Psychological Safety: The Invisible Foundation of a Strong EHS Culture
In the world of Environmental, Health, and Safety (EHS), we often focus on visible safety measures: hard hats, safety protocols, emergency procedures, and compliance metrics. But there's an invisible yet critical component that can make or break your safety culture: psychological safety.
Psychological safety is the belief that one can speak up, take interpersonal risks, and make mistakes without fear of punishment or humiliation. It's not about being 'nice' - it's about trust, accountability, and open dialogue.
In high-risk industries and environments, psychological safety is foundational to a strong safety culture. Workers are more likely to report near misses, unsafe conditions, or mental health concerns when they feel safe to speak up.
In practical terms, psychological safety means your team members feel comfortable saying:
without worrying about negative consequences to their reputation, career, or relationships.
A psychologically safe team is not only more engaged and resilient, but also more effective in both physical and mental safety performance.
Our Role: Creating a Culture Where it's Safe to Speak Up
As EHS professionals, we have a unique opportunity and responsibility to champion psychological safety across our organisations. Our position allows us to influence culture at multiple levels, from frontline workers to senior leadership.
Spotting the Unseen: Tackling Psychological Hazards
Psychological hazards include:
Unlike physical hazards, these risks are often 'invisible' - harder to see, harder to quantify, and easier to ignore. When left unaddressed, they contribute to increased stress, burnout, absenteeism, and even accidents.
Frameworks like the HSE Management Standards and ISO 45003 provide structure for identifying, assessing, and managing psychosocial risks. EHS professionals can play a key role by:
You're Closer than you Think: Building on What Exists
You don't need to start from scratch. Psychological safety can and should be integrated into your current programs.
How Do You Know It's Working? Signs to Look For
What gets measured gets managed. While psychological safety is often considered 'soft,' there are clear ways to assess it:
Edmondson's
From Talk to Action: Building Trust that Sticks
Trust isn't built overnight—but it can be nurtured with consistent, intentional actions:
Why it All Matters – and What Comes Next
Creating a truly safe workplace means going beyond hard hats and hazard signs—it means ensuring your people feel heard, respected, and safe to speak up. As EHS professionals, embedding psychological safety into our work isn't just good practice—it's essential for the health, safety, and performance of our teams.
Let's move from checking boxes to building cultures. Because when your people feel safe to speak, your entire safety program becomes stronger.
Questions? Our team is here to help!
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Washington Post
2 hours ago
- Washington Post
Why does travel make me constipated? A gastroenterologist explains.
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Furthermore, when we travel, we tend to drink less water, eat more processed, carb-rich foods either on the go or indulging at restaurants, and we rarely get to drink coffee and exercise the same ways we do in the comfort of our home routines (sitting for hours on a plane isn't helping your bowels one bit). Because of all this, traveler's constipation is quite common. I strongly recommend you start taking something that will help at the start of the trip — even a day or two before leaving. It's always easier to get ahead of a problem than to chase after it when it becomes a crisis. Start with something easy like an extra fiber supplement or MiraLax, which is a mild laxative that pulls water into your intestine. If that doesn't do the trick and you find you're seriously backed up, go for a stimulant laxative like senna, which you can pick up over the counter. My brother has watery, loose stools, four or more times a day. He does admit that it would be nice not to go so often, so what OTC remedy could he try? You don't need to poop once a day to be healthy. The number of times we poop depends on a multitude of individual factors — our diets, our exercise patterns, how stressed we are and our circadian rhythm to name a few (did you know that, unlike many other organs, your colon rises and shines just like you do — it's why having a bowel movement in the first hours after waking is easier than later in the day!) So I tell my patients that 'normal' is what's comfortable for you. In general, Americans think that anywhere from three bowel movements per week to three bowel movements per day is 'normal.' It sounds like, for the most part, your brother is pleased with his habits. Four stools a day is on the higher end of typical, and I can't comment specifically on his situation without knowing his whole history. But assuming all else is stable, and he's perfectly content, I might let someone like this be. If he finds that the frequent call of nature is interfering with his ability to socialize, or leading to discomfort, he should absolutely talk to his physician. 