on worker’s rights
• The most significant issues surrounding the fair treatment of workers
• Essential components of a safe and inclusive workplace

The Employee Safety Podcast is hosted by Peter Steinfeld, SVP of Safety Solutions at AlertMedia.

You can find this interview and many more by subscribing to The Employee Safety Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or here.

During a hurricane, organizations must have a way to contact their employees to ensure their physical safety and offer disaster relief.

In 2018, Coca-Cola Bottling Company UNITED, Inc faced an enormous challenge when Hurricane Michael devastated the cell phone infrastructure in Panama City.

In the final episode of our three-part series on hurricane preparedness, we interviewed Gianetta Jones, Vice President & Chief People Officer at Coca-Cola Bottling, to learn how the company overcame this destructive event and why communication was key to doing so.

What we talked about:

• How to contact and care for your people before, during, and after a hurricane
• Strategies to help disaster communications run smoothly
• How to respond when power and telephone infrastructures are unavailable
• Why there’s no such thing as over-preparing for a hurricane

The Employee Safety Podcast is hosted by Peter Steinfeld, SVP of Safety Solutions at AlertMedia.

You can find this interview and many more by subscribing to The Employee Safety Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or here.

With 50 facilities and nearly 80,000 employees spread across the continent, Toyota Motor North America has a lot of ground to cover with their emergency communications.

Hannah Kinnett — a member of the emergency management and business resiliency team at Toyota — explains how they leverage mass notifications and a level system for emergency alerts to accelerate incident response times.

Topics covered:

• How Toyota’s resiliency team operates
• The most common emergencies at Toyota’s manufacturing plants
• The level system used for emergency management alerts
• Backup routes for emergency notifications

The Employee Safety Podcast is hosted by Peter Steinfeld, SVP of Safety Solutions at AlertMedia.

You can find this interview and many more by subscribing to The Employee Safety Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or here.

Listening on a desktop and can’t see the links? Just search for The Employee Safety Podcast on your favorite podcast player.

The first step to hurricane readiness is knowing what to do and when.

In part one of our 2023 hurricane preparedness series, guest host Sara Pratley sat down with AlertMedia’s Senior Meteorologist, Jason Moreland, to unpack the early forecasts for the 2023 hurricane season and what organizations need to know to protect their people and property.

As Jason explains, now is the time to review communication plans, identify risks, and stock up on supplies.

Listen now to hear:

• An overview of what meteorologists expect in 2023
• What we learned from last year’s hurricane season
• How El Niño could impact hurricane conditions
• Tips for preparing your facilities and people

Jason also recommends visiting ready.gov/hurricanes and hurricanes.gov for the latest tropical weather outlook.

You can find this interview and many more by following The Employee Safety Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or subscribing here.

Listening on a desktop and can’t see the links? Just search for The Employee Safety Podcast on your favorite podcast player.

Any organization can benefit from operating at a high level of readiness.

Besides supporting employee safety and business continuity, it’s also critical for ensuring the resilience of the surrounding community.

In this episode, Justin McInnis, President and Elected CEO at Texas Search and Rescue (TEXSAR), explains how his team achieves and maintains a constant state of readiness through sufficient training, support, equipment, and resources for their employees and volunteers.

We discuss:

• How TEXSAR mentally and physically prepares volunteers for difficult missions
• On-site safety for search and rescue workers
• The importance of mental health support for the response community
• The long-term benefits of achieving a constant state of readiness

The Employee Safety Podcast is hosted by Peter Steinfeld, SVP of Safety Solutions at AlertMedia.

You can find this interview and many more by subscribing to The Employee Safety Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or here.

Listening on a desktop and can’t see the links? Just search for The Employee Safety Podcast on your favorite podcast player.

Safety shouldn’t just be a priority—it should be a company value. That’s how you’re going to build a strong safety culture at your organization.

Scott Gerard, VP of Environmental Health & Safety at Moss, joins Peter on the show to discuss how leadership can make safety a value within the organization. They also review…

• How to implement a lean and effective emergency response plan
• How to evaluate the success of safety integrations
• Why it’s important to communicate the reasons behind safety procedures

Watch You Can’t Send a Duck to Eagle School here.

The Employee Safety Podcast is hosted by Peter Steinfeld, SVP of Safety Solutions at AlertMedia.

You can find this interview and many more by subscribing to The Employee Safety Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or here.

When Hurricane Ian battered the state of Florida in 2022, Family First Homecare faced the daunting task of ensuring their electricity-dependent patients were safe, accounted for, and receiving life-sustaining care. 

In part two of our 2023 hurricane preparedness series, Beth Harbold, Director of Quality Assurance and Emergency Management, explains that fast and personalized two-way communication was essential for patient safety and continuity of care before, during, and after the storm.

