situational awareness | Safety Excellence For Business

This Month’s Kaleidoscope of Safety Thoughts

April 4, 2024 By Richard N. Knowles Leave a Comment

The Eclipse… On April 8th, we are going to have a total eclipse of the sun.

The path will cross right over our area. Excitement is quite high as many scientists and tourists are expected to be here. Hotel rooms are renting for astronomical amounts of money. It will be quite a big party, full of excitement. Totality lasts for about 3 1/2 minutes so it will be like night right in the middle of the afternoon.

The safety challenges will be significant. Special glasses are needed to look directly at the sun, so I hope people will have and use them. Crowds on Center Street in Lewiston, New York, will be thick, so I hope no one gets run over. I have heard that some people can get disoriented during the totality. The birds get quite disturbed and make a lot of noise. At Fort Niagara in Youngstown, New York, will have all sorts of historical activities to help celebrate. They will fire some cannons and have special drills. People will be all over the place.

This will be quite something!

Big Crowds-Big Hazards

Big crowds attract all sorts of people. Most will be just great and have lots of fun. However, we need our situational awareness hats on as well. There will be lots of excitement and some accidents; hopefully none will be too serious. There may be some people who get sucked into a fight and then look out. There may be some who get quite drunk in their celebrating and that can be a problem. Hopefully any raucousness will be little. But we have to be on alert and have good situational awareness because there may be someone who wants to really hurt people.

Every community has a few people who are having trouble and are quite dangerous, so this problem is not out of the question. We will all need to be looking out for each other. Situational Awareness means keeping alert to your surroundings all the time.

Shifting into Springtime or Fall

The Eclipse isn’t the only thing going on. All of you are moving into Spring if you are in the Northern Hemisphere or into Fall if you are in the Southern Hemisphere. Either way, you are facing changes of season and the adjustments you’ll need to make. Try not to hurry so you do not miss the special, good aspects of the changing seasons.

When it comes to your work, what new demands do you face? Cleaning up from the winter or preparing for it takes some thought and making sure the equipment you need is ready. For example, are the special demands of heat stress being considered and is the training and equipment ready? For those of you down-under, are you ready for the cold? I was a manager in one plant where we were surprised each winter by pipes freezing. People kept putting off the inspection and repairs of pipe insulation, so the first freeze hit pretty hard with lots of frozen lines. This happened every winter. You would think we would have learned.

Election Season Here in the USA

The level of polarization and anger is huge. It is hard to have civil conversations about the various issues. The court battles are hard to follow. The media do not tell the truth. Justice is unevenly applied. It goes on and on.

This stuff should be kept out of the workplace, if possible. You do not want these distractions since they will lead to unsafe conditions, injuries, and incidents. We have enough to worry about without the politics spilling into the work.

I am an advocate of sharing information, but there are times when we must use caution. We need to share information about the work, the competition, safety, etc., but the political stuff is just trouble. You must keep it out and not contaminate your culture.

I hope you’ll share these safety-related thoughts with your team. Safety Vigilance is what we all need. Give me a call 716-622-7753 to talk more about this kaleidoscope of safety pieces!

Filed Under: Safety Excellence Tagged With: being vigilant, eclipse, safety chaallenges, safety challenges, safety during the eclipse, safety vigilance, situational awareness, situational awareness during the eclipse, spring preparation, winter preparation

Safety Isn’t Just Safety Anymore…

February 10, 2023 By Richard N. Knowles Leave a Comment

What every Manager needs to know that OSHA and ISO already do!

It started out in 1970 with OSHA’s regulations to enhance Safety in the Workplace – the first leg of the Safety Stool, a.k.a. as Occupational Safety, exampled by preventing slips, trips and falls, requiring hearing protection, hand and foot protection, and eye-ware.

Then came the second leg of the Safety Stool, Occupational Health, exampled by preventing environmental/respiratory and ergonomic hazards. Then came Process Safety Management (PSM), exampled by what it takes to keep hazardous substances in the pipes, and which became an essential part of workplace safety with the comprehensive issuance of OSHA 1910 – the third leg.

