Safety Second: Why the Right People Matter More Than Another Policy

by Chief Story Officer, Brady McLean

I’m an idiot. You can see it right there—me under an airplane, grinning like a fool in front of the Tetons. The difference between me and most idiots is I don’t pretend otherwise.

That’s why I’m talking about this today. Safety starts with people, and the best way to protect your operation is learning how to filter out the wrong ones.

My name is Brady McLean. Born and raised in Sheridan, Wyoming. Plan to die here too, Lord willing, many years from now. My dad worked for the Wyoming Department of Transportation most of his life—plowing snow, fixing fence, patching potholes, then managing facilities. He took me on plow trucks as a kid. My grandpa ran the East Decker Coal Mine. I grew up around people who did real work. That shapes how I see things.

At Only Co, we help industrial businesses build stronger operations through brand storytelling, workforce development, and leadership clarity. We didn’t start there. We began in social media, then grew into a full-stack agency because clients kept telling us they didn’t trust agencies.

We learned something simple: Good marketing kills bad businesses faster. The best marketing comes from truly understanding a good one. When we asked leaders who they really were and what made them different, many weren’t sure—or couldn’t communicate it. That gap is where we work.

Work is risky by nature. You can’t eliminate risk without killing the job, and nobody wants that kind of boring. Risk can only be managed.

The problem most companies miss is this: Paper doesn’t make decisions. People do.

Safety systems, rules, and procedures are necessary. But they don’t execute. People execute. You can set up the guardrails, but someone still has to bowl the ball. And even with bumpers, it takes skill to hit strikes consistently.

Nearly 90% of workplace exposures come down to human factors—attention, ownership, and coachability. Retraining the same people over and over wastes time, kills culture, and costs money. Near-miss after near-miss. Desperate hiring because you’re short-staffed. More rules rarely fix it.

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What actually drives risk?

• Are people paying full attention, or taking shortcuts?
  
  
• Do they feel real ownership for outcomes?
  
  
• Are they coachable when given feedback?
  
  

Training assumes people want to do it right. Rules assume good decisions. Procedures assume ownership. None of that holds if you have the wrong people.

Here’s the reframe we use at Only Co: What if safety was second?

Step one: Get the right people in the right seats.
Step two: Build systems around them.

The right people make better decisions, reduce risk, improve culture, and drive results. If safety was truly first, we’d never leave the house. We’d wear helmets and pool noodles and drink meals through straws. Our industries exist because the value of the work outweighs the risk.

Same systems, different people, different outcomes.

NASA had the best engineers, best procedures, and best safety systems on Apollo 13. Then an oxygen tank exploded. Checklists ran out. Procedures no longer matched reality. The crew survived because of capable people who adapted under pressure—using duct tape, plastic bags, and clear thinking when the manual stopped working.

Contrast that with the Mars Climate Orbiter lost because one team used metric and another used imperial. Or fatal accidents at mines where lockout/tagout procedures existed but weren’t followed.

Systems matter. But when reality throws the wrench, the quality of the people in the room decides what happens next.

We call them A Players.

They align with your values 90% of the time and hit performance benchmarks 90% of the time. They impress their peers with insight and output. They make disciplined decisions under pressure, take ownership, pay attention, adjust when coached, and protect the team.

A Players don’t happen by accident.

High-performing teams are intentionally built. They’re attracted by clarity and culture, not vague job postings. Good people have options. They won’t join uncertainty.

What you don’t communicate becomes risk. Unclear standards lead to weak hiring. Weak hiring compounds exposure. That exposure shows up when it matters most.

Your story is your best risk control tool.

It pre-selects people before they ever apply. It shows standards clearly. It lets you hire selectively instead of desperately.

We saw this with Ryan Brothers Trucking. Family business since 1958 facing an aging workforce, culture risks after acquisition, and trouble attracting drivers and mechanics who fit.

We helped them clarify who they are, refresh their brand, build a strong website, and create honest video content that shows their culture. The result: Over 40 new hires—the right ones. Nearly 1,000 inquiries, but 95% turned away because they didn’t align. Their career page gets heavy traffic. They’re now known, not just another trucking company.

Industrial leaders, your work matters. The world needs to see the competence, grit, and character in your teams. When you tell your story well, you attract A Players, you earn customer confidence, and you protect what you’ve built.

Safety is downstream of people. Get the right ones, and everything else gets easier.

What’s your story? We’d love to help you tell it clearly.

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