Listen to learn how she:

• Tailored emergency messages to improve response rates
• Collaborated with teams in other states to reach every single patient
• Implemented lessons learned into their hurricane response plan

The Employee Safety Podcast is hosted by Peter Steinfeld, SVP of Safety Solutions at AlertMedia.

You can find this interview and many more by following The Employee Safety Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or subscribing here.

Listening on a desktop and can’t see the links? Just search for The Employee Safety Podcast on your favorite podcast player.

For the Colorado Rockies, teamwork is the key to success on and off the baseball field. 

This episode features Tony Lopez, Senior Director of Security, and Michael Bush, Senior Director of Information Systems at the Rockies. From securing 50,000 fans to scanning the skies for drones over Coors Field, Tony and Michael work together to ensure a safe and fun experience for staff, players, and fans year-round.

Listen in to learn:

• How the Rockies collaborate with MLB, local first responders, and other Denver sports teams
• The technology that keeps Coors Field safe and secure
• How the Rockies coordinate across the league to ensure safe travels for the team
• The nuances and challenges of innovating an older stadium

The Employee Safety Podcast is hosted by Peter Steinfeld, SVP of Safety Solutions at AlertMedia.

You can find this interview and many more by following The Employee Safety Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or subscribing here.

Listening on a desktop and can’t see the links? Just search for The Employee Safety Podcast on your favorite podcast player.

Nearly one-third of the U.S. population lives in the Wildland Urban Interface (WUI). These fire-prone areas are a perfect storm of fuel availability, weather conditions, and ignition sources—leaving organizations and communities at serious risk of wildfire.  

U.S. Fire Administrator Dr. Lori Moore-Merrell joined the show to discuss how businesses within the WUI can innovate to mitigate wildfire risk. 

Listen to learn how: 

• Recent wildfire trends impact organizations today 
• Building codes and standards keep facilities and people safe 
• Drones and ignition detection technology support response 
• Regular fuel clearing mitigates wildfire risk 

Resources:

• USFA Wildfire Augmented Reality App
• USFA Blog
• FEMA Ready.gov

The Employee Safety Podcast is hosted by Peter Steinfeld, SVP of Safety Solutions at AlertMedia. 

Get every episode delivered straight to your inbox by subscribing here. 

Many companies view their corporate security function as a cost center—and miss out on the untapped potential of a robust security culture. In this episode, Wendy Bashnan, Director of Security and Fire Protection at Scout Motors, unpacks insights from her 30-year career—from government security at the U.S. Department of State, NATO, and the Diplomatic Security Service to the private sector as Chief Security Officer at Nielsen. 

Listen to learn how to:   

• Engage with the business and get buy-in for the security function 
• Leverage public-private partnerships to achieve your goals 
• Effectively communicate “the why” at every level of the organization 
• Start building AI policies and protocols to protect your business 

The Employee Safety Podcast is hosted by Peter Steinfeld, SVP of Safety Solutions at AlertMedia. 

Get every episode delivered straight to your inbox by subscribing at https://www.alertmedia.com/podcast/. 

Today’s hybrid work environment has altered the traditional employee-manager relationship. Leaders can no longer rely on in-person interactions to know how their employees are feeling and performing in their roles.

How are great safety leaders adapting to ensure a physically and psychologically safe work environment for their people?

Michael Teape, Owner and Lead Training Consultant at Teape Training International explains:

• The most important skills a safety leader should develop to effectively lead a hybrid workforce
• Why emotional intelligence and empathy can be more important than strategy and processes when managing employees
• Applying the SCARF model to stimulate meaningful conversations with your direct reports
• How over-communicating can help you identify and support employee needs

The Employee Safety Podcast is hosted by Peter Steinfeld, SVP of Safety Solutions at AlertMedia.

You can find this interview and many more by subscribing to The Employee Safety Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or here.

Listening on a desktop and can’t see the links? Just search for The Employee Safety Podcast on your favorite podcast player.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce hosts 2,600+ events a year, where a revolving door of global VIPs presents unique security challenges. Vice President of Security, Jerry Marshall leans on his extensive experience in protective and investigative service—from the Air Force to Secret Service—to protect the Chamber, its personnel, and its guests.

In this episode, you’ll hear how Jerry’s pride and appreciation for his country ignite his passion to serve and protect.

Listen to learn:

• Jerry’s experience serving on the President’s counter assault team during 9/11
• Why the Chamber provides its security team with intelligence and investigative training
• How security collaborates with the IT team to assess and investigate cyber threats
• Steps businesses can take to strengthen bonds with law enforcement

The Employee Safety Podcast is hosted by Peter Steinfeld, SVP of Safety Solutions at AlertMedia.

You can find this interview and many more by following The Employee Safety Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or subscribing here.

Listening on a desktop and can’t see the links? Just search for The Employee Safety Podcast on your favorite podcast player.

