Safe, Efficient, Profitable: A Worker Safety Podcast
Joe and Jen Allen of Allen Safety LLC take their combined 40+ years of worker safety, OSHA, EPA, production, sanitation, and engineering experience in Manufacturing Plants including Harvest Plants/Packers, Case Readies and Further Processing Plants, Food Production Plants, Feed Mills, Grain Elevators, Bakeries, Farms, Feed Lots, and Petro-Chemical and bring you their top methods for identifying risk, preventing injuries, conquering the workload, auditing, managing emergencies and catastrophic events, and working through OSHA citations. They're breaking down real safety opportunities, safety citations, and emergency situations from real locations, and discussing realistic solutions that can actually be implement based on their personal experiences spending 40+ weeks in the field every year since 2001. Joe and Jen are using all of that experience to provide a fresh outlook on worker safety by providing honest, (no sponsors here!) and straight forward, easy to understand safety coaching with actionable guidance to move your safety program forward in a way that provides tangible results.
Safe, Efficient, Profitable: A Worker Safety Podcast
#39: Top 3 Scariest Events I've Worked As A Safety Manager
Episode Description:
In this special Halloween edition of Safe, Efficient, Proper - A Worker Safety Podcast, join us as we delve into the spine-chilling world of workplace violence. Joe, a seasoned safety manager, recounts his top three harrowing encounters with workplace violence that left him on edge. From unexpected confrontations to adrenaline-pumping emergencies, these incidents serve as cautionary tales for managers and employees alike.
Episode Summary:
The Unsettling Confrontation:
In this hair-raising incident, Joe recounts a morning that took a terrifying turn when the highway patrol arrived with a mission. Little did Joe know, a recent violent incident had taken place, and they needed his help to locate the perpetrator. What followed was a heart-pounding encounter on the production floor, where Joe had to confront a potentially dangerous individual armed with knives.
Key Takeaways:
Staying calm and composed in high-pressure situations is paramount.
Effective communication and establishing trust can defuse tense situations.
The Locker Room Showdown:
In this bone-chilling tale, Joe is summoned to the locker room, expecting a routine safety check. However, what he finds inside is a heated altercation between two employees, armed with sharp tools. Joe must step in and mediate, all while keeping a cool head and ensuring everyone's safety.
Key Takeaways:
Preparedness is crucial; never underestimate the potential for conflict in any environment.
Quick decision-making and assertive communication are vital in diffusing confrontations.
The Rampaging Animal:
In this heart-stopping narrative, Joe recounts an incident at a cattle plant that turned into a chaotic scene of violence. An enraged animal wreaks havoc, causing employees to scramble for safety. Joe, faced with an unexpected threat, must navigate a hazardous situation and ensure the well-being of all involved.
Key Takeaways:
Evaluate and address unique risks associated with specific work environments.
Adequate personal protective equipment (PPE) is essential to mitigate risks in high-risk settings.
Bonus Incident: The Unpredictable Animal Encounter:
In this surprising turn of events, Joe finds himself face-to-face with a rampaging animal in a cattle plant. The unexpected encounter underscores the importance of proper training, safety equipment, and risk assessment for unusual situations.
Key Takeaways:
Tailor training and safety measures to address specific risks associated with livestock handling.
Equip employees with appropriate PPE to enhance safety in unique work environments.
Conclusion:
As Halloween night approaches, these bone-chilling tales serve as a stark reminder that workplace violence can lurk in unexpected corners. Preparedness, training, and effective risk assessment are crucial for ensuring the safety of all employees.
Keywords:
Workplace violence incidents
Safety management insights
Managing High-pressure situations
Effective communication in emergencies
Safety equipment and preparation
Safety Vests
Rodeo Vests
Creative Safety Solutions
Safety Toolbox Talk
Safety Tips
PPE
Managing Workplace Violence
Workplace Violence Training
Cattle Plant
Fab Floor
Safe Knife Handling
Managing confrontations in the workplace
Safety manager experiences
Safety Threats At Work
Security Threats At Work
Scary Safety Moments
Managing Emergencies Safely
Workplace safety awareness
Risk assessment in unique work environments
Personal protective equipment (PPE) in high-risk settings
LEPC Coordination
Manager Safety
Make it home safe
All right, top three ways Halloween edition.
Speaker 2:Halloween edition.
Speaker 1:That workplace violence.
Speaker 2:Yep top three ways. Joe was almost unalive as the safety manager.
Speaker 1:Yeah, top three workplace violent events. I worked.
Speaker 2:Here we go, let's roll into it.
Speaker 1:Let's go.
Speaker 2:Halloween edition.
Speaker 1:Halloween edition. Here we go. Top three ways. Workplace violence events I was actually part of as a manager. Yeah, we've had a lot of events over the years and people asked me what were some of the crazy stuff I dealt with. So we thought you know what? There were a couple of them today.
Speaker 2:Yeah, this is the workplace violence one, not the tornado that you were in. Fires, explosions chemical leaks.
Speaker 1:None of those.
Speaker 2:Terrible boat wrecks.
