Hosted by Michael Zalle, Founder and CEO of YellowBird, The Canary Report: Safety & Risk Management features the sharpest minds in risk management and workplace safety. Each episode dives into bold, real conversations that challenge outdated safety models and cut through compliance theater. You’ll hear from guests who bring a powerful mix of tech-driven insight, human-first experience, and hard-won lessons from the field.
Ideal for those leading safety initiatives in construction, logistics, manufacturing, or looking at safety from within the insurance industry, this podcast delivers the insights you need to stay ahead.
Tap into real world case studies, stay on top of emerging technologies, and get field-tested strategies that are redefining how safety programs are built and scaled.
Real experts. Real outcomes.
Your playbook for the future of safety starts here.
From Safety Compliance to Safety Ownership: How Leaders Transform Culture | Paul Espenan
"Safety is a keystone habit. You show me a safe company, I'll show you a well-performing one and vice versa. You cannot separate safety performance from company performance, period." - Paul Espenan
Safety leadership is not about adding more rules or another compliance checklist. It is about helping people understand risk, take ownership, and make safer decisions when it matters. Paul Espenan, Senior Vice President of EHS&R at Diversified Energy Company, brings a practical perspective shaped by his career progression from environmental compliance into safety leadership and his experience of turning underperforming operations into safer, more effective workplaces.
In this episode of The Canary Report, host Michael Zalle sits down with Paul to explore why safety can become a keystone habit that drives both safety performance and overall business performance. Paul shares how asking better questions can coach leaders toward safer operations, why vulnerability and storytelling can accelerate cultural transformation, and how an advice-then-ownership approach can build genuine ownership of safety. He also explains how finding more efficient ways to manage hazards can align operational excellence with incident prevention, rather than treating safety and efficiency as competing priorities.
24 Sept 2026
Why Perspective and Not Compliance Creates a Stronger Safety Culture I Justin Hinks
“In our career field, we can't be in cruise control. Right? Safety matters too darn much to put it in cruise control." - Justin
Safety leadership is not about adding another checklist or sending another reminder. It is about helping people see risk differently and giving them a reason to make safer choices. Justin Hinks, Director of Safety at Furniture Mart USA, brings an unconventional perspective shaped by his journey from farm kid to high school principal to safety leader.
In this episode of The Canary Report, host Michael Zalle sits down with Justin to explore how the “Safe 2 Home” mentality can move safety beyond compliance and connect it to what matters most: getting people home to the people they love. Justin shares why visiting 70 locations in four months can build more trust than generic safety communications, how a simple perspective exercise can help teams spot hazards they have become blind to, and why coaching and relationship-building are critical to changing behaviour. He also explains how innovative waste-reduction initiatives can turn an environmental challenge into a business opportunity.
17 Sept 2026
Turning Frontline Safety Leaders Into Professional Risk Managers with Devin Woods
“My goal is to make our frontline leaders, the foremen, the superintendents, the general foremen, to make those folks professional risk managers.” Devin Woods, Director of Safety at ArchKey Solutions.
Safety leadership is not about chasing perfect outcomes. It is about giving frontline leaders the tools to identify hazards, assess risk, and make better decisions when conditions change. Devin Woods, Director of Environmental Health and Safety at Bruce & Merrilees Electric, an ArchKey Solutions company. Devin brings experience across oil and gas, drilling operations, and electrical construction to a conversation about building practical risk management into everyday work.
In this episode of The Canary Report, host Michael Zalle sits down with Devin to explore how Human and Organizational Performance can strengthen an HSE management system, why TRIR alone may not reveal high-potential risks, and how SIF potential can provide another view of exposure. Devin also shares a powerful lesson from a drilling rig fatality about why a focus on corrective actions must cut across the organization and explains how EHS technology can free safety teams to spend more time where they have the greatest impact.
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