Inside APS’s Safety Coach Program: How Human Performance Is Changing Safety | Vinney Massey & Darrell Yoakum | 201

About this episode

The episode discusses how Human and Organizational Performance is transforming safety practices at Arizona Public Service.

In this episode of Powerline Podcast, I sit down with safety professionals from Arizona Public Service to unpack a different way of thinking about safety, one rooted in Human and Organizational Performance (HOP) and the belief that error is normal, learning is vital, and blame doesn’t improve work . We explore how HOP shows up in real-world, high-risk environments like linework and substations, why traditional safety approaches often fall short, and how APS’s Safety Coach Program is helping shift safety culture from compliance to learning. This conversation goes deep into trust, accountability without blame, and how crews move from feeling like “the problem” to becoming part of the solution. The group shares hard-earned lessons from decades in the trade, from working the tools, to foreman roles, to shaping safety culture at scale. We talk openly about resistance in the field, measuring impact beyond incident rates, and what it really takes to build a learning organization where people feel safe to speak up. 🎧 Topics include: • Human & Organizational Performance explained • Why error is normal in complex work • Accountability vs blame • The APS Safety Coach Program • Building…

People in this episode

Host: Ryan Lucas

Guests: Vinney Massey, Darrell Yoakum

Topics covered

• Human and Organizational Performance
• Safety culture
• Accountability without blame
• Learning organization
• High-risk environments
• Safety Coach Program

Keywords

• safety
• Human Performance
• safety culture
• learning organization
• accountability
• Arizona Public Service
• Safety Coach Program
• high-risk environments
• trust
• error management

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Arizona Public Service

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