The True North EHS, Issue #5

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May 2026
Practical safety insight for real-world operations

Lead Story: Courageous Cultures Don’t Sound Normal at First

A few years ago, I had the opportunity to sit in on multiple meetings with Greg Cagle, author of The 4 Dimensions of Culture. One of the ideas he discussed has stayed with me ever since: organizations tend to operate from one of four cultural dimensions: complacent, compliant, committed, and courageous.

That framework applies far beyond business strategy. It applies directly to safety culture.

A lot of organizations think they are doing better than they really are because they mistake routine for excellence. They lean on past success. They say things like, "We’ve always done it this way," or "We’ve never had a serious injury doing it like this before." That mindset feels stable, but in reality, it is often complacency wearing the mask of confidence.

And complacency is dangerous.

Greg Cagle talks about this clearly in The 4 Dimensions of Culture. He explains how successful organizations can become trapped by their own past wins. When leaders start believing yesterday’s approach will always work tomorrow, they stop seeing risk clearly and they stop recognizing opportunity when it shows up in an unfamiliar form.

One of the clearest examples is Blockbuster. The company had the opportunity to buy Netflix for 50 million dollars. At the time, the idea sounded ridiculous. Why would people stop going to a store to rent movies? Why would they want movies delivered another way or streamed online? It sounded strange, inconvenient, and unrealistic.

Blockbuster dismissed the idea because it did not fit the model they were comfortable with.

We all know how that story ended.

Safety works the same way.

The organizations with the strongest EHS performance are not the ones that simply follow the minimum standard and keep repeating what they have always done. They are the ones willing to challenge the way things have always been done. They are willing to ask uncomfortable questions. They are willing to change systems, expectations, and behaviors before an incident forces them to.

That takes courage.

It takes courage for a frontline employee to speak up when something feels off.

It takes courage for a supervisor to stop a job when production pressure says to keep going.

It takes courage for a leader to correct poor safety behavior in the moment, even when it is awkward, inconvenient, or unpopular.

And sometimes the most important courageous acts are not dramatic at all. Sometimes courage looks like telling an employee to put on safety glasses. Sometimes it looks like addressing the missing steel toes, the shortcut, the missing guard, or the behavior everyone else has started ignoring.

That is where culture gets decided.

A complacent culture says, "It’s probably fine."

A compliant culture says, "As long as we meet the rule, we’re covered."

A committed culture says, "We care about doing this right."

But a courageous culture says, "Even if this conversation is uncomfortable, even if this change sounds strange, even if this challenges the way we’ve always done it, we are going to do what protects people best."

That is the difference.

Top-performing EHS programs are not built by organizations that avoid discomfort. They are built by organizations that are willing to act before the outcome proves they should have.

If you want to know what kind of culture you really have, don’t start with the mission statement. Start with this question:

When a better safety idea sounds inconvenient, unfamiliar, or awkward, what do your leaders do next?

That answer will tell you more than any slogan on the wall ever could.

Practical Takeaway

If you want a more courageous safety culture, start here:

Correct small deviations before they become accepted norms.
Treat uncomfortable conversations as leadership responsibilities, not optional moments.
Challenge "we’ve always done it this way" whenever worker protection is on the line.
Reward people who raise concerns, not just people who keep the job moving.
Ask whether your current standard is truly protective, not just technically acceptable.

Courageous cultures are not built in one big moment. They are built one decision at a time.

PPE Spotlight: 3M SecureFit 400 Series Safety Glasses

Sometimes courage in safety starts with the most basic standard in the building.

Safety glasses are one of the clearest examples. Nearly everyone knows the rule. Nearly everyone understands the purpose. And yet in too many workplaces, leaders still walk past employees wearing them on their hard hat, on the back of their neck, or not at all.

That is not a PPE issue. That is a culture issue.

If the standard matters, it has to be enforced consistently. Not just when a visitor is onsite. Not just when safety is watching. Every time.

A good example of practical eye protection is the 3M SecureFit 400 Series safety glasses. They are designed for comfort, a secure fit, side protection, and options like anti-fog and anti-scratch coatings. That matters, because the more comfortable and dependable the PPE is, the harder it is for people to justify not wearing it.

The best PPE program in the world will still fail if leaders are not willing to back it up in real time. But when strong standards are paired with gear people will actually wear, you give your workforce a much better chance to do the right thing every day.

Recommended safety glasses:
3M SecureFit 400 Series Safety Glasses
https://www.3m.com/3M/en_US/p/d/b00050518/

From The True North EHS

The Critic Who Became the Champion
Sometimes the right leader is the one nobody expected.
https://www.thetruenorthehs.com/the-critic-who-became-the-champion/

The Day I Learned Compliance Wasn’t Enough
A conveyor incident that permanently changed how I think about minimum standards.
https://www.thetruenorthehs.com/the-day-i-learned-compliance-wasnt-enough/

Your Housekeeping Is Showing
What your facility looks like says a lot about what your leaders tolerate.
https://www.thetruenorthehs.com/your-housekeeping-is-showing/