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- AI Won’t Need to Become Evil to Become Dangerous: What the AI Doomsday Debate Means for EHS
- If Everything Still Comes to You, You Haven’t Scaled Leadership
- Inherited Risk Ecosystem: How Upstream Decisions Shape Human Error at the Point of Work
- Leonardo’s Lesson: Harmony Begins With Observation
- Beyond the Factory Fence: Why Scope 3 Defines the Next Generation of Sustainable Operations
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Author Archives: Chet Brandon
AI Won’t Need to Become Evil to Become Dangerous: What the AI Doomsday Debate Means for EHS
Artificial intelligence is rapidly moving from a tool that provides information to systems that can make decisions, take action, and interact with other agents. For EHS professionals, that shift should raise a familiar question: are capability and autonomy expanding faster than the controls designed to manage them? This article examines the AI “doomsday” debate through an EHS lens, connecting emerging AI risks to Management of Change, SIF prevention, human factors, inherited risk, and defense in depth. Continue reading
Posted in AI, Artificial Intelligence, Design for Safety, Digital Twin, Innovation, Technical Skills
Tagged AI, AI Governance, Artificial Intelligence, Artificial Intelligence Safety, EHS Risk Management, ehs-leadership, ehs-risk-management, Management of Change, philosophy, risk management, Serious Injury and Fatality Prevention, technology
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If Everything Still Comes to You, You Haven’t Scaled Leadership
As leadership responsibility grows, working harder and staying involved in everything stops working. Drawing on experience scaling an organization from 15 to 300 people, this article explores how EHS leaders can multiply their impact through people, management systems, governance, delegation, digital tools, and AI—and build an organization capable of making thousands of good decisions every day. Continue reading
Posted in Business Accumen, EHS Management, enterprise risk management, Leadership, Leading at Scale, operational integrity
Tagged AI, Artificial Intelligence, EHS leadership, ehs-leadership, Enterprise Leadership, Leadership, Leadership Scale, operational excellence, safety leadership, safety-leadership, technology
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Leonardo’s Lesson: Harmony Begins With Observation
I have been reading Walter Isaacson’s biography of Leonardo da Vinci, and it has caused me to think about leadership, observation, and the way human beings fit within the larger order of nature. Leonardo’s genius is obvious, but what interests me most is his method. He studied the world with uncommon curiosity. He observed water, light, motion, anatomy, plants, machines, and the human form with the discipline of both an artist and a scientist.
That is the inspiration for this article. Leonardo’s Vitruvian Man gives us more than an image of proportion. It offers a lens for thinking about harmony, structure, humanity, and the systems we live and work within. For leaders, especially in complex operating environments, there is a practical lesson here: observe deeply before acting, understand the pattern before changing the work, and make sure strategy survives contact with operational reality. Continue reading
Posted in Career Skills, EHS Management, Leadership, Personal Growth, Professional Skills, Sustainability Leadership
Tagged art, business, EHS, harmony in nature, history, Leadership, Leonardo da Vinci, manufacturing leadership, observation, organizational change, philosophy, regulatory integrity, safety leadership, safety-leadership, scientific method, sustainability, systems thinking, Vitruvian Man, Walter Isaacson
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Beyond the Factory Fence: Why Scope 3 Defines the Next Generation of Sustainable Operations
Most organizations focus on reducing emissions within their own operations, but meaningful decarbonization requires looking beyond the factory fence. This article explains the differences between Scope 1, Scope 2, and Scope 3 emissions, explores why Scope 3 is the most challenging—and most important—part of an organization’s carbon footprint, and outlines practical strategies for managing value-chain emissions through operational integrity, supplier collaboration, AI, and executive leadership. Continue reading
Posted in #ESG, ESG Investing, Sustainability Leadership, Sustainable Strategy
Tagged ai-for-sustainability, carbon footprint, carbon management, carbon-accounting, carbon-intelligence, circular-economy, climate-change, climate-risk-management, climate-strategy, corporate-sustainability, decarbonization strategy, digital-product-passport, ehs-leadership, emissions-reduction, energy, enterprise risk management, enterprise-sustainability, environment, environmental-leadership, esg-strategy, ghg-protocol, Greenhouse Gas Protocol, greenhouse-gas-accounting, greenhouse-gas-emissions, industrial-decarbonization, industrial-sustainability, lifecycle-emissions, manufacturing-sustainability, net-zero-strategy, operational excellence, operational integrity, operational-sustainability, product-carbon-footprint, product-stewardship, resilient-supply-chains, sbti, science-based-targets-initiative, Scope 3 emissions, scope-1-scope-2-scope-3, scope-3-greenhouse-gas-emissions, supplier-sustainability, supply chain sustainability, supply-chain-emissions, sustainability, Sustainability Leadership, sustainable operations, sustainable-business-strategy, sustainable-manufacturing, sustainable-supply-chain, technology, value chain emissions, value-chain-decarbonization
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Harnessing the Process Digital Twin: Building Live Operating Models for Foresight, Control, and Safer Work
Most organizations are still managing safety and operational risk by looking in the rearview mirror. A Process Digital Twin gives leaders a way to see risk forming early enough to act.
