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The Safety View: Mental Health and Impact on Safety

By Tamara Parris
Published: November 8, 2020 | Last updated: November 22, 2023
Key Takeaways

“So, what does mental health have to do with safety anyway?” On this month’s episode of The Safety View, we have a discussion around mental health and its role in human and organizational safety.

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“So, what does mental health have to do with safety anyway?” On this month’s episode of The Safety View, we have a discussion around mental health and its role in human and organizational safety. She will set the stage for the discussion by sharing statistics, available resources, and its impact on the field of safety science. We hope you will join us to learn and to contribute to learning by participating in the conversation.

With Lisa Lande, Rosa Carrillo and Tamara Parris

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More Details on Episode:

Our prolonged and intense bout with uncertainty and the unknown resulting from Covid-19 has brought with it significant levels of stress, anxiety, and crisis. In our human effort to cope with these emotions, we have seen both encouraged and discouraged responses. We have certainly observed healthy application of emotion transferred into social caring and innovation. And we have also seen the opposite, where one’s capacity to withstand these emotional stressors has been depleted so severly that anxiety, depression, substance and food abuse, physical and sexual abuse, generalized anxiety disorders, and any of the other mental and emotional destructive salves fill the void. But in the process, we have become acutely aware that safety extends beyond our physical well-being, and must and does include our emotional and psychological health as its running-mate. In fact, more than any other time in decades, we are reminded of just how fundamental safety is – the mental and physical sides of it – to our human existence. Safety has been elevated for the first time in a long time to a higher status than material goods and social status.

Chat from Session:

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01:02:16Lisa Lande:Welcome Nadja, Welcome Tanya!

01:02:49Nadja:Great to be here, Lisa!

01:09:04Robin Franke:Did we loose audio?

01:09:22Robin Franke:Guess not

01:17:19Tanya Hewitt:https://maintainingmentalfitness.com/

01:19:57Tamara Parris:Thank you Tanya

01:20:30Tanya Hewitt:No problem, Tamara

01:23:11Tamara Parris:13 factors listed within the National Standard of Canada for Psychological Healthand Safety in the Workplace.• Organizational Culture• Psychological and Social Support• Clear Leadership and Expectations• Civility and Respect• Psychological Demands• Growth and Development• Recognition and Reward• Involvement and Influence• Workload Management• Engagement• Balance• Psychological Protection• Protection of Physical Safety

01:24:05Tamara Parris:Resource found: https://www.mentalhealthcommission.ca/sites/default/files/2017-02/Workplace%20Videos%20Facilitator%20Guide_ENG.pdf

01:24:58Lisa Lande:Welcome Bob.

01:26:37Tanya Hewitt:As far as I know, given the importance of the subject, the CSA (Canadian Standards Association) decided to ensure this standard is not charged for (all other CSA standards are behind a paywall) https://www.csagroup.org/article/cancsa-z1003-13-bnq-9700-803-2013-r2018/ Psychological Health and Safety in the Workplace
01:34:15Lisa Lande:Nice Gary; thank you

01:39:08Tanya Hewitt:As I had presented on Tuesday, Functional Stupidity is rampant

01:40:41Tanya Hewitt:Maybe we can begin to celebrate humility https://www.talentcanada.ca/hankering-for-humility-a-nearly-forgotten-virtue/

01:43:46Tanya Hewitt:One very cool insight I got in this pandemic was while I was on a seminar, and while watching a video, the moderator asked "who are you routing for"? We should ask ourselves this far more often than we do – it can reveal where we put our focus, which can lead to what we value. Very insightful.

01:44:42Lisa Lande:Right on, Tanya. It acts like a projective test

01:46:05Lisa Lande:And to Gary’s recognition that its about self awareness, everything we do, say, act as, offer insight about us. And influence others.

01:46:23Tanya Hewitt:Yeah – what media are we watching? Who are our heroes? Who are our villains? What are our goals? What are our shames? All this is really, really insightful.

01:52:33Lisa Lande:Brilliantly said Jim: are we supporting the adaptation needed. THIS leads to well being, indeed.

