Psych Health and Safety Podcast USA

LISTEN TO PART TWO OVER AT THE PSYCH HEALTH AND SAFETY IN CANADA PODCAST! 😁 In this episode, Dr. I. David Daniels speaks with special guest Kim MacDonald, who hosts the Psych Health and Safety Canada Podcast. Kim is a Certified Workplace Psych Health & Safety Advisor & Trainer, and the CEO of 13 FACTORS. 13 FACTORS is a workplace psychological health and safety learning and development and coaching company. This mission-driven business focuses on changing workplace mental health impacts, climate, and psychological health and safety culture. We use science-backed, peer, and evidence-based research in all our work, product development, and delivery. This not only be the continuation of our celebration of the first year of the USA podcast but a wide-ranging conversation about psychological health and safety in the first of a two-part "crossover" episode that will conclude on the Psych Health and Safety Canada podcast. Kim will share her background in psychological health and safety as the host of the Canada podcast, some of the more impactful aspects of the show, and her experience in the profession. Having joined the global podcast family through the encouragement of founding host Mary Ann Bayton, Kim carries on the tradition of rich conversation with guests from across Canada and will be a guest on the USA podcast for the first time.

This episode marks one year since the start of the Psych Health and Safety USA podcast and again features a conversation with Joelle Mitchell and Jason van Schie, the co-hosts of the original Psych Health and Safety podcast in Australia. In a unique conversation, Jason and Joelle talk with Dr. Daniels about the last year of the USA podcast and some of what he’s learned over the year. They also fill him in on some of what has been going on “down under” relative to Psychological Health and Safety.

Experts Kahlilah Guyah, Ken Clayman, and Dr. Allessandria Polizzi discuss ISO 45003, a guidance standard on psychological health and safety at work. They cover topics like the importance of hazard recognition, understanding psychosocial risks, cultural bias surrounding mental health, proactive prevention, addressing psychosocial factors, and positive developments in workplace mental health.

Dr. Darryl Hill, responsible for safety and security in a company with nearly 60,000 employees, discusses creating a culture of growth, the connection between psychological safety and traditional safety management systems, expanding incident reviews, the impact of electrification on bus noise and employee behavior, and prioritizing employees for better customer experience.

Michael Coplen, former Division Chief of Safety Policy and Promotion at the Federal Transit Administration, shares his experience in researching safety culture and safety management systems. Topics discussed include psychological health and safety, rail industry experiences, the impact of psychosocial hazards on behavior, staff shortages and sleep deprivation, considering human needs in challenging environments, and the importance of safety during national safety month.

Continuing our celebration of National Safety Month, in this episode, host Dr. I. David Daniels will speak with Yara Carrillo, a Chemical Engineer by training and a credentialed safety professional specializing in providing services to workplaces needing safety-related documents, information, and training in Spanish. The number of Hispanic workers in the labor force has grown from 10.7 million in 1990 to 29.0 million in 2020 and is projected to reach 35.9 million in 2030. Hispanics are projected to account for 78% of net new workers between 2020 and 2030. The Hispanic proportion of the workforce has increased from 8.5% in 1990 to 18.0% in 2020. In 2030, the Bureau of Labor Statistics projects Hispanics to account for one out of every five workers in the labor force, at 21.2%. Hispanic workers are not only a significant percentage of the workforce but the majority in many of the most hazardous occupations. The sector with the highest concentration of Hispanic workers is farming, fishing, and forestry, at 43.0%. In second place is building and grounds cleaning and maintenance, at 37.9%, followed by construction and extraction, at 35.7. One of the important keys to perception is the language that one understands. It is difficult to feel psychologically safe when the language used to transmit safety information does not match the language you understand best. While it would be a stereotype to suggest that all Hispanic workers don’t speak or understand English, it would not be an exaggeration to suggest that many workplaces assume that everyone speaks and understands English. This bias can have catastrophic consequences for workers and organizations that care about safety. Yara will share her thoughts and experiences regarding bridging this divide and the value and importance of language in ensuring psychological health and safety.

To kick off our celebration of National Safety Month, in this episode, host Dr. I. David Daniels will speak with Nathan Benson, the Director of Occupational Safety, Risk Management, and Disability Services in Chatham County, Georgia. There are approximately 90,000 governments in the United States, divided into three categories: federal, state, and local. The public sector employs 20.2 million people in the US, approximately 14.5 percent of the workforce. However, when conversations about safety of any kind are had, workers in the public sector or left out. Injury rates tend to be significantly higher than similar work done by the private sector. Seven years ago, Chatham County, Georgia, decided to buck this trend by developing an occupational safety division and bringing in a 2015 National Safety Council Rising Star to lead the effort. Director Benson has been able to build the team and help the county through the global pandemic when less than 50% of the county’s workforce could work remotely. He will share the work done to reduce worker injuries and create a culture where workers feel supported and less anxious about the rare occupation that they are injured at work.

This episode‘s guest is Keith Prendergast, Safety Manager at A. Murphy, Inc, and a Local 103 IBEW Safety Committee member. With a modest upbringing and decades in the construction trades as an electrician, as well as recovery from substance use disorder, he has been an active member in the union’s efforts to help workers recover from substance use and address workplace mental health. Construction generates nearly $1.8 trillion for the U.S. economy. The industry has more than 753,000 employers, with over 7.8 million employees, to the U. S. economy each year. While the industry is a significant contributor to the economy, it comes at a cost from a psychological health and safety perspective. The construction industry has the second highest rate of suicide in the United States at 53.3 per 100,000 workers, according to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). In the U.S., nearly 45,000 Americans die by suicide each year — one person every 12 minutes. And for every death, there are more than 22 suicide attempts. In this episode, we’ll be talking about a serious topic, but we’ll be talking about it from a hopeful perspective from the perspective of workers, and in this case, union workers helping each other.

In this episode, Dr. I. David Daniels will speak with veteran Firefighter Roger Myers about a post on Facebook that changed his life. After a career in the United States Navy, Roger sought to continue serving by becoming a volunteer firefighter in multiple departments before becoming a career firefighter. After over two decades in a metropolitan fire rescue department, Firefighter Myers was depressed, suffering from PTSD, and watching his marriage fall apart. In an attempt to save the relationship, he wrote a post on Facebook regarding how the stress of his profession had spilled over into his life. The post went viral, and he received responses from around the globe regarding how his sharing had helped others with similar experiences. In this conversation, Firefighter Myers shares how this disclosure on Facebook helped lead him on a voyage of self-discovery, ultimately improving his overall mental health. This episode may trigger some watchers and listeners, so watch and listen cautiously. In celebration of Mental Health Awareness Month, consider listening to Episodes 19, 24, 37, and 40 for conversations with mental health professionals.

This week, host Dr. I. David Daniels will speak with Michael Zalle, founder and CEO of Yellowbird. Michael will share his experience as a Health and Safety entrepreneur, despite the challenges of being born without a right hand. He has been highly successful in the “business of safety” despite living in an often ableist world. Ableism is a set of beliefs or practices that devalue and discriminate against people with physical, intellectual, or psychiatric disabilities and often rests on the assumption that disabled people need to be ‘fixed’ in one form or another. Like many other forms of systemic discrimination, ableism is intertwined in our culture due to many limiting beliefs about what disability does or does not mean, how able-bodied people learn to treat people with disabilities, and how they are often not included at the table for critical decisions. Supported by loving parents, Michael learned early that he was capable of doing anything that anyone else could do, though often he had to do it differently. Not only has he taken a seat at several tables, he recently created a “new table” in creating an innovative company that allows safety professionals and organizations to match needs with capabilities.