In our new article, “Harnessing the Process Digital Twin: Building Live Operating Models for Foresight, Control, and Safer Work,” Emmanuel Winful, CSP, MPH, MS and I explore how digital twins can move from concept to practical operational control.
Emmanuel was a great collaborator on this work and brought strong technical depth to the discussion.
The article covers where to start, what data matters, how to avoid false confidence, and why validation, MOC, cybersecurity, and governance cannot be afterthoughts.
The future of safety will not be built on better dashboards alone. Continue reading
Posted in AI, Artificial Intelligence, Digital Twin, Innovation, Machine Learning, Uncategorized
Tagged Digital Twin for Hazard Identification, Digital Twin Technology, Digital Twins in EHS, EHS Management Systems, Industrial Safety Technology, Lockout Tagout Digital Twin, LOTO Training Simulation, Operational Risk Management, Predictive Safety Management, Process Digital Twin
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The Game Changer in EHS Training: Blended Pathways That Build Capability in High-Risk Industrial Operations
EHS training, safety training, lockout tagout, LOTO training, hazardous energy control, industrial safety, blended learning, competency based training, safety leadership, verified capability Continue reading
Posted in AI, Artificial Intelligence, Digital Twin, EHS Management, Innovation, Leading at Scale, Modernized Trianin, psychological-safety
Tagged blended learning, Blended Method Training, competency based training, EHS training, hazardous energy control, industrial safety, lockout tagout, LOTO training, safety leadership, safety training, verified capability
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SIF Reduction: The Leading Edge of Operational Integrity
SIF prevention belongs within the broader discipline of Operational Integrity. Preventing life-altering events requires more than a safety program; it requires an operating system that connects leadership, frontline knowledge, reliable controls, meaningful data, and organizational learning. Continue reading
EHS Data Analysis Heuristics: Turning Performance Data Into Better Decisions
By Chet Brandon EHS data is only useful when it helps leaders make better decisions and take timely action. Incident reports, corrective action records, hazard observations, audit findings, injury data, exposure information, and corrective action trends all contain signals. The … Continue reading
Contractor Safety Management: The Contractor Operational Integrity Model
I’m pleased to share my latest article: “The Future of Contractor Safety Management: The Contractor Operational Integrity Model.”
The impetus for this piece came from my participation on a contractor safety panel at the Avetta annual conference in Chicago in mid-May. The discussion reinforced something I believe strongly: contractor safety management is moving into a new era.
For too long, contractor safety has often been treated as a compliance and prequalification process. Those elements still matter, but they are not enough. The future is about work readiness, verified control of work, and operational integrity at the point where risk is real.
In the article, I introduce the Contractor Operational Integrity Model, built around six core elements:
Critical Risk Definition
Capability and Capacity Verification
Control of Work Discipline
Field Verification and Leadership Cadence
Performance Intelligence
Corrective Learning and System Improvement
The central message is straightforward:
Compliance is the foundation. Operational integrity is the standard.
Contractor safety is not just a safety department issue. It is a test of how well safety, operations, procurement, maintenance, and contractors operate as one system under real field conditions.
I appreciate the Avetta team for hosting a strong discussion and creating space for practical dialogue on where contractor risk management needs to go next. Continue reading
Posted in AI, Artificial Intelligence, contractor safety, enterprise risk management, Innovation
Tagged AI, Artificial Intelligence, business, contractor operational integrity, contractor risk management, contractor safety, contractor safety management, control of work, EHS leadership, ehs-leadership, field verification, heavy industry safety, news, safety management systems, technology, work readiness
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