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Dive into Episode #121 of the Psych Health and Safety USA Podcast, featuring host Dr. I. David Daniels, PhD, CSD, VPS, and special guest Cipriano Belser, the Executive Director of the Southern California Council for Occupational Safety and Health (SoCalCOSH).
Mr. Belser shares his experience as a low-wage worker who transitioned into Occupational Health and Safety and his role with SoCalCOSH, which advocates for the health and safety of workers who are exposed to a variety of psychosocial and physical hazards.
Low-wage workers often face several safety issues that can significantly impact their health and well-being. One of the primary concerns is hazardous working conditions. Many low-wage jobs are in construction, agriculture, and food service industries, where workers are exposed to dangerous equipment, chemicals, and environments.
Another critical issue is the need for proper training. Employers are required to provide adequate training on safety protocols, but they sometimes fail to do so, increasing the risk of accidents and injuries. Inadequate safety equipment is also a common problem. Workers might lack access to protective gear, such as gloves, helmets, or masks, which can lead to injuries or long-term health issues.
These safety issues disproportionately impact vulnerable groups, including women, people of color, and immigrants. These groups are more likely to be in low-wage jobs and face these safety challenges at higher rates. -
Dive into Episode #120 of the Psych Health and Safety USA Podcast, featuring host Dr. I. David Daniels, PhD, CSD, VPS, and special guest Rich Walsh, a Vice President with Amp Health, a business intelligence company that seeks to help the manufacturing sector with predictive approaches to minimize worker overexertion.
Overexertion happens when you push your mind and/or body beyond its limits, resulting in fatigue, pain, and sometimes injury. It can be caused by physical or mental exertion and can occur in the workplace or your daily life:
Physical overexertion can occur when lifting heavy objects, performing repetitive motions, or maintaining awkward postures. It can also be caused by working in extreme temperatures, such as hot environments that cause heat stress or cold environments that reduce blood flow.
Mental overexertion, also known as mental exhaustion or mental fatigue, is a state of extreme tiredness that can affect your mood, focus, and decision-making skills. It can occur when your brain is overstimulated or maintains a high activity level without rest. -
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Dive into Episode #119 of the Psych Health and Safety USA Podcast, featuring host Dr. I. David Daniels, PhD, CSD, VPS, and special guest Dr. Andre Schaffer, MD, a former firefighter and now board-certified orthopedic surgeon.
Many occupations are widely believed to be “dream jobs,” These dream jobs often inspire young people to seek to design their lives around the opportunity. Some occupations are so appealing that young people start doing the things necessary to get into a career or job early. Often, these early efforts pay off, and highly motivated young individuals end up in their dream jobs. However, not everything that glitters is gold. For any number of reasons, what may have been a dream changes. How do people respond when the dream is not as satisfying as expected? One option is to give up and descend into depression as a result of your dreams being dashed. Another option is to seek out an even greater challenge.
In this podcast episode, we have the pleasure of speaking with someone who has lived the latter. After spending years preparing for one career and entering extremely young, he discovered that there was something that the first career did not satisfy, so he set off to do something that some may have believed impossible. Dr. Schaffer shares his journey from a high schooler interested in becoming a firefighter who decided that he wanted to do more. This desire led him to apply to Cornell Medical School and get accepted on the first try. All this even though he was, while smart, a below-average high school student and was living with ADHD. Dr. Schaffer now helps his patients not only recover physically but also on the road to a healthy mindset. -
Dive into Episode #118 of the Psych Health and Safety USA Podcast, featuring host Dr. I. David Daniels, PhD, CSD, VPS, and special guest Dr. Jacob Kendall, discussing his experience dealing with chronic pain and advocating for his health using an interdisciplinary approach.