Speaker 1:No, this is just me, as a manager, saying hello during an event and figure out how I'm going to manage it.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Now here we go. So the first one is I have sat in there. I get up that morning, go to work having a great day because we work in the safety office where I worked. I had HR there. So the hire patrol comes in and says we need to see such and such, and they come into office and some of the HR within their area. So they say, can you help? So sure, I'm not thinking what they're asking for, what they're doing Right.
Speaker 2:And they say to me which, by the way, that does happen.
Speaker 1:It does happen, so it's not like.
Speaker 2:Why are you here? Like we know, there's a problem. It's getting ready to be a terrible day.
Speaker 1:So they say to me can you find such and such? So I look up and grown those, can't find the person clocked in. I said I don't think they're here. And they said, well, they're here.
Speaker 2:And they pointed out their vehicles in the parking lot.
Speaker 1:Vehicles out there and they had been in an event where it hurt somebody really, really badly. They were looking for that person because basically, they had fled the scene. And so they say to me where are they at? I said I don't know, they're not here. They're here. So I call the person's family and I ask if they're at work. And they're like yes, they are. And I go OK, I'm like well, I guess they're here. And they said what do you normally work at that table on the production floor?
Speaker 2:App floor.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and they were like, couldn't you?
Speaker 2:go get them and if you know anything about the fab floor, they're big and there's a lot of people. There's a lot of knives.
Speaker 1:So they said can you go get the guy? And I look at him like well, there's four of you here and you have bulletproof vest on and lots of weapons, and I'm wearing a polo shirt and a pair of Wrangler jeans and I was like what am I supposed to do?
Speaker 2:Not the right BP for the job.
Speaker 1:So they wouldn't go to the floor, so they go out to the side of the floor. I walk on the floor and everybody's kind of looking around at me like something's going on.
Speaker 2:But don't know what's going down.
Speaker 1:And all of a sudden I walk around the corner and I see the guy and what he looks like. Those you want to know is because he's on the fab floor.
Speaker 2:So what we do on the fab floor, is we teach people how to use knives? Really well, because that's their job, it's.
Speaker 1:it's a meat production facility and we teach him to use it. Amazingly, yeah, this guy just standing there with both of his hands just staring at me.
Speaker 2:And he's got a steel.
Speaker 1:Hey, just looking at me sharpening their way and everybody else gets away from him. We're all wearing mash and Kevin Lauren everything else, Kevin, you have their slaves. They got their aprons on belly guards I'm wearing this rated polo shirt and long story short, as we did that. Yeah, they said, okay, can you go getting, so I walk up there.
Speaker 2:So what are you thinking in your mind when you're walking up?
Speaker 1:I'm thinking I can't believe, this is my day.
Speaker 2:Well, it could go one in two ways.
Speaker 1:And I'm standing there trying to decide what's this person gonna read. So what?
Speaker 2:is the words that you use, so that's the thing that everybody needs to know Keep it from getting violent.
Speaker 1:I used to be in the military. If I learned nothing else, you have to stay calm during that moment, and that's the best thing I did.
Speaker 2:Well, very politely, part of it is also is the mindset of what's going on with that individual. He knew why you were there. That's correct and he had just committed a very violent act, Right? So I said to him that's volatile.
Speaker 1:Hello, I'm Joe, I'm the safety manager and I just need you to step down if you don't mind, please, and please get you put your knives and stuff down. Because I was polite, because I was nice. That person literally said hey, Joe, put all their stuff down. They turned around, they stepped on the table and they walked around the corner. Now you all understand that I didn't think all this was gonna go down this way. No, my emotions are crazy. I'm trying to. Everyone's looking at me.
Speaker 2:I got hundreds of people Art's like palpitations, yeah, and I'm just like trying to breathe. I hope I get through this.
Speaker 1:And then when I am walking, because there's no one else around me walking, you still got hundreds of other people with their knives still looking at you and you're hoping, like I hope they don't have a friend or someone's out there?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I have no idea. Do they have other family members? I don't know what's going on.
Speaker 1:So I went around the corner, but the point is that one I never believed in my career that would ever happen.
Speaker 2:It's not something that you go to kind of class, but Glee, and they're like, hey, this could happen, right, but it can as a safety manager, but it can.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I never thought as a manager that would be my role to go do that process. I always thought that was somebody else's I mean, yeah, I didn't grow up in industry, I grew up in the military world.
Speaker 2:Well, in the ranching world, In the ranching world, but when?
Speaker 1:you grow up. When you go to the client you're thinking just a certain way things are gonna be. You don't think about that.
Speaker 2:There's a lot of different people with a lot of different backgrounds and a lot of different things going on in their personal lives.
Speaker 1:Absolutely.
Speaker 2:And you have no idea.
Speaker 1:You don't.
Speaker 2:What that person's walking in, what they're carrying after that was hey, maybe we can get some training.
Speaker 1:Can we take the people who've only worked there a few months and give them training and what to do and what not to do, Cause I didn't know if I had not been for the military. If you're not been for staying calm like that, I don't know how to walk down.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so that's the first one, that's the scary one.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's the first one. All right, here we go.