'Change' is definitely possible ('improvement,' however, depends on your perspective here). Perhaps the thing I love most about your asking this is that you and your brother seem to have a healthy open dialogue about poop! In so many families, this is not the case. In my own poop-friendly family, my father is also a gastroenterologist, so you can imagine what a delight the pair of us are at dinner parties. After being as regular and predictable as Old Faithful until the age of roughly 48 (I'm a 51 year-old male), I find that I rarely have the sort of satisfying, bowel-emptying events that typified my 30s and 40s. Is this normal for a man of my age? Dear Poopless, Lord Tennyson once wrote: ''Tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.' The same could be said of a great poop. 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Here's a pro tip: Try taking two kiwis a day — a 2021 study found that consuming two kiwis per day was just as effective in increasing stool frequency and reducing straining as prunes. But unlike prunes, eating kiwis helped with bloating too. Since being on Ozempic, I'm always constipated. Without laxatives, I get severely impacted. Softeners and fiber were not effective. Any suggestions? GLP-1 agonists, like semaglutide (brand name Ozempic), slow down our gastrointestinal motility, or in other words, how quickly our guts can propel contents forward. I know this comes as no surprise to anyone on these medications: the GI side effects are a huge reason many people can't stick with them in the long-term. This delay can affect our GI tracts from our stomachs all the way down to our colons. In a much-discussed randomized-controlled trial of semaglutide for weight loss published in 2021, about 23 percent of people on semaglutide experienced constipation and 44 percent experienced nausea. So what you're experiencing is common — and as more people get access to GLP-1 agonists, we're going to have to start being more preemptive in addressing these concerns. Everyone's bodies and lifestyle is different — for some, increasing fiber or using the occasional over-the-counter laxative may be sufficient to keep things moving smoothly. But I'd explore options with your physician about what else you can try if you feel you've exhausted your options. We have many ways we can treat constipation, including safe but strong prescription medications at our disposal. It could also be that you warrant other tests to see whether there may be any other issues contributing to your symptoms. For me, the main thing is not to suffer silently. If you let your doctor know how bad things are, we can work together on possible solutions.
Yahoo
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Eggs. Toast. Soup? What breakfast looks like around the world.
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Sweden: Bread, a boiled egg, yogurt and coffee A classic Swedish breakfast usually features bread with butter or cheese, an egg, yogurt and coffee. Some Swedes may have muesli or porridge instead of bread, says Angelone. Keatley calls this meal 'compact but balanced.' The egg and yogurt deliver protein and fat, while the bread provides whole grain carbs, he says. Angelone also praises the probiotics in the yogurt. 'Those are good for the gut,' she says. The only thing to make this already great breakfast even better? Add some produce. 'A few slices of cucumber or tomato on the side would round this out nicely,' Keatley says. England: Full breakfast A full English breakfast usually features bacon, sausage, eggs, baked beans, tomatoes, toast and mushrooms. Some people also enjoy black pudding, which is a combination of pork or beef blood, animal fat and a grain like oatmeal or barley. The tomatoes are one of the best parts of this breakfast, according to dietitians. 'The tomato is doing the heavy lifting, nutritionally,' says Keatley. While the eggs, bacon and sausage provide plenty of protein, the breakfast is high in saturated fat. 'Bacon and sausage are processed meats, which we want to eat less frequently,' Cassetty says. 'You can keep the vibe of the meal by swapping in sautéed mushrooms or low-sugar baked beans and choosing whole-grain toast. Doing this would be a balanced, filling and nutritious start to the day.' Tanzania: Mandazi, eggs and fruit Mandazi, which is a type of fried bread similar to donuts, is popular for breakfast in Tanzania. It's usually served with coffee or tea, along with eggs and fruit. 'Eggs and fruit are a solid combo because they provide protein, vitamins and fiber,' Cassetty says. The nutritional quality of the mandazi depends a lot on the type of flour used, according to Keatley. 'If it's refined wheat, that adds carbs with little other nutrients,' he says. 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Yahoo
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Patient's heartbreaking final words before death
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