This week Dr. Martin and James channel David Letterman's classic countdown format to tackle the ethical challenges that define modern safety practice.

From the Friday 4:30 PM confined space scenario to whistleblowing decisions, these aren't theoretical problems—they're the real-world situations that test your professional integrity and could determine whether workers make it home safely.

Drawing from decades of field experience, our hosts break down the most common ethical conflicts safety professionals face: production pressure versus safety standards, training compliance versus real competency, and the gray areas where professional codes of conduct meet workplace reality.

Whether you're a seasoned CSP or new to the field, these scenarios will challenge how you think about doing the right thing when it's not the easy thing.

Inside the Episode:

• Production pressure versus safety standards
• When to blow the whistle on unsafe practices
• Training compliance versus real competency
• Personal relationships versus professional integrity
• Cultural sensitivity versus safety enforcement

The Risk Matrix Podcast: Weekly masterclass in risk management from industry titans Dr. L.F. Martin (32-year veteran, Board of Global EHS Credentialing Impact Award winner) and James Junkin (trainer of 40,000+ safety professionals, ASSP's 2024 Safety Professional of the Year).

Every Tuesday: The tough conversations safety managers need to have. Critical insights from safety experts. Real-world strategies. Actionable solutions.

The Risk Matrix Podcast is powered by Veriforce: Bringing workers home safe from high-hazard jobs.

This week Dr. Martin and James dive into heat stress litigation. With 436 worker deaths over the past decade and federal heat standards stalled, courts are reshaping heat illness prevention through cases.

The hosts discuss Matthew Arvin's article "The Heat of the Moment: Recent Litigation Regarding Heat Stress Injuries" from Professional Safety Journal, breaking down how five states are writing their own rules while these court decisions set new precedents for what heat safety really means.

Inside the Episode:

• Cal-OSHA's transit case expanding protections to non-air conditioned vehicles
• Rio's Farming Company's water placement violating regulatory "intent"
• Federal USPS general duty clause decision and OSHA enforcement
• Why generic heat training programs are failing in court
• How state courts are filling regulatory gaps when federal rules stall

The Risk Matrix Podcast: Weekly masterclass in risk management from industry titans Dr. L.F. Martin (32-year veteran, Board of Global EHS Credentialing Impact Award winner) and James Junkin (trainer of 40,000+ safety professionals, ASSP's 2024 Safety Professional of the Year).

Every Tuesday: The tough conversations safety managers need to have. Critical insights from safety experts. Real-world strategies. Actionable solutions.

The Risk Matrix Podcast is powered by Veriforce: Bringing workers home safe from high-hazard jobs.

Are those red-yellow-green boxes on your safety documents actually helping workers or just creating colorful paperwork?

Dr. Logan F. Martin and James Junkin examine one of safety's most common tools: the risk matrix.

This episode explores whether these assessment tools belong in field documents or should stay in planning phases, where they might add real value.

The hosts tackle uncomfortable questions about when and where risk assessment should happen, while defending frontline workers when safety systems fail them.

Inside the episode:

• Trinity County confined space tragedy and H2S safety lessons
• Where risk matrices actually belong (hint: probably not on JHAs)
• Why "it's too late to draw it up in the dirt" once you're in the field
• Defending workers vs blaming them for system failures
• Planning vs field execution in safety management

James gets protective of frontline workers: "We're really good at pointing out the failures of the workers without looking at the failures of the system itself."

Dr. Martin is direct about field-level risk matrices: putting red and yellow ratings on field documents "is not helpful at all."

Both hosts challenge conventional thinking about where risk assessment belongs and whether we're setting workers up for success or failure.

The Risk Matrix Podcast is powered by Veriforce. Learn more at ⁠veriforce.com⁠

Have thoughts on this episode? Follow us on ⁠LinkedIn⁠ and join the conversation.

And don't forget to subscribe for more conversations on safety leadership, risk management, and real-world lessons from the field.

When a workplace incident happens, who’s held responsible—and how?

This week, James Junkin and Dr. Logan Martin take on one of the most contentious debates in safety leadership: the line between accountability and blame.

With safety investigations on the rise and regulators sharpening their focus, leaders face a complex reality.

Post-incident reviews can either drive improvement or spark fear and silence.

So how do we build cultures that learn without letting negligence slide?

Inside the episode:

• Why “no-blame” cultures are often misunderstood

• When accountability is necessary—and when it backfires

• The role of progressive discipline in a safety-first workplace

• How OSHA treats unpreventable employee misconduct defenses

• Documentation mistakes that weaken your internal defense

This episode offers a clear, field-tested view of what safety leadership looks like when it’s done right.

The Risk Matrix Podcast is powered by Veriforce.Learn more at veriforce.com

Hurricane Katrina made landfall as a Category 3 storm—but what followed was far more devastating than wind speed alone could explain. Levee failures, flooded hospitals, drowned neighborhoods, overwhelmed shelters, and delayed federal response turned a natural disaster into one of the most catastrophic humanitarian crises in U.S. history.

Twenty years later, the memory still cuts deep.

In this episode of The Risk Matrix, James Junkin opens up about his firsthand experience living through Katrina, the cascading failures in leadership and planning, and the unshakable responsibility that safety professionals carry—then and now.

Dr. Martin and James break down:

• What went wrong with evacuation, communication, and emergency response

• Why “mandatory evacuation” meant little to those without transportation or options

• The overlooked impact on working-class and vulnerable communities

• How leadership hesitation and policy blind spots cost lives

• What the safety community has (and hasn’t) learned since 2005

• And why being prepared today means planning for the people most at risk tomorrow

James also reflects on the emotional aftermath—from attic drownings to Superdome overcrowding—and the citizens who stepped up when systems failed.

👉 Read James’ companion article in EHS Today:

“Preparing for Hurricane Season 2025”

🎧 Whether you work in public safety, EHS, emergency planning, or executive leadership, this episode will challenge the way you think about readiness—and how quickly conditions can unravel when assumptions go unchecked.

We talk often about lessons learned in safety. This one demands we remember.

📣 Join the conversation:

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Season 2 of The Risk Matrix begins with a high-stakes debate on OSHA’s proposed rollbacks.Hosts James Junkin and Dr. Logan Martin tackle three of the 25 changes under consideration: respirator requirements, construction illumination standards, and the scope of the general duty clause. With decades of safety and compliance experience, they break down what these proposals mean for safety leaders in the field — and where the disagreements begin.Want to weigh in? Public comment is open until September 2.https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2025/07/01/2025-12235/amending-the-medical-evaluation-requirements-in-the-respiratory-protection-standard-for-certain

Conference season is here, and most safety professionals are doing it wrong.

In this tactical episode, James Junkin reports live from ASSP 2025 in Orlando while Dr. Martin shares the strategic framework that transforms conferences from expensive networking events into career-accelerating investments.

Hosted by industry veterans Dr. Martin and James Junkin, this conversation unpacks the hidden strategies of conference success and how intentional planning, strategic networking, and focused learning can help safety professionals maximize their ROI and advance their careers.

Stream now and see why this episode is essential listening before your next safety conference.

In this episode of The Risk Matrix, hosts James Junkin and Dr. Martin unpack the latest proposed rule changes from OSHA—offering practical insight into what safety leaders should be paying attention to and why it matters.

From respirator selection and medical evaluations to recordkeeping rollbacks and the evolving role of the General Duty Clause, the hosts explore what these changes could mean for day-to-day operations, worker safety, and long-term compliance strategies.

Whether you're managing a respiratory protection program or reviewing OSHA 300 logs, this conversation will help you stay informed, prepared, and proactive in a changing regulatory landscape.