With more than 33,000 locations and 380,000 employees worldwide, Starbucks relies on a team of experienced experts to approach business resilience from all sides. One way the company achieves resilience is by ensuring every employee, from the CEO to store-level, knows their role in an emergency. 

This episode features Meghan Murphy, Senior Manager of Crisis Management, and Michelle Kubo, Senior Project Manager of Programs and Strategies at Starbucks. Together, they help support the entire enterprise when there’s a business disruption. For Meghan and Michelle, training, communication, and employee feedback are the keys to achieving and maintaining business resilience at Starbucks.

Listen to learn how the company:

• Builds trusting employee relationships through mindfulness, inclusion, and empathy
• Tackles crisis response (with step-by-step priorities) 
• Incorporates employee feedback into interactive training
• Proactively incorporates safety and security in all aspects of growth

The Employee Safety Podcast is hosted by Peter Steinfeld, SVP of Safety Solutions at AlertMedia.

You can find this interview and many more by following The Employee Safety Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or subscribing here.

Listening on a desktop and can’t see the links? Just search for The Employee Safety Podcast on your favorite podcast player.

Workplace safety has evolved dramatically since 1847. When Tribune Publishing first opened its doors, regulatory agencies like OSHA and the EPA did not exist and safety policies were implemented reactively. 175 years later, Tribune has created a robust, sustainable safety culture that protects thousands of dispersed, contract, and on-site workers from a myriad of potential threats.

So how did Tribune achieve this staying power? By embracing change, remaining agile, and applying adaptive safety.

In this episode, guest host Sara Pratley sits down with Jerry Glotzer, Corporate Manager of EHS, Security, Workers Compensation, Emergency Preparedness, and Risk Management for Tribune Publishing. For Jerry, the key to protecting employees is staying flexible and keeping a thumb on the pulse of emerging risks.

Listen in to learn about:

• How to assess hazard vulnerability by region
• How to modify safety plans and policies for risk
• Tailored training for journalists in high-risk areas
• Why adaptive leadership and safety go hand-in-hand
• Risks that should be top of mind for safety leaders

The Employee Safety Podcast is hosted by Peter Steinfeld, SVP of Safety Solutions at AlertMedia.

You can find this interview and many more by following The Employee Safety Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or subscribing here.

Listening on a desktop and can’t see the links? Just search for The Employee Safety Podcast on your favorite podcast player.

More than 200,000 transitioning service members depart the military each year. For veterans and military spouses, finding civilian employment that suits their skills and abilities can be a daunting task. 

This Veterans Day, we’re spotlighting the amazing work of Hiring Our Heroes, a nonprofit arm of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce that connects the military community with companies—creating economic opportunity and a strong, diversified workforce nationwide. 

Through hiring events, fellowships, and digital programs, Senior Director of Programs and Events, Crystal Cochran, helps the military community transition to the civilian workforce. 

Listen to learn: 

• The unique skillsets veterans and military spouses can bring to their roles 
• Why it’s good business to hire military community members 
• Tips for veterans and military spouses on translating skills and developing a network 
• How organizations can get involved with Hiring Our Heroes 

The Employee Safety Podcast is hosted by Peter Steinfeld, SVP of Safety Solutions at AlertMedia. 

You can find this interview and many more by following The Employee Safety Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or subscribing here. 

Listening on a desktop and can’t see the links? Just search for The Employee Safety Podcast on your favorite podcast player. 

September is National Preparedness Month, recognized each year by FEMA to raise awareness for emergency preparedness by promoting business, community, and family disaster planning.

In honor of National Preparedness Month, we invited JoAnn Dankert, Senior Safety Consultant at the National Safety Council, to share some safety tips and guidance from the NSC. JoAnn has more than 30 years of diversified experience helping organizations fully integrate EHS practices into their business operations.

Topics discussed:

• Most common preparedness challenges faced by businesses
• Conducting risk assessments, drills, and exercises in the workplace
• Involving your neighbors in your emergency preparedness plan
• How to effectively communicate with employees, leadership, and emergency responders

Learn more with these resources:

• FEMA.gov
• OSHA.gov
• Emergency.cdc.gov
• Ready.gov/kit
• Emergency Preparedness: Are You Ready for a Disaster?

The Employee Safety Podcast is hosted by Peter Steinfeld, SVP of Safety Solutions at AlertMedia.

You can find this interview and many more by subscribing to The Employee Safety Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or here.

In today's intensifying threat landscape, organizations must go beyond a check-the-box approach to achieve positive safety outcomes.  

