Turning Frontline Safety Leaders Into Professional Risk Managers with Devin Woods
September 17, 2026
“My goal is to make our frontline leaders, the foremen, the superintendents, the general foremen, to make those folks professional risk managers.” Devin Woods, Director of Safety at ArchKey Solutions.
Safety leadership is not about chasing perfect outcomes. It is about giving frontline leaders the tools to identify hazards, assess risk, and make better decisions when conditions change. Devin Woods, Director of Environmental Health and Safety at Bruce & Merrilees Electric, an ArchKey Solutions company. Devin brings experience across oil and gas, drilling operations, and electrical construction to a conversation about building practical risk management into everyday work.
In this episode of The Canary Report, host Michael Zalle sits down with Devin to explore how Human and Organizational Performance can strengthen an HSE management system, why TRIR alone may not reveal high-potential risks, and how SIF potential can provide another view of exposure. Devin also shares a powerful lesson from a drilling rig fatality about why a focus on corrective actions must cut across the organization and explains how EHS technology can free safety teams to spend more time where they have the greatest impact.
“My goal is to make our frontline leaders, the foremen, the superintendents, the general foremen, to make those folks professional risk managers.” Devin Woods, Director of Safety at ArchKey Solutions.
Safety leadership is not about chasing perfect outcomes. It is about giving frontline leaders the tools to identify hazards, assess risk, and make better decisions when conditions change. Devin Woods, Director of Environmental Health and Safety at Bruce & Merrilees Electric, an ArchKey Solutions company. Devin brings experience across oil and gas, drilling operations, and electrical construction to a conversation about building practical risk management into everyday work.
In this episode of The Canary Report, host Michael Zalle sits down with Devin to explore how Human and Organizational Performance can strengthen an HSE management system, why TRIR alone may not reveal high-potential risks, and how SIF potential can provide another view of exposure. Devin also shares a powerful lesson from a drilling rig fatality about why a focus on corrective actions must cut across the organization and explains how EHS technology can free safety teams to spend more time where they have the greatest impact.
Here are some key discussion points from the episode:
- How to Turn Frontline Staff into Risk Managers
- Beyond Low TRIR Rates
- Integrating Human and Organizational Performance (HOP)
- Lessons Learned from High-Hazard Operation
- How to Navigate Industry Transitions.
- How to Leverage EHS Technology To Coach and Support Field Crews
Devin Woods is Director of Environmental Health and Safety at Bruce & Merrilees Electric, an ArchKey Solutions company. After serving in the U.S. Navy and earning a degree in occupational safety, Devin built his career across high-hazard oil and gas drilling operations in Pennsylvania and West Texas before moving into electrical construction. Today, he oversees EHS strategy across more than 40 active job sites, with experience spanning industrial projects, substations, and data centers. His approach focuses on developing frontline leaders as professional risk managers, applying Human and Organizational Performance principles, and using EHS technology to identify and reduce high-potential risks.
Episode Resources
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