{"id":12191,"date":"2023-05-02T11:38:04","date_gmt":"2023-05-02T16:38:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/scottburrows.com\/?p=12191"},"modified":"2023-05-02T11:38:04","modified_gmt":"2023-05-02T16:38:04","slug":"scott-burrows-motivational-safety-team-speaker-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scottburrows.319heads.com\/scott-burrows-motivational-safety-team-speaker-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Scott Burrows, Motivational Safety Team Speaker"},"content":{"rendered":"

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It is Time to Get Accountable about Safety<\/h3>\n

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As a motivational safety team speaker<\/a>, I am familiar with the many recent studies on isolation and loneliness. If you’re currently scratching your head as to what loneliness might have to do with safety, just stay with me for a moment as we move through this article from the Harvard Business Review:<\/p>\n

\u201cOur study substantiated existing\u00a0evidence\u00a0that exclusion is a growing issue. We found that more than 40% of those we surveyed are feeling physically and emotionally isolated<\/em> in the workplace. This group spanned generations, genders, and ethnicities.\u201d<\/p>\n

Through the pandemic \u2013 and after, the teams that should be most accountable and engaged are still suffering. The problems of loneliness, isolation and our accountability to one another have become so bad, the surgeon general calls it an epidemic. A recent, New York Times article (April 30, 2023) on the topic of loneliness states:<\/p>\n

\u201cAt any moment, about one out of every two<\/em> Americans\u00a0is experiencing\u00a0measurable\u00a0levels of loneliness. This includes introverts and extroverts, rich and poor, and younger and older Americans. Sometimes loneliness is set off by the loss of a loved one or a job, a move to a new city, or health or financial difficulties \u2014 or a once-in-a-century pandemic.\u201d<\/p>\n

What this means for safety<\/strong><\/p>\n

Workplace safety can only thrive in an environment of teamwork, where every member of the team, top to bottom, is accountable and engaged. Physical and emotional isolation are the opposite of what society needs particularly in situations such as construction, manufacturing, heavy machine operation or healthcare.<\/p>\n

The facts and statistics speak for themselves. Despite many Americans being locked down and isolated at home offices during the pandemic, according to the Bureau of Labor statistics, workplace accidents and mortality were still at unacceptably high rates.<\/p>\n

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention lists four key influences of safety and mental health and stress:<\/p>\n