Shows / The Landscaping Safety Podcast
The Landscaping Safety Podcast
The Landscaping Safety Podcast is dedicated to helping green industry professionals work smarter, safer, and return home healthy to their families. Hosted by John Bongiovanni, a retired first responder with 37+ years in fire, EMS, police EMS, and helicopter EMS, plus over a decade in landscaping, parks, forestry, and exterior cleaning. Every episode delivers practical safety lessons, leadership, and real-world experience to build high-performing crews through a strong culture of safety.
Episodes
- The Landscaping Safety Podcast
Ep. 30- A Routine Mulch Job Turned Fatal: “We’ve Always Done It This Way”
Nineteen-year-old Bradley Hogue was on his second day of work when a routine mulch delivery turned fatal. Inside a bark-blower truck, a dangerous workaround…
- The Landscaping Safety Podcast
Ep 29. The Vine Is Still Live: Poison Ivy in Fall Cleanup
The leaves are falling, but poison ivy hasn’t clocked out for the season. In this episode of The Landscaping Safety Podcast, John Bongiovanni shares his own…
- The Landscaping Safety Podcast
Ep 28. When the Blade Becomes the Projectile: Blade Safety with Magna-Matic's Gerd Bauer II
A mower blade is designed to cut grass. But what happens when the blade itself becomes a deadly projectile? In this Wednesday Post-Incident Review of The…
- The Landscaping Safety Podcast
Ep 27. Covered for the Long Run: Sun Safety with Farwell at Equip Expo
Protecting your skin is part of protecting your livelihood. In this Equip Expo edition of The Landscaping Safety Podcast, John Bongiovanni sits down with one…
- The Landscaping Safety Podcast
EXPO EDITION-The Weight Above Him: A Palm-Tree Fatality Review
A routine tree-trimming job turned deadly when a hidden overhead hazard claimed the life of an experienced tree care professional. On February 13, 2023…
- The Landscaping Safety Podcast
EXPO EDITION: The Cold Finds the Gaps: Protecting a Crew on Wet, Chilly Days
Cold weather doesn't have to mean snow and ice to become dangerous for lawn care and landscaping professionals. As fall cleanup season rolls into winter…
- The Landscaping Safety Podcast
24- His First Day Was His Last: Wood Chipper Investigation
A 23-year-old tree-service worker died on his first day atwork in a wood chipper incident in Guilderland, New York. John examines OSHA’sinvestigation, a…
- The Landscaping Safety Podcast
23- The Sound of Damage: Hearing Protection During Fall Cleanup
Fall cleanup comes with an invisible hazard: cumulativenoise exposure. From leaf blowers and mowers to trimmers and chippers, Johnexamines what NIOSH measured…
- The Landscaping Safety Podcast
22- When Rigging Fails: A Fatal Bucket-Truck Accident
On April 4, 2024, a tree-care professional was working approximately 50 feet above the ground in Colonial Heights, Virginia, when a rope involved in a…
- The Landscaping Safety Podcast
21- Trailer Safety: From the Yard to the Jobsite and Back
For a lot of green industry professionals, the trailer is part of the job every single day—but that familiarity can make it easy to overlook the risks. In this…
- The Landscaping Safety Podcast
20- September Safety Review: Five Incidents, Five Lessons
September 2026 brought several serious and fatal incidents involving workers across landscaping, tree care, forestry, and grounds maintenance. In this monthly…
- The Landscaping Safety Podcast
19- It Only Takes One Rock: Eye Safety in Landscaping
Eye injuries can happen in a split second—and in landscaping, the hazards are everywhere. In this episode of The Landscaping Safety Podcast, we break down one…
- The Landscaping Safety Podcast
18-The Broken Guard: Anatomy of a Landscaping Fatality
What started as an ordinary Saturday morning landscaping job ended in tragedy. On June 6, 2015, a 31-year-old employee of Perry’s Maintenance in western New…
- The Landscaping Safety Podcast
17- One Shift at a Time: Repetition, Vibration & Overuse
Not every landscaping injury happens in a single moment. Some develop one grip, one lift, one pass with the trimmer, and one hour on the mower at a time. In…
