Creating a Strong Safety Culture with Joe Geng

Manufacturing Happy Hour · 20 Jan 2020 · 32m

What this episode covers

Joe Geng, Vice President at Superior Glove and author of 'Rethinking Hand Safety', discusses how to build a culture of safety in manufacturing. He explains that trust between leadership and workers is the foundation for reducing injuries, contrasting companies that blame employees with those that investigate root causes. Geng highlights the importance of PPE comfort to ensure compliance and warns against the 'cut-proof' myth, advocating for proper ANSI rating selection. He also shares actionable strategies, such as using positive peer pressure and focusing on emotional buy-in from CEOs, to improve safety outcomes.

Other shows on the same ground, closest first.

  • The Manufacturing Executive · 34m

    How Safety Drives Your Bottom Line and Why It Starts With You w/ Brian Fielkow

    Brian Fielkow, former CEO of JetCo Delivery and author of 'Making Safety Happen', argues that safety must be a core value rather than a priority or compliance function. He explains that safety failures cost five times more than insurance claims due to hidden costs like downtime and reputation damage. Fielkow illustrates how Alcoa CEO Paul O'Neill used safety metrics to drive operational excellence and how JetCo leveraged frontline driver committees to improve performance. He also advocates for 'just culture' over progressive discipline to build trust and distinguish between honest mistakes and reckless behavior.

  • Let's Combinate · 49m

    014C - "The Final P: People" with Larry Mager

    Larry Mager, Principal and Founder of Mgmt-Ctrl, discusses the 'People' pillar of his Predictive Quality Management (PQM) framework for medical device companies. He argues that achieving a strong culture of quality requires ensuring personnel are skilled, trained, and proven competent, rather than just checking boxes. Mager illustrates how leadership must foster communication, trust, and personal accountability to move beyond mere compliance, citing a successful turnaround at a large organization that resolved a corporate warning letter by engaging employees directly.

  • The Manufacturing Executive · 35m

    Why the Employee Bathroom Is the Key to Leadership w/ Mark Whitten

    Mark Whitten, President & CEO of Spartanburg Steel Products (SSP), explains how he transformed the company’s culture and operations through his 'SSP 2.0' strategy, which emphasizes leading by example and engaging employees' hearts and minds. He details how visiting the shop floor and cleaning alongside staff helped rebuild trust after losing a $40 million bid due to poor facility conditions, a lesson that led to renewed business from that customer. Whitten also discusses the challenges of attracting Gen Z to manufacturing and the importance of dignity in the workplace, using employee bathrooms as a key indicator of organizational health.

  • Global Medical Device Podcast · 45m

    Building a Culture of Quality

    Dan Purvis, CEO and co-founder of Velentium, discusses building a quality-centric culture in medical device engineering that moves beyond mere regulatory compliance. He outlines a 'three-legged stool' model integrating people, business, and quality, emphasizing that true quality aligns with risk and safety rather than just adherence to standards. Purvis shares insights on hiring for teachability, fostering high-performance teams, and the importance of proactive preventive actions in quality management systems.

  • The Manufacturing Executive · 39m

    The Power of a Visible Manufacturing Leader w/ Jim Mayer

    Jim Mayer, founder of The Manufacturing Connector, explains his concept of the 'Industrial Brand Death Cycle,' where weak or invisible leadership creates a toxic culture that leads to fake branding, customer distrust, and business failure. He argues that manufacturing leaders must be visible and authentic, both on the shop floor and publicly, to build trust and drive engagement. Mayer highlights specific leaders like Paul Akers of FastCap, Nicole Walters of HM Manufacturing, and Chris Carlson of Peerless Precision as models for this approach. He advises leaders to audit their culture, walk the floor, and communicate their values directly to employees to break the cycle of stagnation.

The summary, chapters and topics are generated from the episode’s audio by this directory, not written by Manufacturing Happy Hour. The episode itself belongs to its publisher.