Physical pain is your body’s way of letting you know something is wrong. It leads you to address ailments or seek treatment for injuries. However, there’s also a psychological aspect to pain. People who experience chronic pain are much more likely to develop mood and anxiety disorders. Persistent chronic pain can make you feel depressed and hopeless, leave you feeling anxious as you ruminate over your condition, or result in an addiction to pain medication. These feelings can then exacerbate the pain you’re experiencing.
In this conversation, Dr. Kendall shares his lived experience advocating for his health through the complexities of the healthcare system and helping others advocate for themselves through an interdisciplinary approach driven by four-dimensional thinking. -
Dive into Episode #117 of the Psych Health and Safety USA Podcast, featuring host Dr. I. David Daniels, PhD, CSD, VPS, and special guest Juli Nixon, who shares her story of survival and recovery from a toxic work environment.
A toxic work culture is an organizational environment characterized by negativity, dysfunction, and a lack of trust. It can harm employees, preventing them from being productive and growing professionally. Some signs of a toxic work culture include:
• Management expects employees to work longer hours without additional pay, fail to listen to employees, or lack accountability.
• The organization may have unfair practices like biased promotions or rewards or tacitly reward unethical or harmful behavior.
• There may be poor communication, limited communication, or a lack of healthy boundaries.
• Employees may experience bullying, harassment, discrimination, micromanagement, or favoritism. They may also gossip, create drama, or take credit for the work of others.
Juli’s story is recognizable to many and includes her path to recovery and her thoughts about how organizational cultures can be less toxic and individuals feel safer. -
Dive into Episode #116 of the Psych Health and Safety USA Podcast, featuring host Dr. I. David Daniels, PhD, CSD, VPS, and special guest Mark Tuggle, an author and advocate for mental health in black men.
Black men in the United States can face many challenges when seeking mental health help due to several factors, including:
- The Black community has historically viewed mental illness as a sign of weakness or lack of faith. This stigma can make Black men feel ashamed or embarrassed to seek help and can lead to them not being open to discussing or acknowledging their mental health.
- One study found that 63% of Black people believe that a mental health condition is a sign of personal weakness. The stigma can also be rooted in slavery when it was commonly thought that enslaved people were not sophisticated enough to develop mental health disorders.
- Black men may also face barriers to mental health services due to poverty, racism, and implicit bias from medical providers. They are less likely than white people to receive guideline-consistent care or to be included in mental health research. As a result, Black men are more likely to use emergency rooms or primary care for mental health problems.
Mark began in therapy in the mid-90s after being diagnosed with an illness that he feared would take his life. After years in therapy, he began to realize that his experience was not unique, and he believed that he could not only recover himself but he could use his experience to advocate for other black men in discussions about mental health. -
Dive into Episode # 115 of the Psych Health and Safety USA Podcast, featuring host Dr. I. David Daniels, PhD, CSD, VPS, and special guest Michelle Beauchamp, the author of “Re-Learning Leadership. " Beauchamp discusses the value of inclusive leadership and the psychological and emotional safety by-products of inclusive leadership styles.
Inclusive leadership is a management style that values and includes diverse perspectives and backgrounds in the workplace. It involves recognizing and appreciating differences in team members, such as those related to culture, gender, age, or sexual orientation.
Inclusive leaders aim to create a safe environment where people feel comfortable speaking up and contributing and can handle situations in their way. They also seek to foster diverse teams and empower everyone to do their best work. Mrs. Beauchamp will share her experiences from her long career in both corporate and entrepreneurial efforts over her life. -
Near-miss reporting is a vital part of any safety program. It involves identifying and tracking unplanned events that could have resulted in injury or death but didn't. Near misses can happen in any industry but are often not reported, often due to a lack of psychological safety for those in the systems themselves. This episode will discuss the importance of near-miss reporting in health care.
Near-miss reporting in healthcare is vital for improving worker and patient safety. Near-miss events are errors that happen during medical care but don't injure the patient. Reporting near misses can help healthcare organizations identify areas for improvement, such as weaknesses in the delivery system, and prevent future adverse events.
