October 20, 2025

Not When Pouring

9 minutes

Colin discusses the concept of bottlenecks in a business context, inspired by a LinkedIn post. He relates the common belief that the bottleneck is at the top of a bottle to the idea that senior management is always the issue. He counters this by pointing out that when pouring, the bottleneck is at the bottom, using the simple phrase "not when pouring”.

As Colin explains, this requires a shift in the way we think about things…

KEY TAKEAWAYS

A common analogy in business and safety suggests that the bottleneck is always at the top, implying that senior leadership is the primary obstacle, but the host suggests the physical reality of a bottle being poured shows the bottleneck is actually at the bottom.

The core aim for any health and safety professional should be to stop people suffering ill health or injury, and if this is not the main focus, then they have "lost the plot."

The saying that safety is not the absence of events but the presence of defences, a concept often attributed to Todd Conklin, should be interpreted carefully and is not a complete idea on its own.

While the majority of people are a valuable source of solutions in the workplace, professionals should be nuanced and not assume that people are never the problem, as occasionally individuals can indeed be the source of an issue.

BEST MOMENTS

"And so in business, if you're looking for where the bottlenecks are, then you've got to look at the top, you've got to look at the senior management team and the directors, the leaders and all that... And then I think Carsten just summed it up perfectly because he just wrote the words, not when pouring."

"Because fundamentally, I think as we as health and safety professionals, if our aim is not to stop people getting injured or getting killed or getting hurt or getting maimed or suffering ill health, then then we have really lost the plot."

"And and we may well look to the people that are working in the workplace, or probably most of the time, for the solutions in how to get things better, but it might not always be the right place to look, so just be just be wary."

VALUABLE RESOURCES

The Interesting Health & Safety Podcast - ⁠https://podcasts.apple.com/vn/podcast/the-interesting-health-safety-podcast/id1467771449⁠

Project Mollitiam - ⁠https://www.projectmollitiam.com⁠

ABOUT THE HOST

Colin Nottage

‘Making health and safety as important as everything else we do.’

This is the belief that Colin is passionate about and through his consultancy Influential Management Group (IMG) is able to spread into industry. Colin works at a strategic level with company owners and board members. He helps business leaders establish and achieve their health and safety ambitions.

He has developed a number of leading competency improvement programmes that are delivered across industry and his strengths are his ability to take a practical approach to problem-solving and being able to liaise at all levels within an organisation.

Colin also runs a company that vets contractors online and a network that develops and support H&S consultancies to become better businesses.

Colin chairs the Construction Dust Partnership, an industry collaboration directly involving many organisations, including the Health and Safety Executive.

He is a Post Graduate Tutor at Strathclyde University and a highly sought-after health and safety speaker and trainer. He has a Post Graduate Certificate in Safety and Risk management, an engineering degree and is a Chartered Member of the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH).

...more

View all episodes

By Colin Nottage

22 ratings