June is National Safety Month.
Around here every month is safety month, so it seems a bit redundant, however this time it is…
NSC Designated 🙌 👷🏻♀️
The Hot Topics
The National Safety Council uses the four weeks of June to increase awareness of the leading safety and health risks in the workplace. For 2023 (the 27th year since its inception), the four primary areas of focus are:
- Emergency Preparedness
- Slips, Trips, and Falls
- Heat-Related Illness
- Hazard Recognition
Natural Disasters
Having completed trainings on two of these topics already, our staff will receive education related to Disaster and Emergency Preparedness. With personnel located from the Midwest to the Pacific Coast, OPM staff have potential exposure to all manner of natural disasters including:
- Earthquake
- Fire
- Flood
- Tornado
- Violent storms
With weather patterns growing increasingly unpredictable, and wildfires currently tearing across the continent, being prepared for “when” vs. “if” something will happen is prudent.
Emergency Response
Developing action plans prior to an emergency can save lives. From knowing whether interior or exterior sheltering is safer (crazy to think that being outdoors during a disaster may save your life, but it’s true) to having a communication plan and supplies at the ready, advance preparation and planning can save precious time and help eliminate deadly mistakes.
During large-scale disasters, local emergency responders from fire and police to paramedics will be overwhelmed with the flood of calls (yeah, pun intended). Knowing what actions should be taken until help can arrive is vital.
First Aid and CPR
Having staff trained in basic first aid and CPR is an excellent part of any emergency response plan. While all staff should know where first aid, AED, and other materials are located, being adept at using them is crucial.
Consider having a certified trainer provide office-wide CPR instruction at the workplace to improve the chances that one or more employees could assist during an emergency. The sooner care is initiated, the better the outcome. Waiting for help to arrive, especially when crews will be delayed or unable to respond, may result in profound injury or death.
Violence
Tackling natural disasters is only part of emergency preparedness. The chance of being exposed to violence seems to increase daily. What was once considered a tragic and isolated event has become all too common in recent years. Schools, shopping centers, workplaces, and even churches have been targets of deadly force.
Ensuring your emergency response plan includes information on how to respond to events such as an active shooter is important. While there is no clear consensus on whether fleeing or sheltering in place will improve outcomes, we must educate employees on exit routes and basic means of securing a space.
Mindset Shift
While most safety training focuses on prevention, emergency preparedness shifts from avoiding issues to managing them when they occur. Knowing (or at least knowing where to locate) vital procedures for handling an emergency is key to not wasting precious time. Having well-defined roles and means of communicating with staff may save lives.
Understanding the range of natural human responses to crisis (fight – flight – freeze) and who operates effectively under pressure should be part of any staff discussion, training, and plan development. Sometimes the best person for a role isn’t necessarily the most logical choice on paper. Utilize staff skills that may have been developed in other capacities, such as first responders, military, healthcare, and other prior work experiences.
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