Voices from the Edge

Dr Alexander Paselk

Dr. Alexander Paselk is a German national whose life and work stretch across continents and, really, across different worlds of thought. He lives in North America now, though much of his work takes him to the Middle East. That mix, the contrast, the constant switching of environments, it’s shaped the way he leads and how he sees people. Over time, it’s become something of a personal compass: learning to read context, to adjust, and to listen first.

He didn’t actually start in safety. His early career was in environmental process optimization, where systems and efficiency were the main focus. That’s where he learned the language of performance, such as numbers, flowcharts, and outcomes. Later, he began shifting toward Occupational Health and Safety, drawn by something a little less measurable: the human side of how systems succeed or fail. Since then, his work has expanded across multiple sites and operations at once. He’s led diverse teams, HSE representatives, and contractors spread across complex projects, sometimes hundreds of people moving in different directions, yet expected to perform as one. What ties it all together, at least for him, is balance between compliance and care, data and dialogue, and structure and trust.

These days, Dr. Paselk moves between three overlapping spheres: academic research, field operations, and what he calls executive safety leadership. In simpler terms, it means he connects ideas to practice. He takes what’s studied and what’s learned and tries to make it real in the field systems that actually help people, not just look good in reports. As a keynote speaker, doctoral mentor, and published researcher, he often explores emotional intelligence, culture, and human factors, how people’s behavior and their sense of belonging affect safety in high-risk, multicultural environments.

He likes to say that safety is less about avoiding failure and more about designing for trust. It’s not a checklist; it’s a relationship between people and systems, always in motion. Maybe that’s what defines his approach: rigorous, yes, but also empathetic. In a way, he stands between two worlds, the measurable and the human, and tries to make them work together, one decision, one conversation at a time.

Book Review - Think Again

A book review on the book by Adam Grant

Dr Drew Rae

Dr Drew Rae is an Associate Professor in the Safety Science Innovation Lab at Griffith University, where he teaches courses on research methods and safety engineering, and manages the lab’s research program.

Drew’s own research uses a mix of ethnography, field experiments and theory-building to investigate organisational safety practices. He is particularly interested in understanding the myths, rituals and bad habits that surround the work of managers and safety practitioners, and how this work influences front-line operations.

Drew co-hosts the Safety of Work podcast and is on the editorial board of the journal Safety Science.

Book Review - Safety beyond the numbers

A book review of the book by Ken Chapman

Dr Sean Brady

Consider yourself lucky if you ever get a chance to talk to one of your heroes. Sean is one of mine. 

Dr Sean Brady is a forensic engineer who investigates engineering failures from a technical and organisational perspective.

In 2020, he completed the Brady Review, an investigation into the causes of fatalities in the Queensland mining industry. The review was tabled in parliament and made 11 recommendations to the regulator and mining companies on how to improve safety.

In 2024, he completed the technical and organisational investigation into the catastrophic failure of a turbine generator at Callide C Power Station in Queensland, Australia.

He also speaks, writes and podcasts on the causes of technical and organisational failure.

 

Book Review - Just Culture

A book review of the book by Sidney Dekker

Nathalie Martinek

Nathalie Martinek, PhD, helps people build relational leadership capacity and cultivate effective relationships in professional life, while also supporting those who’ve been scapegoated, sidelined, or harmed in environments that protect image over people.

As a coach, she works with professionals to shift unhelpful relational patterns and navigate subtle power dynamics. As a group facilitator, she creates spaces for learning, applied reflection, and restoration. As a consultant, she helps individuals make sense of workplace dysfunction and emerge intact, with insight into the system and how to move forward. Her approach draws on years of practice inside and alongside institutions, informed by an early career in developmental biology and cancer research, where she studied how environments shape behavior and how systems enable dysfunction.

Nathalie writes and teaches on scapegoating, narcissistic systems, relational leadership, and the emotional forces that shape them. She is the author of The Little Book of Assertiveness, The Scapegoating Playbook at Work, and creator of Hacking Narcissism on Substack.

Book Review - Midnight in Chernobyl

A book review of the book by  Adam Higginbotham