Ms. Raines emphasizes the importance of using near-miss reporting as a tool to prevent harm. -
Dive into Episode #112 of the Psych Health and Safety USA Podcast, featuring host Dr. I. David Daniels, PhD, CSD, VPS, and special guest Derek Hanley, a veteran former field medic in both the military and post-military life who has become a photographer and was involved in the Honorable But Broken documentary.
This episode is the second in a two-part series about the documentary, this time focusing on the experience of someone in the field during the time that the documentary was filmed. The goal of the documentary is to raise awareness of the systemic collapse of the nation’s Emergency Medical Service (EMS) system and advocate for change. Even more impactful than the story about the EMS system are the individual stories of the individual first responders, EMTs, and paramedics in the field. Mr. Hanley will share his unique perspective as a former provider in the field, documenting the day-to-day experiences of other EMS providers during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. -
Dive into Episode #111 of the Psych Health and Safety USA Podcast, featuring host Dr. I. David Daniels, PhD, CSD, VPS, and special guest Bryony Gilbey, a former reporter who did stories for well-known programs such as 60 Minutes about a documentary that she has produced called "Honorable, But Broken," which takes a behind the scene look at the nation's emergency medical service system, including the challenges it creates for not only the communities that it serves but for the first responders, emergency medical technician and paramedics in the field.
Emergency Medical Service (EMS) systems face several challenges that impact their ability to provide effective care, including:
• Staffing: Recruitment and retention remain significant issues for most EMS agencies.
• Funding and Billing
• Response and Patient Care
• Apparatus and Equipment
Much of the documentary centers around EMS providers during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. It describes their challenges and highlights examples of what can and should be done to ensure that EMS pays attention to providers' concerns, which can result in better service to the public. -
In episode 110, host Dr. I. David Daniels speaks with Cierra Gross, the Founder and CEO of Caged Bird HR. The company provides human resource expertise from outside organizations and a safe space for workers to get assistance when their experience is not what they want it to be.
According to a 2023 survey, 34% of employees don't trust their HR manager and wouldn't approach them due to mistrust. Even among employees who trust HR, one in three say they don't feel comfortable bringing up workplace issues.
Ms. Gross discusses Caged Bird’s unique approach, which includes one of the nation’s most extensive data sets regarding workplace experiences, and a sister brand, “Wrk Receipts,” which offers an AI assistant that helps workers document their work experiences. -
In this episode, host Dr. I. David Daniels will speak with Dr. Leslie Hammer, Director at Oregon Healthy Workforce Center (OHWC), a veteran of over 30 years in Occupational Health Psychology. OHWC is one of ten Centers of Excellence for Total Worker Health. Dr. Hammer is also Associate Director of Applied Research at the Oregon Institute of Occupational Health Sciences and a Professor Emerita at Portland State University.
The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) funds 10 academic Centers of Excellence for Total Worker Health across the U.S. These centers serve as hubs for research and practice, advancing worker safety, health, and well-being. They explore job-related factors impacting well-being, such as wages, workload, stress levels, and social interactions.
Dr. Hammer’s research and work have focused on a healthy balance between work and home. Recently, they have focused on the degree to which leadership can support not only work-life harmony but also physical health and safety, psychological health and safety, and overall mental health. -
Dive into Episode #108 of the Psych Health and Safety USA Podcast, featuring host Dr. I. David Daniels, PhD, CSD, VPS, and special guests Chrisie Tyson, a Wellness Professional, and Victor Lawe, an Occupational Health and Safety professional, who both work in a local government organization.
In 2022, state and local public sector employers reported a combined injury rate of 4.9 per 100 workers, 81% higher than the private sector's reported rate of 2.7 per 100 workers.
The OSH Act was written based on congressional authority to regulate interstate commerce. State and local governments are exempt under the 10th Amendment of the Constitution except in the case of a specific state law. 27 states and territories have passed these state plans.