01:54:10Tanya Hewitt:We need to value service – not just expertise

01:56:00Tanya Hewitt:I try to offer instead of the 80's work-life balance, work-life integration. The scholars who study this stuff have evolved in their understanding of how we interface with our work.

01:56:17Lisa Lande:Yes, Tanya. Well-noted. Value the full human, not just their tech cred. Do they have purpose, integrity, commitment, compassion?

01:56:48Dave Janney:have to run to next meeting, thanks all

01:57:16Bob Howarth:Need to jump to another call…Thanks for this webinar!

01:57:17Tamara Parris:our pleasure Dave

01:57:21Lisa Lande:Good bye Dave; thank you!

01:57:24Tamara Parris:bye Bob

01:57:40Lisa Lande:Bye Bob!

01:58:30Tanya Hewitt:Did you know "meritocracy" was coined as a warning? https://medium.com/@tanya_64634/meritocracy-a-prescient-warning-4b23f0bbbd3f

01:58:56Lisa Lande:Wow…no. It definitely has a negative connotation.

01:59:34Lisa Lande:Robin: transparency!

02:00:25Lisa Lande:Personal power. We all have it to claim.

02:01:08Gary Wong:The emerging term we are exploring is Epistemic Injustice

02:01:13Gary Wong:https://www.amazon.com/Epistemic-Injustice-Power-Ethics-Knowing/dp/0199570523

02:02:05Tanya Hewitt:Gary – thanks for sharing!

02:02:14Nadja:Thank you very much!

02:05:08Robin Franke:We value the Marlboro Man!

02:07:02Robin Franke:Very valuable, looking forward to more!

02:07:03TamaraParris:Thanks everyone for joining in!

02:07:04RosaCarrillo: Great discussion Thank you everyone for coming!

02:07:05Lisa Lande:Thanks all!

More About “The Safety View”

Each one-hour session is hosted by an expert or stakeholder in safety performance. And each session invites all attendees to participate, listen, and learn from each other and through conversation and shared experiences. Collectively, we explore the human system’s impact on safety and performance – relationally, psychologically, and socially. We look forward to discussing this intriguing topic with you, and hope you are able to attend. However, if unable to attend, please know that all sessions will be available for view, by registrants and non-registrants alike, through the Safeopedia website https://www.safeopedia.com/topic/182/safeopedia-podcasts After a brief introduction to the topic and sharing of relevant research, the floor will be open for group conversation. We invite ALL to share their thoughts, and will openly embrace – actually encourage – different perspectives. We really want to hear from all, from those who can share measurable, scientific concepts, those who have knowledge gained from experience, and those who intend to learn and understand more.

Group Rules of Conduct:

  • Build each other up to encourage and grow our ideas. Our group goal is to learn, share and expand our views.
  • If you disagree, first repeat what you heard and get acknowledgement that you understand what others have tried to propose.
  • Use "I think", "feel", "have discovered" during respectful rebuttals of others opinions and ideas.
  • Be prepared to agree, to disagree as views will be different. from our own and we want to nurture others.

Register for next event: https://forms.gle/xHrkF3mzSqHufFxB9

Regular Hosts of the Safety View are:

Rosa Carrillo author of The Relationship Factor in Safety Leadership, safety leadership consultant, MS in Organizational development.

Lisa Lande, Ph.D., Principal Consultant at Petricher Consulting, LLC, licensed psychologist, human and organizational factors; safety, culture and leadership coach and consultant.

Tamara Parris, Community Development, Bachelors of Social Work, Occupational Health and Safety, and Emergency Management.

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Written by Tamara Parris

Tamara Parris

Tamara Parris is the VP of Community and Business Development at Safeopedia, and owner of EHS Professionals Group on LinkedIn. Her passion is working with other EHS Professionals to collaborate in thought leadership, networking and connecting our industry peers to resources that will increase profitability and safety practices within their workplaces. Tamara has been in the Health and Safety field for over 20 years, her industry experiences include the Construction sector, CCTV and Security, and Commercial Retail industries.

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