NLBe Human Be Safe
The keynote that started it all. Why the organisations with the best safety records are not the ones with the most rules, and what they do differently. A challenge to every leader in the room to see their own role in the culture.
For event organisers
A session that stays with people after the room empties.
Every event has a different need. The format follows yours. The starting point is always the same: what do you want to shift in the room?
Keynotes · Workshops · Leadership sessions · Safety days
In-company or at a conference. In person or online.
Discuss your event →
Examples of keynotes
Safety on the Edge · Baltimore, May 2026
One central idea. Shaped for the people in the room.
These are examples rather than a fixed catalogue. Each keynote is adapted to your organisation, audience and operational context, and built around a clear story, takeaway and challenge.
Lead Safety from the Inside Out
For operational leaders carrying responsibility for teams in high-hazard environments. What it means to lead safety as a personal practice rather than a programme. Built on S.A.F.E.™.
Design Your Influence
For EHS and safety professionals who know what needs to change but struggle to make the case to people who are not already convinced. Built on F.L.O.W.™.
The Conversation That Almost Did Not Happen
Built around a single story about how silence becomes the most dangerous thing in a high-hazard environment, and what leaders can do to change that. Raw and practical.
Safety on the Edge · Baltimore, May 2026
Examples of workshops
Practical sessions that change how people work, not just how they think.
These examples show the kind of work we can create together. Every workshop is adapted to the organisation, audience and operational context. Participants bring their own challenges into the room and leave with something concrete to act on.
Get Your Proposal Heard
A half-day or full-day workshop built on F.L.O.W.™. Participants work through a real proposal from their own context and leave with a structured, audience-ready version of a case they have been trying to make.
Lead Safety from the Inside Out
A workshop built on S.A.F.E.™ for operational leaders and managers. Participants examine their own leadership patterns and leave with a concrete, 30-day action focus.
Emotion and speaking style
Storytelling and engagement
Looking for the multi-session cohort version with peer feedback across several weeks? See Leadership Development →
Safety day and conference themes
Themes that fit your event.
If your audience is tired of standard safety presentations that change nothing, one of these usually fits. Each can be shaped as a keynote, a breakout session or a half-day workshop. The starting point is always what your audience needs to think about differently.
The interface with contractors
Scaffolders, pipe fitters, inspection, construction. Why treating the contractor as an extension of your own organisation is exactly where safety breaks down.
Go/no-go decisions under pressure
How risk accumulates from award to handover, and why the person who stops the job needs more than good intentions to actually stop it.
Why procedures are not enough
The gap between what the procedure says and what happens in the field, and why closing it is a leadership challenge, not a compliance one.
Human error is not a root cause
When an investigation ends at "human error", it has found a symptom, not a cause. What the more useful question looks like.
The silence before the incident
Incidents are rarely surprises. The signals were usually there. Why people stay quiet, and what leaders can do about it before it matters.
Leading through ownership transition
What a business loses, often invisibly, when it is divested from a parent company or absorbed into one. For leadership teams navigating that moment.
Honest conversations, beyond the slogan
What it actually looks like on a live site, under real pressure, when someone has to say the unwelcome thing.
Getting your safety case heard
Why being technically right has never been enough, and what changes when you design for influence with the same care as the analysis.
These are starting points. If your event needs a different angle, a tailored session is built around your audience, your sector and what you want to shift. Get in touch and we will find the right fit together.
Discuss your event →
Hear from the room
What a live session looks like.
Marieke immediately captured the room with her energetic keynote during the Industrial Safety Annual Conference. In a fun and accessible way she demonstrated the importance of the human side of safety. There was laughter and learning, and everyone went home with practical tips to get started themselves.
Joop Hermans
Conference producer
The approach
What to expect when you book.
Every session starts with a conversation about your organisation, audience and intended shift. BHBS standardises the core through proven frameworks and signature topics, then adapts the time, depth, format, language, examples and exercises to the people in the room.
The material is grounded in real stories from almost thirty years in high-hazard environments. The delivery is direct. The questions it raises stay with people long after the session ends.
Discovery call
We talk about your event, your audience and what you want people to take away.
Tailored session design
Structured around your context. Sector-relevant examples, the right tone, the right depth. The starting point is always an existing keynote or workshop adapted to your audience, not built from scratch.
Delivery
Marieke reads the room. Keynotes feel like a conversation. Workshops create real movement.
Post-session resources
Follow-through materials where relevant, and the option to continue through advisory or programme support.
Social proof
Events and organisations that have worked with Marieke.
Worked with
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Get in touch
Ready to plan something that moves people?
Tell me about your event, your audience and what you want to shift. I will respond within two working days.
Whether you are organising an industry conference, an internal safety day or a leadership event, the format will follow your need.