Field Debrief

About Field Debrief

Hosted by George Bull, Field Debrief is a podcast about expeditionary logistics, risk management, decision making, and the craft of running outdoor programs. I've spent years in the outdoor industry, including coordinating deep field operations for the US Antarctic Program, managing a youth backpacking program in Wyoming, and guiding commercial expeditions in remote Alaska. Outdoor programs improve trip by trip and debrief by debrief. Many of those lessons come from our own trips and seasons. Some come from outside our industry: aviation, incident response, and other safety-critical fields that have spent decades studying how teams communicate, why experienced people still make bad calls, and how to turn a close call into a lesson instead of a repeat. Episodes take three forms: case studies from inside and outside the outdoor industry, like the human factors breakdown behind Airblue Flight 202; conversations with practitioners I respect in risk management and outdoor education; and deep dives into Field Risk OS features and the operational thinking behind them. If you take people into the field, whether at a summer camp, an outdoor education organization, a university program, or a guide service, this show is for you. Listen, and let me know what you think: george@fieldrisksystems.com (mailto:george@fieldrisksystems.com). Show notes at fieldriskos.com/field-debrief (http://fieldriskos.com/field-debrief). Field Debrief is produced by Field Risk Systems(TM) LLC.

Publisher

Field Risk Systems LLC

Category

sports

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

28 Jul 2026

Latest episode

12 Oct 2026

Latest episodes

4 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   12 Oct 2026

   Wildfire Entrapment Avoidance for Outdoor Programs | Field Debrief Ep. 3

   Brendan Madden has spent 30 years in outdoor adventure education. His roles have ranged from field instructor to program management, with organizations including Outward Bound Canada and NOLS. His recent master's thesis at Royal Roads University explores wildfire entrapment avoidance for led outdoor activities. This episode explores topics from his thesis, including the 1957 Grose Valley fire, what he learned speaking with 20 Canadian outdoor leaders, how wildland firefighters approach extreme wildfire conditions, the 30-30-30 rule, safety zones, evacuation considerations, and next steps for outdoor programs. Show notes, sources, and the full transcript: https://fieldriskos.com/field-debrief/wildfire-entrapment-avoidance-outdoor-programs (https://fieldriskos.com/field-debrief/wildfire-entrapment-avoidance-outdoor-programs) Topics: What safety should mean for an organization, and a closed-toed shoe policy on a sandy beach What wildfire entrapment is, and why the risk is increasing The 1957 Grose Valley fire Information versus knowledge: how wildland firefighters read terrain Wildfire avoidance versus wildfire entrapment avoidance The smoke call: what a program manager can actually see from base El Niño and the season ahead White gas stoves during a fire ban The 30-30-30 rule, slow groups, and fire moving uphill Safety zones, escape routes, and the limits of a helicopter evacuation About Brendan: Brendan is an internationally respected thought-leader in outdoor adventure risk management. He is currently the Director of Enterprise Risk at Girl Guides of Canada. He has been active in outdoor adventure education for over 30 years and has held leadership positions at Outward Bound Canada and the National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS-USA). He regularly teaches, presents, and consults on outdoor risk management and is a member of the steering committee of the Wilderness Risk Management Conference. Brendan is a founding member of the Wilderness Climate Action Lab, a volunteer organization dedicated to strengthening the resilience of outdoor programs to climate change. Brendan achieved an MA in Disaster and Emergency Management at Royal Roads University, with a thesis on exploring wildfire entrapment avoidance for led outdoor groups. Links: Brendan's thesis, An Exploration of Wildfire Entrapment Avoidance for Led Outdoor Activities: https://doi.org/10.25316/IR-21015 (https://doi.org/10.25316/IR-21015) Wilderness Risk Management Conference: https://www.nols.edu/risk-services/wilderness-risk-management-conference/ (https://www.nols.edu/risk-services/wilderness-risk-management-conference/) Field Conditions, a free wildfire, smoke, and air quality map: https://fieldriskos.com/map/live (https://fieldriskos.com/map/live) Field Debrief newsletter: https://fieldriskos.com/field-debrief (https://fieldriskos.com/field-debrief) This episode is for general information only and is not safety advice, training, or guidance for any program, trip, or wildfire situation. The views expressed are the speakers' own. Wildfire conditions can change quickly. Follow the instructions of your local fire agencies, land managers, and other officials, and in an emergency, call 911.

2. 

   16 Sept 2026

   Safety-I, Safety-II, and Risk Optimization for Outdoor Programs | Field Debrief Ep. 2 Part 2

