“Chris Rock once said: "You can only offend me if you mean something to me". Phil's writing doesn’t pull punches and may be a bit like someone swinging a bag of broken glass in a crowded room but if his words cut deep and gouge a lot of nerves it’s only because he has the insight and courage to articulate what many of us are thinking and, for the rest, still struggling with weird feelings, he puts his gnarly finger right on it. People love him because he has empathy and vents on their behalf, people hate him because he has figured them out, exposed them, challenged their worldview and sent their cognitive dissonance into meltdown. Either way, Phil's writing means something to everyone. He has inspired and completely changed the trajectory and style of my own writing. In the words of another safety literary legend and fellow Phil Fan, the late George Robotham: "It would be a boring world if everybody agreed with me".
—Dave Collins, Creator, Editor, and Publisher https://safetyrisk.net/
“Phil’s passion comes through in virtually everything he writes. He is an outspoken advocate for employee engagement and respect for workers”
—Dr. Paul Marciano, Best selling author of Carrots and Sticks Don’t Work: Build a Culture of Employee Engagement with the Principles of Respect and Super Teams:Using the Principles of Respect to Unleash Explosive Business Performance
“Phil La Duke is an original. After Phil they broke the mold. Certainly his thoughts and ideas on workplace safety and health fit no mold. Phil is no safety drone. His writing is provocative, sometime blunt, sometimes insulting, sometimes raw. His is an outsider’s take, almost an outlaw’s take, on what is good, bad and ugly about current workplace safety thinking and practices. It’s a perspective you won’t find anywhere else.”
—Dave Johnson, Editor. ISHN magazine
“Phil La Duke has devoted his career to industrial safety. He knows the importance of doing an unglamorous job well and what goes terribly wrong when people don't. He is angry about all the right things.
—Peter Page, contributed content editor Entrepreneur magazine
Phil LaDuke truly shatters the decades-old mindsets of safety professionals that have mired the profession in ideological adherence to accident safety practices, while stifling the introduction of innovative approaches. Provocative as Phil is, he brings a refreshing counterbalance to the safety conversation and makes us think. Indeed, Phil is the “Dirty Jobs Mike Rowe” of the safety profession.
—James E. Leemann, Ph.D.