All three legs are important and are critical for Safety professionals, HR professionals, Managers and Supervisors to embrace and for people to understand. Indeed, OSHA requires this attention to keep our people safe (life and limb) within the workplace.

Now, with this new decade of Workplace Violence rearing its ugly head, we know that we must add a fourth leg to the Safety Stool. Because attention to this 4th prong needs diligent awareness, it is now becoming paramount that every manager and supervisor be schooled in Situational Awareness:

What is happening around you?
What is happening between and among people in the workplace?
Where are your vulnerabilities?
Are you noticing the cultural dysfunction happening in your workplace?
Are you able to engage appropriately to find out what’s happening?
How do you address these dysfunctions?

The fourth leg of this stool is what is called Psychological or Social Safety. Another way to describe it is the psychological harm that comes with repeated bullying, harassment, incivilities, and dysfunctional behaviors, that leave workers dreading to go to work, or that increase the risk of home-growing an active threat/shooter, or having a suicide or murder in your workplace, let alone the bad press that comes with a highly publicized incident.

If no one steps in to stop bad behaviors when they are happening, they continue and escalate over time. Not paying attention to social risk manifests into psychological harm as the continuum of bad behaviors escalate in the workplace – and ultimately can impact people in harmful ways. Yes, OSHA is keen on this 4th leg of the safety stool, too, and wants to know what your business, company, organization, or team is doing about it. Prevention of Workplace Violence is the operative word.

What is Workplace Violence?

OSHA explains that workplace violence is violence or the threat of violence against workers. It can occur at or outside the workplace and can range from threats and verbal abuse to physical assaults and homicide, one of the leading causes of job-related deaths. However it manifests itself, workplace violence is a growing concern for employers and employees nationwide.

OSHA makes it very clear. Employers are responsible for ensuring that the workplace does NOT become a hostile workplace. (Bullying, harassment, and incivilities contribute to hostile environments). OSHA requires employers to provide a safe workplace for their employees…both physically safe and psychologically safe. This is covered by the General Duty Clause Section 5(a)(1).

Enter the new ISO Standard: ISO 45003 IS THE NEW INTERNATIONAL STANDARD (2021-06) – Occupational Health and Safety Management – Psychological health and safety at work – Guidelines for managing psychosocial risks. This new standard states that Management must be prepared to deal with violence that involves a person (employee, visitor, vendor), etc., losing control, without a weapon. This normally means dealing with psychological safety factors.

It is difficult to predict violent acts, so the Standard expects managers and associates to be vigilant. Report any concerns of erratic behaviors to supervision and HR as soon as possible.

Examples of violent behavior include but are not limited to:

Intimidating or bullying others
Abusive language
Physical assault
Threatening behavior
Sexual or racial harassment
Concealing or using a weapon
Anger
Tantrums

You get the picture. None of these types of behaviors belong in a workplace, thus the underscoring of new Respectful Workplace policies.

At Nagele, Knowles and Associates, we understand the construct of workplace violence and how to identify it. It starts with knowing your inside culture (culture assessment) to understand where bullying and dysfunctional behavior is happening and how to stop it in its tracks. What is your workplace doing to ensure a Respectful Workplace? It equally starts with a physical security vulnerability assessment to understand where you, your site, your people are most vulnerable to a perpetrator entering your workplace to do harm, and how to deter that from happening.

The 4th leg requires Situational Awareness – that is the tip of the spear when it comes to the prevention of workplace violence…from the inside or from the outside! This holds true in the workplace, and in living our daily lives. Wake up! Be Alert! Observing, expecting, embracing, and requiring a Respectful Workplace is powerful for reducing those harmful dysfunctional behaviors.

Employees must become stakeholders in their own safety and security and develop a survival mindset as well. Vigorous prevention programs, timely interventions, and appropriate responses by organizations and their employees will contribute significantly to a safe, secure, and respectful environment. That’s what we teach; that’s what we do.

Want to know more? Check out our book “Guide to Reducing the Risk of Workplace Violence…the Absolute Essentials” available on Amazon. It has been labeled the “gold standard” – a comprehensive guide to reducing your risk of workplace violence happening in your workplace…from the inside or the outside or give us a call at 716-622-6467.

