Empowering organizations to limit workplace risks: A conversation with ZRS customer Pam Brann from Cast & Crew
ArticleJune 12, 2025
Building a sustainable workplace risk management program
A strong risk management program is crucial for organizations seeking to proactively identify, assess and mitigate potential threats. Such programs promote operational continuity by fostering long-term resilience and individual safety amid the complexities and challenges of a dynamic and shifting business environment.
For Cast & Crew, a California based software and service provider focused on helping the global entertainment industry, finding a flexible risk management program that could address job site safety and limit hazardous situations was a priority. Pam Brann, VP, Risk Management at Cast & Crew says, “Traditional risk management programs are built around safety and health and wellness for all employees” but many available, off-the-shelf programs are not always sufficient or appropriate for an organization, depending on their specific needs and organizational complexities. “Traditional safety and health lost control efforts,” Brann continues, “can be enhanced with innovation and technology.”
Cast & Crew clients have unique safety concerns, including on-set risks and audience member safety. To address these unique risks, Cast & Crew leveraged ZRS’ Risk Engineering Claims Analysis Tool (RECAT) which analyzes claim data to identify loss trends and offer critical insights to reduce risk.
While it is often straightforward to identify potential risks, implementing a solution requires a nuanced approach and strong engagement and commitment from stakeholders. By leveraging ZRS RECAT technology, Cast & Crew transformed their safety efforts into a sustainable program that benefits all of their clients.
Cast & Crew has advanced employee situational awareness, enabling them to recognize, assess and respond to potential hazards promptly, resulting in a significant enhancement of overall workplace safety. Small successes, such as growing internal awareness of risk, as Brann shares, have established larger, long-term and sustainable improvements within an established and more resilient culture predicated on safety.
"We've created a really good program that isn't just built around an app, it's built around the people within the engineering teams at Zurich."
How ZRS helps clients create stronger risk management programs
With Cast & Crew, access to data insights and the empowerment of team leaders helped elevate these safety programs.
ZRS Risk Consultants, along with RECAT technology, supported Cast & Crew and their clients with the “empowerment of the on-site safety managers to take their programs to the next level” of risk reduction and sustainable safety, according to Brann. Specifically, she says, ZRS has enabled Cast & Crew “to catapult safety programs and put more tools in the hands of those who might be overseeing a production or somebody who’s building all kinds of very hazardous stages” so they are more aware of, and more able to avoid, potential perils. Through reinforcing employee confidence in safe task execution and using consistent messaging to support a culture of safety, programs have become more compliant.
In building a strong workplace safety program, it is imperative for organizations to maintain awareness of current and future trends and analysis, including stakeholder feedback, to quickly adapt to potential risks. When a hazardous situation surfaces, businesses cannot wait for the ideal response to present itself; those who identify it must be empowered to address it, which is how Cast & Crew is supporting the development of strong risk management programs for their clients. Brann says that such a program for Cast & Crew is “built by the engineering teams at Zurich who are experienced and available to our clients around the country” that are often transferable to global programs.
Collaboration, consistent feedback and a deep understanding of the potential risk factors facing a business, its unique clients and the industry standards are crucial in building a resilient and scalable safety program.
"[RECAT] is a technology that is very very nimble, and we've been able to catapult safety programs and put more tools in the hands of [our teams]."
Considerations for heat and natural environment related risks
A specific risk discussed by Strickland and Brann is one facing every business, without regard to its size, industry or risk appetite: excessive heat and other natural environment related stressors. According to a report from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), “479 workers in the U.S. died from exposure to environmental heat from 2011-2022…[with] 33,890 estimated work-related heat injuries and illnesses that resulted in days away from work” in that same span1. The severity of heat illness and stress are significant, but can be mitigated in the workplace with a robust and responsive risk program.
As heat-related risks increase, more states and regulating authorities are establishing standards to help protect workers2. ZRS provides technological and consulting support to clients, including Cast & Crew, to help them limit these risk exposures and maintain compliance. This was done in part, according to Brann, through effective and efficient communication. ZRS works with Cast & Crew, who then engages with their clients, establishing meaningful context for communication via its technology so that initiatives, including responsive trainings, can be rolled out or reiterated quickly to a particular team or site.
Having employees complete such training programs is a compliance requirement so, it is necessary for an organization to know which employees have and have not completed the training, particularly with something so crucial as heat and environment related risks. Doing so, says Brann, “empowers your HR team to know…we’re compliant and empowers your leadership back in the office, who’s really looking at your overall program to say, ‘we’ve done this’”. This valuable data can then be fed into the technology for ongoing monitoring to understand and “ensure that these programs are effective”, which Brann notes is important for reducing heat and other natural environment related risks while staying in the good graces of regulators.
"ZRS enables us to really take the programs that we have for heat and injury illness and really communicate with the employees, the managers on-site quickly."
Safety improvements require continuous engagement
While heat related illnesses or injuries from falls are potential hazards in all workplaces, they manifest in organizationally unique ways. Because of this, Cast & Crew commits to helping its clients construct their risk management and safety programs by integrating with existing strategies to align with their short and long-term business goals. It is necessary to deeply understand the needs of an organization and promoting solutions and training engagements that make sense within each distinctive environment. Effective services and software, like the RECAT dashboard, extend beyond mere risk transfer by offering practical solutions and continuous improvement opportunities for all stakeholders to help fortify operational resilience and secure future growth.
Key Takeaways
- Cast & Crew, in collaboration with ZRS, has advanced employee situational awareness, enabling prompt recognition and response to potential hazards, thereby improving overall workplace safety.
- The Risk Engineering Claims Analysis Tool (RECAT) has provided Cast & Crew with tailored data integration and actionable insights, enabling effective risk management and decision-making to support its safety program.
- Effective communication and responsive training have enabled Cast & Crew's team to enhance safety monitoring and develop scalable safety programs integrated with their risk management efforts.
- Addressing heat and natural environment-related risks has been a priority for Cast & Crew, who has utilized technological and consulting support to maintain compliance and reduce exposures.
- Cast & Crew has elevated their safety programs, as well as those of their clients, by empowering on-site managers with flexible, innovative and scalable resources needed to reduce risks.
Watch the conversations between Pam Brann of Cast & Crew and Dave Strickland of ZRS
"Traditional safety and health loss control efforts can be really significantly enhanced with innovation and with technology."
References
- OSHA. “Heat Injury and Illness Prevention in Outdoor and Indoor Work Settings Rulemaking”.
- “Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) Regulation of Employee Exposure to Heat" . Congress.gov, Library of Congress, 30 May 2025.