For Andrew Dingee, pilot, safety expert, and author of Delivering the Right Stuff, an effective safety culture is achieved through a systems approach—that catches human error while preventing blame. In this episode, Andrew shares how to: 

• Optimize checklists for busy workloads 
• Apply Thinking, Fast and Slow concepts to achieve safe workflows 
• Streamline incident reporting for continuous improvement 
• Develop a culture that embraces owning and learning mistakes 

The Employee Safety Podcast is hosted by Peter Steinfeld, SVP of Safety Solutions at AlertMedia. 

Get every episode delivered straight to your inbox by subscribing at https://www.alertmedia.com/podcast/. 

To achieve business resilience, organizations must be prepared for any emergency that comes their way. For Liberty Mutual, that means building preparedness plans that include three primary components: Crisis management, emergency response, and business recovery.

Ashley Goosman, Risk Manager of Business Continuity & Crisis Management Specialist at Liberty Mutual, has helped managers and employees worldwide prepare for and respond to business interruptions for the past 10 years. She joins the show to share lessons learned that can help other organizations build strong resilience programs.

Ashley explains:

• How Liberty Mutual has streamlined its operational structure to improve crisis decision-making and business continuity
• When and why the company has pivoted or modified resilience strategies
• Guidance on how to measure the success of your resilience program
• Suggestions for building community engagement within the risk and resilience industry

The Employee Safety Podcast is hosted by Peter Steinfeld, SVP of Safety Solutions at AlertMedia.

You can find this interview and many more by following The Employee Safety Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or subscribing here.

Listening on a desktop and can’t see the links? Just search for The Employee Safety Podcast on your favorite podcast player.

Planning and executing music festivals and community events requires meticulous risk mitigation to protect all attendees and staff.

Scott Davidson is the CEO and Founder of Code 4, an operations management and emergency services provider based in Austin, Texas.

For Scott, risk forecasting and mitigation are the keys to planning safe and secure mass gatherings. 

Listen in to learn how to:

• Assess venues for any safety, security, or transportation concerns
• Determine which risks are “worthy of mitigation”
• Communicate with staff and attendees about expectations before the event
• How to train and prepare your team for mass gatherings
• Build rapport with government officials and agencies in advance 

The Employee Safety Podcast is hosted by Peter Steinfeld, SVP of Safety Solutions at AlertMedia.

You can find this interview and many more by following The Employee Safety Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or subscribing here.

Listening on a desktop and can’t see the links? Just search for The Employee Safety Podcast on your favorite podcast player.

EHS Today is an industry-leading publication with a mission to help safety professionals do their jobs better. Their annual audience survey received more than 1,100 responses from EHS leaders in 2022, revealing the top three challenges they face in their roles today. 

Dave Blanchard, Editor in Chief of EHS Today, joins the show to deliver the results and break down how they could impact the future of the safety profession. 

Tune in to hear learn how EHS leaders:

• Navigate how to do more with less
• Manage employee well-being
• Encourage employee engagement
• Earn leadership buy-in

The Employee Safety Podcast is hosted by Peter Steinfeld, SVP of Safety Solutions at AlertMedia.

You can find this interview and many more by following The Employee Safety Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or subscribing here.

Listening on a desktop and can’t see the links? Just search for The Employee Safety Podcast on your favorite podcast player.

When you work at a vital blood provider for multiple hospitals and healthcare facilities, people depend on your services — especially during emergencies.

In this episode, DeKeitra Fitzgerald, Claims and Safety Manager, and Richard Dunn, Security and Resilience Manager, from Gulf Coast Regional Blood Center, share the strategies they use to ensure they can provide the community with those essential services when they are needed most.

Topics covered:

• Security challenges at donor facilities
• How they prepare their organization and the community for a major event
• Resiliency management and disaster mitigation initiatives

The Employee Safety Podcast is hosted by Peter Steinfeld, SVP of Safety Solutions at AlertMedia.

You can find this interview and many more by subscribing to The Employee Safety Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or here.

Listening on a desktop and can’t see the links? Just search for The Employee Safety Podcast on your favorite podcast player.

Organizations regularly encounter unforeseen challenges. When faced with the unknown, a traditional approach to crisis management and resilience can limit an organization's ability to identify, assess, and respond to crises quickly. 

Brendan Monahan is Head of US Resilience and Crisis Management for a major global pharmaceutical company and author of Strategic Corporate Crisis Management: Building an Unconquerable Organization. According to Brendan, the key to corporate resilience is agility, which allows organizations to plan for the unexpected.

Listen in to hear Brendan explain:

• The three critical questions to ask in any crisis
• How to delegate incident response to workers
• Best practices to help organizations achieve resilience 
• How to turn planning into preparedness

The Employee Safety Podcast is hosted by Peter Steinfeld, SVP of Safety Solutions at AlertMedia.

You can find this interview and many more by following The Employee Safety Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or subscribing here.

Listening on a desktop and can’t see the links? Just search for The Employee Safety Podcast on your favorite podcast player.