Filed Under: Safety Excellence, Safety for Business, Safety Leadership Tagged With: bullying in the workplace, harassment, ISO, occupational health, occupational safety, OSHA, OSHA regulations, safety in the workplace, safety leadership, situational awareness, social safety, violence in the workplace, work safely, working safely in the workplace, workplace safety, workplace violence

Workplace Stress

June 10, 2022 By Richard N. Knowles Leave a Comment

There is a lot of stress all around us – in our personal and workplace lives.

The war in the Ukraine, inflation, gas prices, groceries, apartment rents, and the mass shootings are a few examples. This stress affects us all in one way or another. It feels as if everything is under some sort of threat. Do we have to make churches, schools, grocery stores, playgrounds, offices, factories and even homes hard targets to try to protect ourselves? Stressors are many – negativity is high.

In previous posts I have talked about the need for situational awareness. This is so important for all of us. It is a first line of defense. We also need to take basic precautions around our homes being sure that we have taken reasonable precautions like having bright, outside lighting, keeping doors locked, picking up packages from our front porches, etc. When we go out to mix in big groups like bars and night clubs, or events, or any gathering, we need to ask ourselves if this is the right thing for us at that time.

When we are at work, we need to be cognizant of everyone that is feeling stress and preoccupied. Things we say or do may be taken in the wrong way. People may have short tempers. Some will be hurrying and careless. We each need to avoid contributing more stress to the situations.

All this stress and preoccupation makes us vulnerable to our own mistakes and errors. I tend to make poorer judgements when I am stressed like another driver and I did recently – we had a fender bender. Fortunately, there were no injuries other than egos being beat up. Preoccupation like this at work can lead to injuries and incidents as well. Perhaps the biggest threat we face is our own impatience and anxiousness.

For me, I need to slow down a little and ask myself what I am doing to be able to do the next task correctly. Do I need to take a deep breath to clear my mind before I do the next thing? Am I centered before starting the next conversation? Am I paying enough attention to what is going on around me so I do not cause problems and get someone hurt? Am I trying to select the correct words for the next conversation so I do not cause unnecessary troubles? Is one of my friends or coworkers feeling stress and do they need some extra kindness from me?

The number of road rage incidents is going up as well as the severity of the violence in these incidents. I need to be more aware of my own behavior. Small things I do may cause someone else to get angry. I need to keep my phone put away. I do not want to be caught up in one of these road rage incidents, so I need to be sure that my speed is appropriate, and I am not driving aggressively. I need to be sure to leave plenty of space between me and other cars and not to crowd people as I give way to my stress and start hurrying.

These are tough times for all of us. Stress levels impact all areas of our lives. We need to be kind to ourselves and others to help relieve the stresses a little.

Signs of Hope

Many of you reading my posts know how highly I value using really good processes for participation in our workplaces, sharing of information, building trust, and helping people to find meaning in their work. (Having meaning in one’s work helps to lessen work stress!) Over the last 50 years of my work in the field of Leadership, I have gradually seen progress in this participative and meaningful way of working. While there are plenty of bad examples of leadership, I am seeing improvements taking place. More people are talking about working this way. Some recent articles in Professional Safety, the journal of the American Society for Safety Professionals, have begun to talk about this. Other business journals are also talking more and more about this.

There is a growing awareness that our traditional top-down management approach is not up to the rapidly changing and more complex world. I have even seen some recent papers indicating that some of the professionals in government are more aware of the need to recognize and use ideas like Ross Ashby’s Requisite Variety, Complexity and Reflexivity so we can lead, learn, and think more clearly and effectively about how work is being done. It is heartening to me to see this participative progress!

I urge all of you to work on expanding your own leadership thinking so that you can also be more effective in your own work, and as you lead others. It has been extremely important for me in my own journey over the last few generations. I urge you (also) to learn about and practice situational awareness – for your safety and for others. If you have questions, please contact me at 716-622-6467 or send me an email.

Remember, it takes Leadership to improve Safety.
It takes being “aware” to notice what’s happening in your surroundings.
It takes de-stressing measures to bring calm to the moment.