   Part 2 of Episode 2 with Steve Smith, founder of Experiential Consulting and author of Beneficial Risks and Safety Science for Outdoor & Experiential Education. In Part 1 of this two-part episode, Steve and George discussed a van incident on a muddy BLM road in Utah, the blame cycle, safety clutter, and the lingering effects of Taylorism. Part 2 builds on those concepts. It opens with a question: immediately after an incident is not the moment to change your safety philosophy, so what can an organization do ahead of time to get out of the blame cycle? From there: rules versus guidelines, why "safety is our top priority" is a platitude that sidesteps the real conversation, risk optimization, Safety-I and Safety-II, the zero-incident paradox, Boeing's 737 MAX and the Aviation Safety Reporting System, liability avoidance versus operational safety, and what an outdoor industry version of ASRS would need. Steve closes by flipping the microphone and asking George how safety science shapes Field Risk OS. Clarification: In this episode George refers to the Aviation Safety Reporting System as an FAA tool. ASRS is funded by the FAA but administered by NASA as an independent third party. Chapters: 00:00 Getting out of the blame cycle before the incident 03:24 Rules, policies, and guidelines: if everything is a policy, nothing is 04:48 Safety-I and Safety-II: we need both 06:26 Hire people for the brain in their head 07:54 Safety is not the mission: show me your budget 11:16 Risk optimization and the impromptu summit 14:24 Us and them in the backcountry 15:27 Sidney Dekker, Erik Hollnagel, and the new view of safety 19:58 A zero-incident philosophy and the zero paradox 23:39 Boeing MCAS and the Aviation Safety Reporting System 25:35 Why the ACMG's reporting system died 28:05 Liability avoidance versus operational safety 29:21 What an outdoor ASRS would need 32:22 The flip: how safety science shaped Field Risk OS 36:44 Learning from everyday work and the crab pot for institutional memory 39:42 Where to find Steve You can find Steve and his team at outdoorrisk.com (http://outdoorrisk.com), where you can also learn about both books. Steve also hosts the Lucky or Good podcast. Illustrations in this episode video are from Safety Science for Outdoor & Experiential Education. Part 1: https://fieldriskos.com/field-debrief/blame-trust-steve-smith (https://fieldriskos.com/field-debrief/blame-trust-steve-smith) Part 2, Show notes and transcript: https://fieldriskos.com/field-debrief/safety-ii-risk-optimization-steve-smith (https://fieldriskos.com/field-debrief/safety-ii-risk-optimization-steve-smith) All episodes: https://fieldriskos.com/field-debrief (https://fieldriskos.com/field-debrief) Field Debrief is produced by Field Risk Systems LLC, the company behind Field Risk OS, The Operating System for Expedition Programs.

3. 

   1 Sept 2026

   Blame, Accountability, and Trust with Steve Smith | Field Debrief Ep. 2, Part 1

   Full Show Notes: https://fieldriskos.com/field-debrief/field-debrief-episode-2-part-1-steve-smith-safety-science (https://fieldriskos.com/field-debrief/field-debrief-episode-2-part-1-steve-smith-safety-science) Steve Smith joins the show for Episode 2 of the Field Debrief podcast. Steve is the founder of Experiential Consulting, a risk management consultancy that works specifically with outdoor and experiential education programs, and the author of two books that provide foundational concepts for anyone working in our field: Beneficial Risks and Safety Science for Outdoor & Experiential Education. The episode centers around the debrief of a true story: a van accident on a muddy BLM road in Utah, where the organization's first response, written into policy, was a drug test for the insurance company. Shortly after that policy was introduced, leaders started noticing dings and dents on the fleet that nobody had reported. In Part 1, we analyze the incident (and the broader industry) from numerous angles, including reporting culture and why near misses go unreported, the blame cycle versus the trust loop, blame versus accountability, safety clutter, and the lingering effects of Taylorism. You can find Steve and his team at outdoorrisk.com (http://outdoorrisk.com), where you can also learn about both books. Steve also hosts the Were We Lucky or Were We Good? podcast. Illustrations in this episode video are from Safety Science for Outdoor & Experiential Education. Part 2 of our conversation will be released later in September. All episodes and show notes: https://fieldriskos.com/field-debrief (https://fieldriskos.com/field-debrief) Field Debrief is produced by Field Risk Systems LLC, the company behind Field Risk OS, The Operating System for Expedition Programs.

4. 

   28 Jul 2026

   AirBlue Flight 202, A Human Factors Case Study with Stuart Slay | Field Debrief Ep. 1

   Show Notes: https://fieldriskos.com/field-debrief/field-debrief-episode-1-airblue-flight-202 (https://fieldriskos.com/field-debrief/field-debrief-episode-1-airblue-flight-202) On July 28, 2010, Airblue Flight 202 departed Karachi for Islamabad with 152 people on board. The aircraft for this routine domestic flight was a modern, airworthy Airbus A321 and both pilots were fully qualified. Less than two hours later, it was flown into the Margalla Hills north of Islamabad with the loss of all lives on board. The investigation found no mechanical breakdown of the aircraft, but rather, a human factors breakdown in the cockpit: a captain who spent the flight berating his first officer before flying an approach he improvised on the spot, and a first officer who saw what was going wrong but could not find a way to stop it. The report called it a classic failure of Crew Resource Management (CRM). In this first episode of the Field Debrief podcast, I am joined by risk management expert Stuart Slay to discuss what happened on Flight 202, and what it means for those of us who take people into the field: guides, trip leaders, program directors, and outdoor educators. Content note: all 152 people aboard Flight 202 lost their lives. Topics The experience gap in the cockpit: a captain near retirement with 25,000 hours, a younger, much less experienced first officer, and how that dynamic affects how teams work together. What an hour of berating did to the team, and the water the first officer was swimming in when the critical moments came. Hierarchy in the field: role clarity, single point accountability, and asserting your care as an organization, including a river near miss where a co-instructor knew it was a bad idea and did not say anything. Local rationality versus following what is written: the tension between trusting judgment in the moment and holding the line on protocols. "Let him say whatever he wants to say" - the captain's response to air traffic control, summit fever, and the competitor's flight that managed to land. The PACE escalation continuum (Probe, Alert, Challenge, Emergency), and how the avalanche industry trains people to narrate what they see and build a shared brain. Culture in aviation: power distance, who the controls are designed for, and why Outliers' analysis of national culture did not go deep enough. What to take into your next staff training Meet Stuart Slay Stuart Slay is the founder of Slay Risk (https://slayrisk.com/), a consulting and coaching practice that helps schools and outdoor programs see risk clearly and manage it together. He is the past chair of the Wilderness Risk Management Conference (WRMC), led National Risk and Safety at the Student Conservation Association, spent a decade building an outdoor education program in Korea, and has published original research on culture and risk management in outdoor programs. Before that he was a ski patroller, guide, and avalanche forecaster in California and the Andes, and a field instructor with Outward Bound. He is based in Taipei and works with programs throughout Asia and North America.

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