Wellness & Well-being Highlights July 22

Wellness & Well-being Highlights

for the

Week of July 22, 2024

This week’s edition of our Worker Wellness & Well-being blog offers you a look at the metrics of the “988” system on its 2^nd anniversary—to the turmoil caused by the Teamsters’ president appearing on stage at the RNC—to the push to designate families of military vets who died by suicide as Gold Star. This week I would like to take this opportunity to take a closer look at our first story on preventing trench cave-ins. PLEASE take the time to at least listen to the NPR piece below. For too long, repeat offenders have been truly getting away with murder. OSHA only has so many inspectors to patrol the millions of job sites across this nation. That is why it is so important for EACH of us to make safety a vital part of our industry and daily operations. ALL of us must become informed of the various dangers on the sites—we tend to take for granted—and how to mitigate them. This is not merely a plea for ramping up personal safety (physical) but for the greater good of the communities we work and live in. After all, when a trench collapses and kills 1 or 2 workers, people beyond those who have died are negatively impacted (mental) for years to come.

With this being an ELECTION year, one must weigh the importance of the CHOICES before us. How will YOUR vote impact the outcome? It is said that nearly 40% of union members in the 2020 election voted for politicians who had an appetite for further diminishing the effectiveness of Federal Agencies such as OSHA…all in the name of “progress” in a so-called “free market” economy. In 2022, 40 workers died in trenches across the USA. Trust me, if that number seems too small for you to care about…it will not the day after your son or daughter becomes one of these victims. I cannot imagine how much greater that number will be if/when OSHA’s oversight is further diminished. As a person who started his journey in the construction industry nearly 50 years ago, I often reflect on the safety measures implemented back then (that at the time made little to no sense to me) and how they preserved aspects of my health today: Case in point, hearing protection. There is more than a good chance that had a worn it more consistently years ago, I would not now be wearing hearing aids. As the old saying goes: ACTIONS have CONSEQUENCES! This means on the job site as well as in the voting booth.

Source: https://www.npr.org/2024/07/20/g-s1-9028/osha-construction-safety-trench-collapse

Preventable trench caves-ins

988 @ 2 (1)

988 @ 2 (2)

Key to MH in workplace

MH & 2024 election cycle

Addressing Social Anxiety

Racism & Psychosis

Getting back on track

A 3^rd thumb?