Why 30 Safety Pros in 2 Years Beats 400-Page Manuals: Josh Brown's Playbook at B&S Site Development
January 27, 2026
"I've been and seen 400 page safety manuals. I'm like, dude, nobody reads these. If we can make it relatable, if we can make it consumable for the people so that if you don't have to think as hard, it makes sense.” Josh Brown, VP of OHS at B&S Site Development
In this episode of The Canary Report: Safety & Risk Management, I sit down with Josh Brown, VP of OHS at B&S Site Development, for a grounded, honest conversation about what real safety leadership actually looks like in the field. As organisations scale across regions and complexity grows, Josh makes a compelling case for why empathy, presence, and practicality matter more than bloated manuals and checkbox compliance.
We talk about walking the job, listening to crews, and designing safety programmes that people will actually use, not just sign off on. Josh also shares how he scaled a safety function from a one-person role to a 30-person team in under two years, without losing trust or burning people out. This is a conversation about leading humans, not enforcing rules, about turning safety from an obligation into an advantage. If you’re building, scaling, or rethinking your safety approach, this one’s for you.
"I've been and seen 400 page safety manuals. I'm like, dude, nobody reads these. If we can make it relatable, if we can make it consumable for the people so that if you don't have to think as hard, it makes sense.” Josh Brown, VP of OHS at B&S Site Development
In this episode of The Canary Report: Safety & Risk Management, I sit down with Josh Brown, VP of OHS at B&S Site Development, for a grounded, honest conversation about what real safety leadership actually looks like in the field. As organisations scale across regions and complexity grows, Josh makes a compelling case for why empathy, presence, and practicality matter more than bloated manuals and checkbox compliance.
We talk about walking the job, listening to crews, and designing safety programmes that people will actually use, not just sign off on. Josh also shares how he scaled a safety function from a one-person role to a 30-person team in under two years, without losing trust or burning people out. This is a conversation about leading humans, not enforcing rules, about turning safety from an obligation into an advantage. If you’re building, scaling, or rethinking your safety approach, this one’s for you.
Here are some of the topics that Josh and I explore:
- How to audit your safety programs for "consumability," not compliance theater.
- Why walking in your workers' shoes isn't soft leadership, it's strategic risk reduction.
- The framework for scaling safety across new markets without reinventing the wheel.
- How to hire and structure safety teams that actually stay engaged
- Why executive coaching and self-awareness separate leaders from managers
- The "it's not about us" principle that builds trust from the ground up.
Josh Brown is the VP of OHS at B&S Site Development, a heavy civil construction firm specializing in underground utility installation and site development across the Mid-Atlantic and expanding nationally. With a degree in Safety Management from Slippery Rock University and a career built on hands-on field experience, Josh has scaled B&S's safety program from a single professional to a team of 30 full-time safety experts in just two years. His philosophy centers on empathy-driven leadership, getting into the trenches literally and figuratively to understand the real challenges his teams face, then building consumable, relatable safety programs that actually work in practice.
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