Workplace Health and Safety Lessons from an EOD Specialist

Workplace health and safety isn’t about ticking boxes — it’s about protecting people.

My journey from defusing explosives in Iraq to consulting on workplace health and safety with New Zealand businesses taught me that the principles of risk management are universal. In 2003 and again in 2005, I deployed to Iraq as part of an Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) team. Our job? Locate, identify, and neutralise explosive devices in hostile, high‑risk environments that most people only ever see on the news. Decisions were made in seconds. Mistakes cost lives.

Back then, my role was literally to keep people alive in the most inhospitable places on earth.

Now, I help businesses do the same — because Health & Safety isn’t paperwork. It’s people. It’s the difference between a near‑miss and a life‑altering injury. When I talk about risk, I’m not speaking in theory. I’ve seen — in war zones and in New Zealand workplaces — what happens when systems fail, communication breaks down, or hazards are normalised. And I’ve dedicated my career to helping ensure it doesn’t happen on your watch.

“Rules don’t keep people safe. People do. Rules just help them do it consistently.”

From EOD to H&S: What Transfers (and What Doesn’t)

You might think a war zone has nothing in common with a warehouse, construction site, processing plant, or multi‑site organisation. But the foundations of staying safe under pressure translate directly. Here’s what carries over — and what needs to be adapted.

1. Situational Awareness Is a Skill You Can Train
   In Iraq, the most dangerous device was the one you didn’t see. In the workplace, the unseen hazard is the one that’s been there so long everyone’s stopped noticing it. Training your people to see risk again is step one.
   
2. Communication Under Pressure Saves Lives
   Radio traffic in combat had to be clear, brief, and confirmed. In business, garbled handovers, assumptions, and missing sign‑offs are behind a huge share of preventable incidents. Good communication isn’t a “soft skill” — it’s a control measure.
   
3. Standard Operating Procedures Must Match Reality
   In EOD work, if the manual and the situation didn’t match, we adjusted — fast — and documented the learning. Too many businesses copy/paste templated policies that no one on the floor can actually follow. A procedure that can’t be executed in the real world is a liability.
   
4. Rehearsal Beats Reading
   We drilled failure scenarios constantly: comms loss, secondary devices, civilian presence. In workplaces, emergency plans often live in a ring binder. Unless teams practice evacuations, lockouts, chemical spills, or confined‑space rescues, you don’t have a plan — you have a document.
   
5. Culture: Permission to Pause
   In EOD, if something didn’t look right, we stopped. No one argued schedule over survivability. In commercial operations, production targets can push people past their gut instinct. Building a culture where anyone can call a halt — without backlash — is a strategic advantage.

What Happens When Workplace Health and Safety Fails: Lessons Learned the Hard Way

I’ve stood over crater sites where devices detonated before we got there. I’ve reviewed workplace incident scenes in which basic lockout procedures, missing PPE, or ignored maintenance led to injuries that were entirely avoidable. Different environments. Same root cause: risk was known but unmanaged.

Common failure patterns I see across New Zealand businesses:

• “We’ve always done it that way.” Normalised deviation from procedure.
• Workarounds > Systems. Staff invent fixes when tools, time, or training are lacking.
• Paper Compliance. Policies exist to tick regulatory boxes, not to guide behaviour.
• Fragmented Responsibility. No single owner for risk at the operational level.
• Silent Near‑Misses. Incidents go unreported because “nothing actually happened.” WorkSafe New Zealand highlights that near-miss reporting is one of the most underused tools in improving workplace health and safety culture.

Every one of these patterns is correctable — once surfaced.

Translating High‑Risk Thinking Into Your Business

Below are practical Health & Safety focus areas we help organisations implement. Each draws on high‑stakes risk management principles adapted to everyday operations.

Hazard Visibility & Refresh Cycles

• Rotate hazard walk leads (different eyes notice different things).
• Use photo logs with date stamps to show change over time.
• Re‑validate critical hazards quarterly — not “set and forget.”

