Scaling Safety Without Losing People: Lessons from Eric Yates

The Canary Report: Safety & Risk Management · 2026-02-26 · 35 min

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Topics in this episode

Risk management Safety culture Safety Leadership The Canary Report EHS

Episode notes

"It's not me, it's the people that work around me. If you have a good, strong team and everyone's focused on the same goals, it makes everything a lot easier." Eric Yates, VP EHS at Balfour Beatty US Most organizations say they want to scale safety. Fewer are willing to scale accountability, trust, and the right expertise along with it. That’s where things break down. In this episode of The Canary Report: Safety & Risk Management , I sit down with Eric Yates , VP of Environmental Health & Safety at Balfour Beatty , to talk about what it really takes to build high-performing EHS teams across complex, multi-state operations. With 27 years in construction and heavy civil, Eric shares hard-earned lessons on navigating OSHA, state plans, MSHA, DOT, and FRA requirements, without losing sight of the people doing the work. We dig into why regional expertise beats one-size-fits-all staffing, how project-based safety professionals can scale with demand, and why chasing a “perfect” safety record may actually undermine reporting. If you’re serious about embedding a people-first safety culture at scale, this conversation will challenge you and equip you to lead differently.