When Safety and Wellness professionals in local government can focus on the health and safety of public sector workers, this has a dual benefit, for both the workers and the public depend on the government for services. -
Dive into Episode #107 of the Psych Health and Safety USA Podcast, featuring host Dr. I. David Daniels, PhD, CSD, VPS, and special guest Dr. Jermaine Hunter, an Occupational Safety and Risk Manager, who administers a grant funded by OSHA to provide basic safety-related training to primarily young workers, and workers with disabilities.
In 2022, Travelers, the largest workers’ compensation insurer in the United States, released a 2022 Injury Impact Report that analyzed more than 1.5 million workers’ compensation claims over five years from 2015 to 2019. The study revealed that 35% of workplace injuries occur during a worker’s first year on the job, highlighting the importance of comprehensive onboarding and training programs for employees, especially in the pandemic era when there has been considerable movement in the labor market.
New workers are often exposed to both psychosocial and physical hazards because they don’t know how to recognize either. Over the four years of the grant, Dr. Hunter and his team have provided approximately 3,500 students with basic safety training, many before they graduate high school, arming them to work physically and psychologically safer when they enter the workforce. -
In this episode, host Dr. I. David Daniels speaks with Mohamed Hassan, a season OHS professional who recently immigrated to the United States from Canada, about some considerations in ensuring the workplace is psychologically healthy and safe for a Muslim worker.
As of April 30, 2024, there are over 1.9 billion Muslims worldwide, about 24.9% of the global population. Islam is the world's second-largest religion after Christianity, with 31.1% of the population. Muslims are the majority in 49 countries, come from diverse ethnic backgrounds, and speak hundreds of languages. Estimates of the number of Muslims in the United States range from 2–7 million people, which is roughly 1–2% of the population.
Mohamed will discuss some of his challenges and some thoughts about how the working environment can be safe for everyone, including those who share his faith tradition. -
In the episode, host Dr. I. David Daniels will speak with Dr. Robyn Faintich of Jewish GPS about some of the considerations for creating a psychologically healthy and safe space for someone Jewish.
According to a 2020 Pew Research Center study, the Jewish population in the United States was estimated to be 7.5 million, 2.5% of the national population. This includes:
• 5.8 million adults who identify as Jewish by religion
• 1.5 million Jews who identify with no religion
The study also found that Jewish adults are geographically distributed: 38% live in the Northeast, 27% live in the South, 25% live in the West, and 10% live in the Midwest. It can be a matter of religion, and for religious purposes, being Jewish is traditionally defined as being born to a Jewish mother. But being Jewish can also be a matter of ancestry, ethnicity, and culture.
Jewish people are not monolithic, but those who seek to create psychologically healthy and safe spaces for Jewish people will learn a tremendous amount from Dr. Faintich's scholarship and her lived experience. -
In this episode, host Dr. I. David Daniels speaks with Fire Chief Joe Dixon, who serves as chair of the Black Chief Officer’s Committee (BCOC) of the International Association of Black Professional Firefighters (IABPFF), about his experience as a Fire Chief who also happens to be black, including the challenges associated with the role that is sometimes complicated by being black in a fairly homogenous occupation.
The best estimate for the number of fire departments in the United States is 29,452. 65% of the fire service is volunteer. For the leadership of the service:
There are over 22,316 fire chiefs currently employed in the United States.
5.8% of all fire chiefs are women, while 94.2% are men.
The average fire chief age is 48 years old.
Demographically, 76.8% of fire chiefs are White, 8.2% are Hispanic or Latino, and only 5.8% are Black.
It is not hyperbole to suggest that black fire chiefs are a rare commodity in the United States. It is also not a stretch to suggest that a black fire chief has a lot to deal with, both physically and psychologically. Not only are there stresses associated with fire rescue, but also the leadership challenges of a public sector leader and the issues associated with being back in the fire chief role.