Critical Controls Verification

Not all controls are equal. Identify the handful that prevent serious harm and verify them frequently (lockout devices, machine guarding, suspended load exclusion zones, confined space gas testing, etc.).

Pre‑Task Briefs (Micro‑Toolbox Talks)

Borrowed directly from mission prep: 3–5 minute briefs before high‑risk or non‑routine work. Cover task steps, hazards, controls, comms plan, stop points.

Escalation Triggers

Define red‑line conditions. Example: missing PPE, unexpected energy source, weather change, untagged contractor equipment. If triggered → stop, escalate, reassess.

After‑Action Reviews (AARs)

Short, blame‑free debrief after incidents, near‑misses, or major jobs. What was supposed to happen? What actually happened? Why? What will we change?

A Quick 5‑Minute Safety Pulse Check

Use these questions in your next leadership meeting. If you can’t answer confidently, that’s a gap worth closing.

1. When was the last genuine hazard review (not a paper audit)?
2. Which 5 controls prevent the worst credible harm events in your business? Are they working today?
3. Do staff know when they are allowed to stop work — and feel safe doing so?
4. How are near‑misses reported, tracked, and learned from?
5. When did we last practice our emergency response?

Case Snapshot: A Preventable Incident

A landscaping client had an incident that resulted in a mini digger overturning and falling down a bankside. Luckily, the operator came out of it unharmed, but the machine could only be safely recovered by helicopter given the remote location of the scene. While not direct contributing factors, the investigation showed:

• New plant familiarisation had not been undertaken by the operator on the day the machine was received on site
• Operator Plant prestart checks had not been completed prior to its use on the day of the incident
• Safe Operating Procedures had not been reviewed or acknowledged on their health and safety management system, and when questioned on this, some staff were unaware of how to access these procedures within the health and safety management app

Fix:

1. We created new procedures whereby familiarization of new plant and/or equipment were added as a hold point to the plant prestart checklist to ensure that operators have received sufficient training and instruction on all equipment.
2. Manager notification functions were added to the app-based health and safety management forms where upon the completion of processes such as Plant and Equipment Pre-Start Checks, the operator’s direct manager receives email notification of this to confirm checks have been completed each morning.
3. Additional training and information were provided to all staff on the navigation, use and functions of the health and safety management app.
4. Safe Operating Procedures were reissued for worker feedback, acknowledgement, and acceptance.
5. An in-field competency review system was implemented whereby all workers competencies are now regularly checked by line managers to ensure each individual worker has the correct training and competency for the specific task that they are assigned to.

Why Bring in Safe Space?

Our workplace health and safety approach is built from firsthand knowledge, not just compliance guides.

• Real‑world credibility. When we talk about consequences, it’s grounded in experience from live EOD operations and serious workplace incident reviews.
• Practical, site‑ready systems. Policies written so frontline teams can (and will) use them.
• Leadership alignment. We help boards and directors understand risk in context — reputational, financial, human.
• Scalable support. From one‑off hazard reviews to full Health & Safety frameworks across multiple locations.

How We Work With You

Step 1 – Discovery & Gap Scan: Brief call + review of your current documentation, incident history, and regulatory obligations under the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015.

Step 2 – Site Walk & Operational Insight: We get out of the office and onto the floor. We validate what’s written against what’s done.

Step 3 – Critical Risk Map: Identify top harm potentials; prioritise controls that matter.

Step 4 – Practical Action Plan: Clear tasks, owners, and timeframes. No fluff.

Step 5 – Train, Embed, Review: Toolbox content, leadership coaching, reporting loops, and follow‑up checks.

Let’s Put Your Work Into a Safe Space

Whether you manage a single site or a national network, the responsibility is the same: get people home in the same condition they arrived — or better. If you’d like help translating high‑risk discipline into everyday workplace health and safety performance, let’s talk.

Safe Space — Practical Health & Safety advice grounded in real‑world experience.