THE STATE OF SAFETY LEADERSHIP WEBINAR

THE STATE OF SAFETY LEADERSHIP Why Most Safety Systems Stall, and What Actually Works

Date: January 29, 2026 Time: 2:00 p.m. ET

Presenters

Ellis Jones – Independent Director & Industry Leader, Rhythm Innovations Executive Consultant

Dave Rath – Co-CEO & President, Rhythm Innovations

Leadership Focus This opening session reframes safety performance as a leadership and alignment challenge rather than a compliance or technology problem. Drawing on Ellis Jones’ experience leading operational turnarounds and enterprise safety transformation, the discussion examines why well-intentioned safety efforts stall and how leadership decisions quietly shape outcomes.

The session establishes the foundation for the series by introducing operating-system thinking and exposing the structural gaps that erode culture, fragment execution, and limit performance – even in organizations with mature safety programs.

What This Session Covers

Why organizations often believe they need new systems when the real issue is leadership alignment.

How safety efforts break down without governance, strategy deployment, and a shared definition of success.

The difference between a safety management system and a safety operating model.

How culture erodes when leaders and teams do not know what “winning” looks like.

The role of executive intent and leadership alignment in shaping safety outcomes.

Learning Objectives

By the end of this session, attendees will be able to:

Explain why safety failures are most often leadership and structural problems, not people or tool problems.

Recognize the limitations of focusing solely on safety management systems.

Understand why strategy deployment is essential for aligning leadership, culture, and execution.

Identify early warning signs that safety performance is becoming fragmented or misaligned.

Reframe safety as an enterprise operating system rather than a compliance function.