The Dangerous Myth of ‘Safety Is Number One’

In safety and risk management, there are certain phrases so deeply ingrained that they’re rarely questioned. One of the most common and most celebrated is “safety is number one.” It sounds responsible. It sounds principled. And on the surface, it feels unarguable.

But in a recent episode of The Canary Report: Safety & Risk Management, host Michael Zalle invites listeners to take a harder look at that belief alongside Dylan Laser, Safety Director at Kinsley Construction. What unfolds is a grounded, candid conversation about why that phrase often undermines the very outcomes leaders are trying to achieve, and how a more integrated approach to safety delivers better results for people and performance.

This episode isn’t about semantics. It’s about how safety is positioned inside real organizations, how that positioning shapes behavior in the field, and why reframing safety as part of operational success, not separate from it, is essential for leaders managing complex, high-risk environments.

The Hidden Problem with “Safety Is Number One”

Dylan Laser doesn’t mince words when it comes to this topic. From early in his career, he struggled with the idea that safety should be treated as a singular, top-ranked priority. Not because safety doesn’t matter, but because real work doesn’t function in a hierarchy like that.

On any jobsite, three forces are always present: productivity, efficiency, and safety. Remove one, and the system fails. When safety is framed as “number one,” it quietly sends a message to crews that productivity and efficiency must be sacrificed to achieve it. That message breeds cynicism, not commitment.

In practice, jobs that lose safety don’t just become dangerous; they also lose efficiency and productivity. Delays increase. Errors multiply. Trust erodes. The opposite is also true: when safety is intentionally embedded into how work is planned and executed, it strengthens operational outcomes instead of competing with them.

The reframing Dylan advocates is simple but powerful. Safety isn’t above the work. It’s inside the work.

From “Safety Police” to Trusted Partners

One of the most striking parts of the conversation centers on a label many safety professionals recognize instantly: the safety police.

Early in his career, during a three-month internship, Dylan chose not to spend his time inspecting or enforcing rules. Instead, he worked alongside crews, different crews, different tasks, every day. His reasoning was straightforward. If he didn’t understand what people actually did, he would never earn their trust, and he would never understand what “safe” truly meant in that context.

That experience revealed a fundamental truth: when safety shows up without understanding the work, it feels like enforcement. When safety shows up with curiosity and respect, it becomes a partnership.

Too many organizations unintentionally reinforce the policing model by hiring safety professionals who lack hands-on industry experience or by isolating safety roles from operations. The result is predictable: defensiveness, resistance, and risk of staying hidden.

Dylan’s approach flips that dynamic. Credibility is built by learning the job first, speaking the language of the field, and demonstrating respect for the realities crews face every day. When that happens, safety guidance stops feeling imposed and starts feeling relevant.

Why Policies Fail When They’re Written in Isolation

Another core theme of the episode is policy design, and why so many safety programs fail before they ever reach the field.

At Kinsley Construction, Dylan spent over a decade dismantling one-size-fits-all safety handbooks and rebuilding them from the ground up. With four distinct business divisions and overlapping OSHA, MSHA, and environmental requirements, a single generic framework simply didn’t work.

The traditional model is familiar: policies written in conference rooms, approved by leadership, and pushed downward with the expectation of compliance. Buy-in is assumed. Resistance is blamed on culture.

Dylan’s alternative is collaborative and practical. Policies are developed one area at a time, with direct input from supervisors and crews who live the work daily. Regulations are aligned with reality, not imposed in abstraction. The result isn’t softer standards, it’s usable ones.

When people help build the rules, they follow them. Ownership replaces resistance, and compliance becomes a shared outcome rather than a forced one.

Moving Beyond Checkbox Compliance

Inspections are another area where intention and impact often diverge. Dylan describes how Kinsley moved away from traditional checkbox inspections and replaced them with narrative-based observations.

The problem with checklists isn’t that they document issues; it’s that they stop there. A checked box tells a foreman something is wrong, but it doesn’t explain why, what conversation happened, or how improvement will occur. Over time, this breeds resentment and fatigue rather than learning.

Narrative inspections change the dynamic. They capture what was observed, the context around it, and the discussion that took place on site. They force safety professionals to engage with the work, not just record deviations. They also give leadership insight into patterns, not just incidents.

At scale, dozens of reports daily across thousands of employees, this approach builds accountability without turning safety into a “gotcha” exercise. Inspections become coaching moments, and documentation becomes a tool for improvement rather than proof of enforcement.

Knowing When to Outsource, and Why It’s Not Failure

A particularly resonant part of the episode addresses a quiet pressure many safety leaders feel: the belief that responsibility means doing everything internally.

As Kinsley scaled, Dylan and his team reached a limit. Certain specialized functions, annual rigging inspections, niche training delivery, and technical assessments could not be executed consistently across dispersed sites without outside support.

The instinct to hold everything in-house is understandable. Admitting limits can feel like failure. But Dylan reframes it as leadership.

Responsibility doesn’t require personal execution. It requires setting standards, vetting expertise, and maintaining oversight. Just as air traffic controllers don’t fly planes themselves, safety leaders don’t need to personally deliver every component to remain accountable.

Strategic outsourcing frees internal teams to focus on culture, policy, and leadership, areas where their influence has the greatest impact.

Resetting Engagement Through External Perspective

Training fatigue is another challenge addressed candidly. When the same internal trainers deliver the same annual content year after year, engagement inevitably drops. Participants arrive with preconceived notions and mentally check out.

Bringing in external trainers resets expectations. New voices, different teaching styles, and fresh perspectives re-engage learners, not because the content changes, but because the experience does.

Dylan is clear that this isn’t about replacing internal capability. It’s about complementing it strategically. A blended approach, external delivery paired with internal reinforcement, keeps training effective without unnecessary cost or repetition.

Safety as a Business Multiplier

Throughout the episode, one idea consistently rises to the surface: safety works best when it’s treated as a business enabler, not a competing priority.

When safety is framed as separate, teams resist. When it’s integrated, they engage. When it’s enforced, risk hides. When it’s partnered, risk surfaces early, before people get hurt and operations take a hit.

Michael Zalle doesn’t present this conversation as a theory. It’s grounded in lived experience, operational complexity, and real-world trade-offs faced by safety leaders every day. The message is clear: stop asking safety to stand alone. Build it into how work gets done.

For EHS leaders, VPs of Risk Management, and operations executives scaling across sites, divisions, and jurisdictions, this episode offers something rare—permission to challenge outdated thinking and practical examples of what works instead.

Because in the end, safety isn’t “number one.” It’s foundational.

👉 Listen to the full episode of The Canary Report: Safety & Risk Management and help push the industry toward what actually works.

🎧 Listen here:
Apple Podcasts: https://hubs.ly/Q03_Yd_d0
Spotify: https://hubs.ly/Q03_Yc3T0
YouTube: https://hubs.ly/Q03_Y9_B0