Avoiding slips, trips and falls in a different way!

🎙️ Episode Description In this episode, Hugo Ribeiro welcomes safety expert and martial arts practitioner Robert Pater for a thought-provoking conversation about a different way to prevent slips, trips and falls. Instead of focusing only on traditional external controls such as housekeeping, signage, procedures or PPE Robert introduces a complementary perspective centered on developing individual physical and mental capabilities. Drawing from decades of experience in safety, organizational psychology and internal martial arts, he explores how balance, alignment, range of motion, and awareness influence people’s ability to maintain control and avoid injuries. The discussion also touches on topics such as fear of falling, habit formation, cumulative soft tissue injuries, and why many conventional safety programs struggle to deliver lasting results. Robert shares his concept of “Scissors Leadership,” a cultural change approach that combines top-down commitment with bottom-up engagement to embed safer practices into everyday work. This episode challenges safety professionals and leaders to rethink familiar strategies and expand their toolbox moving beyond compliance and behavior toward capability development, ownership and real resilience in daily operations.