Stop Siloing Safety: Turning EHS into Operational Excellence with David Payton

Episode notes

"My whole goal is to drive operational excellence, but operational excellence is part of EHS, or EHS is part of operational excellence, if you do it appropriately. It shouldn't be siloed and separate. It should be together." - David Payton, VP of EHS at TSC Construction OK, everyone, this episode goes straight at one of the most persistent failures in our industry: treating safety like a standalone function instead of what it really is; an operational responsibility. On this episode of The Canary Report: Safety & Risk Management , I sit down with David Payton, VP of EHS at TSC Construction, to unpack why siloed safety programs don’t just fail audits, they fail people and margins. Drawing on two decades of experience across construction, maritime, telecommunications, and large-scale operations, David breaks down how integrating EHS directly into operations changes accountability, leadership buy-in, and business performance. We talk about tying safety to P&L, building scalable training systems across 23 markets, and why executive hiring interviews may be your most overlooked risk control.