Phil La Duke

I Know My Shoes Are Untied. Phil La Duke

This isn't a book about safety; well okay it IS a book about safety, but it's also a social commentary about the state of safety in the modern workplace. Phil La Duke's writing is delightfully raw and visceral. Culled from his blog, guest blogs, and magazine articles La Duke's writing is witty, caustic, provocative, instructive, and a verbal roller coaster that is fun to read even for people who don't work in the twisted world of worker safety. As much as anything this book is about Phil La Duke love of language it's fun to read because the author lets you get inside his head---admittedly a scary place to be.

I Know My Shoes Are Untied. Mind Your Own business will take you out of your comfort zone. It will poke you and prod you and Phil La Duke doesn't care if you agree with him, in fact, he disdains the sycophants and mindless drones who fawn over everything he says and writes almost as much as he does the pedantic "ass hats" who he believes sell snake oil and get workers killed. In the words of the esteemed risk expert, Dr. Robert Long, "Phil is not afraid to tear down the sacred icons in the temple. I wish there were more like Phil who understood that much of what is believed in the safety industry is both unprofessional and delusional. This is a practical book. It ends with advice and tools for how to be more effective in helping others tackle risk. His discussion about sleep and fatigue is particularly simple, direct and helpful. The discussion about 'Five Steps to Becoming a More Successful Safety Leader' is a stand out and constructs a positive finish for the book."

If you have ever had a safety practitioner tell you something stupid, or told you that you couldn't do your job a certain way, or if you have a loved one who has a job, you should read this book. If you don't have a job but this book down. You can't afford it and you're getting your greasy paw prints all over the cover.