Chief Dixon will discuss some of the overarching challenges faced by the fire rescue services, fire chiefs, and black fire chiefs, which are at times unique from their colleagues, ultimately emphasizing the importance of a support system like the one found in the BCOC. -
In this episode, host Dr. I. David Daniels will speak with Boston Marathon Bombing Suvusior Manya Chylinski, who has become a speaker and consultant to help organizations utilize “Trauma Sensitive Leadership “ practices. According to the National Council for Mental Wellbeing, 70% of adults in the United States have experienced a traumatic event at some point in their lives, equivalent to 223.4 million people.
A traumatic event is defined as an event that threatens a person's physical safety or the safety of another person and leaves the victim feeling intense fear or helplessness. Some examples of traumatic events include:
Accidents or injuries
Physical violence
Sexual violence
War-related events
The death of a loved one
Serious illness of a child
Conversations and actions to establish psychological safety in organizations have become more common, especially since the COVID-19 pandemic. It is increasingly common to hear organizations say they welcome people to bring their “whole selves” to work. This also means that people’s trauma comes with them.
Ms. Chylinski has learned through her own process of healing from the trauma of the bombing that many organizations don’t recognize the fact that a significant number of the members of these organizations have been traumatized at some point in their lives. Recognizing this trauma and sensitizing the organization is key to a safer, healthier, and more well organization. -
In this episode, host Dr. I. David Daniels speaks with Kimberly Williams, a former diplomat in the U. S. Foreign Service turned Human Resources Executive, whose experience of abusive behavior while serving in HR fuels her advocacy for the passage of laws that will make the workplace more psychologically healthy and safe.
A surprisingly high percentage of HR professionals are exposed to psychosocial hazards in the workplace. A common example is “undermining professional integrity,” which means HR professionals are made to feel inept in their jobs or have employees or colleagues go over their heads to get a decision made higher up. This can cause a severe confidence crisis for the professional.
HR professionals are also sometimes bullied by an employee with whom they were involved in an HR issue, which suggests that there needs to be a change in culture or attitude towards the role HR professionals play in organizations. Others were being bullied or harassed by their immediate line manager, which limited how they dealt with the issue as they had to bypass their manager. Some of those bullied by their manager dealt with it by doing nothing and ignoring the issue, as they felt they couldn’t do anything due to the nature of the working relationship and the seniority of the bully.
Kim’s work in this space has not only helped others seeking solace from their workplace-related abuse, but it has also inspired her daughter as a teenager to pick up the mantle in both her school and the broader community to advocate for psychologically healthy places and spaces. -
In this episode, host Dr. I. David Daniels speaks with Danielle Roberts, a consultant, speaker, entrepreneur, content creator, and millennial leader with 12+ years of experience educating and empowering others personally and professionally. She is certified in Life Design and applies research-backed principles in psychology, neuroscience, and design thinking to help individuals, groups, and organizations build more humanness into their work cultures.
In 2024, four generations will be active in the workplace:
· Baby Boomers—born 1946 to 1964
· Generation X—born 1965 to 1980
· Millennials—born 1981 to 2000
· Generation Z—born 2001 to 2020
According to Glassdoor, Gen Z will account for more of the U.S. workforce than Baby Boomers for the first time in 2024. This is due to the Baby Boomer generation reaching retirement age and Gen Z entering the workforce after graduating.
According to Forbes Business Council, Generation Z and millennials are rewriting the workplace rules, becoming more inclusive, open-minded, and independent than previous generations. They are also less materialistic and value happiness and fulfillment over financial compensation.
Another growing view is that work should be “human-first” centered. A human-first approach prioritizes individuals' needs and experiences above all else. It's also known as user-first, user-focused, people-centric, and human-centered. Danielle believes in this approach and helps others understand it. Through her own experience of looking for the “Dream Job” that didn’t exist, Danielle has been able to experience and now help others see that an “Anti-Career” can be much more fulfilling than following normal convention. - Näytä enemmän