Filed Under: Safety for Business Tagged With: American Society for Safety Professionals, business safety, focused leadership, health and safety in the workplace, leadership handling stress in the workplace, leadership in the workplace, professional safety, safety in the workplace, situational awareness, stress in the workplace, workplace processes

Situational Awareness…for Safety…for Security…for Life!

July 10, 2021 By Richard N. Knowles Leave a Comment

Situational awareness is being aware of what is happening around you in terms of where you are, where you are supposed to be, and whether anyone or anything around you is a threat to your health, safety, and well-being.

Our knowledge, experience and education enable us to understand what is going on around us and helps us to determine if it is safe…if we are “clued in.” This is not a complicated idea, yet we see so many people who seem to be totally oblivious about what is going on around them.

Have you seen people walking down the street with their cell phones right in front of their faces?
Have you seen someone grab a chair to stand on to get something off a high shelf?
Have you seen someone driving their car with the phone in their hand and not paying attention to their driving?
Have you seen news stories where people just seem to walk into really dangerous crowds with little care?
Have you seen a person climb into a manhole in the middle of the street without proper respiratory protection?
Have you seen people climb poorly secured ladders that can easily slip?
Have you seen people at work who are not using the right PPE or not using handrails?
Do we see ourselves doing things like this with little awareness of the potential situation we are getting into?

We see things like these almost every day. The people doing these things are not stupid – rather, they are exhibiting a clear sense of lacking awareness in the moment. (Their proceed-with-caution flag is missing!)

Situational awareness applies and is a big part of our safety…to understand what is “not normal”…as in cracks happening in a foundation, or pipes carrying chemicals showing signs of a leak, or Personal Protective Equipment beginning to show wear. It may apply to your health – paying attention to your intuitive knowing, for clues and signals that something has changed or does not seem right.

Recently in the news, most of the people seemed to have ignored warnings and were situationally unaware before the collapse of the condo in the Miami Beach, Florida disaster.

We put so much at risk to just save a minute or two. Why is it we do not pay attention to what is around us and take a moment to protect ourselves? Are we paying attention or are we just charging along hoping things will be okay? Is saving 5-10 seconds in a job worth the risk to you and your safety?

A specific area of focus for us at NageleKnowlesAndAssociates.com is Situational Awareness related to violence in the workplace. We need to be vigilant in the event someone from outside the organization comes in to do harm. We also need to be vigilant for potential violence springing up from someone who is on the inside like an employee, vendor, or customer. (Home-growing an active shooter happens – especially when people treatment principles are lacking.) Paying attention to how our friends and co-workers are behaving and talking is important.

If you see something or hear something,
you have to SAY something.

If you see sudden changes in behavior of a person or hear them talking about doing violence, that needs to be brought to the attention of your supervisor or the HR people. And anyone with a domestic violence restraining or protection order needs to be certain that their company is aware of it, in order for security to be fully prepared! Domestic violence spillover into the workplace is a major danger for violence in the workplace.

We help people to learn how to observe, to put their attention on what is “not normal” and to be prepared to make quick decisions as the situation unfolds…whatever that situation may be.

We teach the Color Codes of Situational Awareness as a way for them to think about their situation in the moment.

White: Being oblivious to what’s happening in your surroundings.
Yellow: Fully aware, but still relaxed.
Orange: Very Alert…something has triggered your focused attention.
Red: Decision time…Act.
(Black): The consequence of inaction, or inability to act; paralysis.

Where are you in this picture?

These color codes would be a good discussion at home with your family as well.

Situational awareness is essential for being prepared to work safely and to protect yourself from an active shooter situation. Recent events show us how tremendously important this “knowing” is for all of us…at our workplace, and in our life-space too.

We at Nagele and Knowles help a wide range of organizations address unwanted safety issues, address security and cultural vulnerabilities, and reduce the risk for workplace violence. You don’t have to do that all yourself…We have done that for you!

Give us a call at 716-622-6467. We are here for you!

Filed Under: Safety for Business, Safety Leadership Tagged With: be aware of your surroundings, build a safe business, business safety, business safety requirements, color codes for situational awareness, create a safe space at work, engage employees on workplace safety, raising safety awareness, safety in the workplace, situational awareness, understand situations and safety, workplace safety