- The Landscaping Safety Podcast
Ep. 16 Submerged : What We Know About the Augusta Mower Tragedy
We had another Post-Incident Review prepared for Wednesday, but we’re saving that episode for a later release so we can address a newly reported fatal accident…
- The Landscaping Safety Podcast
Ep. 15- The Late-Season Wall: When Fatigue Becomes a Safety Hazard
By late summer, the temperatures may finally start easing up—but after months of long days, heat, humidity, physical labor, packed schedules, and constant…
- The Landscaping Safety Podcast
Ep. 14 - They Were Just Trying to Stay Warm: The Silent Killer in the Trailer
Two young landscapers—just 22 and 26 years old—went to work on a cold December morning in New Jersey. They never came home. On December 11, 2018, a…
- The Landscaping Safety Podcast
Episode 13- What Are You Breathing? Leaf Dust, Mold & Respiratory Protection in Landscaping
Fall and spring cleanups can put landscapers, groundskeepers, and lawn-care professionals right in the middle of clouds of dust, mold, pollen, soil, decaying…
- The Landscaping Safety Podcast
Episode 12 - He Never Saw Him: A Fatal Skid-Steer Backover
He was kneeling behind a skid steer, straightening landscape fabric. Then the machine reversed. Two days before Christmas, 68-year-old Jose Vasro was fatally…
- The Landscaping Safety Podcast
Episode 11: You’re Drinking Water—So Why Are You Still Dehydrated?
You brought water—but is that enough to carry you through a full day of mowing, trimming and working in the heat? In this episode of the Landscaping Safety…
- The Landscaping Safety Podcast
Episode 10- The Wheel Never Stopped: A Fatal Stump Grinder Accident
A routine landscaping job. A commercial stump grinder. And a few seconds between one task and the next that ended in tragedy. In this episode of the…
- The Landscaping Safety Podcast
Episode 9: Ten Feet From Danger — A Tree-Trimming Electrocution
A routine residential tree-trimming job turned fatal when an experienced arborist working near an energized overhead power line was electrocuted. In this…
- The Landscaping Safety Podcast
Episode 8- Your Most Important Machine: The Landscaper Athlete
Landscaping is physical work — and if you make your living mowing, trimming, climbing, carrying, digging, running equipment, or working outdoors all day, your…
- The Landscaping Safety Podcast
Episode 7 - Caught in the Feed: A Wood Chipper Fatality and the Safety Failures Behind It
A routine tree-removal job turned fatal when a 17-year-old worker became entangled while feeding branches into a commercial wood chipper and was pulled into…
- The Landscaping Safety Podcast
Episode 6 - Fuel, Fire & Flash Burns: When a Normal Workday Ignites
Fuel is so common in landscaping that it can become almost invisible—until something goes wrong. In this episode of the Landscaping Safety Podcast, John…
- The Landscaping Safety Podcast
Episode 5 - Buried Alive: The Deadly Reality of Trench Collapse
A routine French drain installation turned deadly when a trench collapsed in Boonton Township, New Jersey, killing two landscapers. In Episode 5 of the…
- The Landscaping Safety Podcast
Episode 4 Struck: Lightning, Severe Weather & the Green Industry Worker
Episode 4 Title: Struck: Lightning, Severe Weather & the Outdoor Worker Episode 4 Description: In Episode 4 of the Landscaping Safety Podcast, we take a closer…
- The Landscaping Safety Podcast
Episode 3 — Heat Can Kill: Dehydration, Heat Exhaustion & Heat Stroke
For landscapers, working in extreme heat is part of the job—but heat illness can develop faster than many people realize. In Episode 3 of the Landscaping…
- The Landscaping Safety Podcast
Episode 2: Hidden Dangers-When Landscaping Turns Deadly
Landscaping may not always be viewed as a dangerous profession, but the numbers tell a different story. In this episode of the Landscaping Safety Podcast, we…
- The Landscaping Safety Podcast
Episode 1: Why Safety Matters — Welcome to the Landscaping Safety Podcast
Welcome to the very first episode of the Landscaping Safety Podcast. In this episode, host John Bongiovanni introduces himself, his background, and the reason…