Speaker 2:Now the second one. That's why we have this guy here too.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we have our little cow here. Anybody can't see. This is the big guy here. He's a little anyway. All right, so here we go Now. The next one is Number two. So I again. Hey, someone goes in the HR why?
Speaker 2:were you always the person? Yeah, where's the safety guy at?
Speaker 1:It's from being in Oklahoma. I was like, whatever, he's the safety guy, sorry. So Oklahoma says where I came from. You know, the point is I'm a safety guy. They're like can you go to the locker room? Sure.
Speaker 2:What locker room though.
Speaker 1:I'm thinking, okay, I start walking down the hall Like what's going on. I'm thinking somebody's got a medical event.
Speaker 2:We have lockout, tag out locks on the lockers. No one said anything.
Speaker 1:They just like, hey, can you come to the locker room real quick? I'm like, hey, no problems, I get up, you know.
Speaker 2:You should have had a red flag when they're like the women's locker room.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but they didn't say it at the beginning. So same outfit, all right, some kind of polo, some kind of jeans. And I go and they're like, no, not that locker room, that one. I'm like, well, that's the women's locker room, I'm not going in there. Like no, you got to. So I step in there and for those of you who don't know, some people don't leave the knives on the floors, and there was two people in there having a disagreement.
Speaker 2:An aggressive disagreement.
Speaker 1:And they'd be in a form of medic. Their view was I was a safety person, I was a manager and I've been a medic, so I was the best choice to go deal with what I was doing in here, yeah. So I walk in there and I've got all these people looking at me, including those two people, and I again talked to them lightly.
Speaker 2:It was an aggressive disagreement about a man.
Speaker 1:Yes, I said hello, I'm Joe and that somehow became my line because I learned out of the other band.
Speaker 2:Be polite, say your name first. And they both looked at me with the knives facing me, and they're like are we gonna put our differences aside and take it out on this man? Then I realized who was the center of our problem to begin with.
Speaker 1:Then I realized that moment what was going on, because I didn't know that. They turned to look to me because I don't understand what they're saying. I just know they're mad and long story short. Yes, there's some other things that happen about it, but you don't know when you walk in. You're walking in a locker room. You're not ready for that. You're walking in a time of day and I think that you're thinking you're going for a medical event.
Speaker 2:You're also not thinking there's gonna be weapons in the locker room necessarily.
Speaker 1:And when you walk into those events, well, there's bystanders. You have 15 seconds to try to figure out what you're going to do and what decision you're gonna make, because at that moment all that aggression is moving and you're trying to calm it down.
Speaker 1:And then they all turned it on you and then they looked at me with an eyes pointed at me. Yes, so that was scary too. But you know what? It's weird because that one should have been scarier, but it actually was, because I was scarier than the other one. So I was like, well, at least I can back out of here or something I don't know, but anyway, that's how that one goes. Alright, so here's another one. So now we go, we're sitting in the office, that's how it is, that's how it always seems like Wearing the PPE rated safety equipment, which is the polo shirt and the blue jeans, still, still.
Speaker 2:At what point were you like, maybe, maybe, I needed to put some more stuff on.
Speaker 1:Maybe I just get my own mess. Just throw it on anytime everyone comes over to me. So anyway. So I they said there's a problem out front here, again not telling you Medic safety manager, you go look at it. So I walk out our door and there's two big doors that are glass that you swing out when employees go in and out of words. Yeah, the employee entrance and on the right side is there's glass and there's glass. Yeah, Windows yes basically somebody had, somebody threw that glass and was in a confrontation.
Speaker 1:Either shoved or through Right? I don't know. When I got there. All I knew is people were glass everywhere. Glass everywhere. People trying to come in park cars are stopped on the parking lot.
Speaker 2:No one knows what's going on and there's individuals on the floor or on the ground.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and there's fight going on and then one of them goes down to the ground and they're fighting and you're like and there's blood everywhere from a blood borne employee, so from a safety person you're dealing with multiple.
Speaker 2:There's a lot happening.
Speaker 1:I got parking lot, I got violence in the workplace, I've got glass or I've got someone that's having problems on medical issues. Excuse me, and all of that. You're deciding first 15 seconds when you walk.
Speaker 2:Well, and what can I do as a manager?
Speaker 1:What can I legally do? What can?
Speaker 2:I touch anybody.
Speaker 1:Yeah, can I say stop. How do I get standing between them? What am?
Speaker 2:I allowed down the military. It's the conscious versus the unconscious factor.
Speaker 1:When that starts happening. In the military we were taught that we, because we were military, we couldn't harm civilians. So when I wrote an ambulance, we would go to the house and there was a violence in the workplace issue or violence at home issue, you could protect the, the military person, but not the others. The point of it is I had never had that kind of training.
Speaker 2:Not at work In the civilian world. No.
Speaker 1:What are all the? Because? You got me right. I got car traffic and people getting out and everybody's excited and everybody's like what's going on? Everybody's going to be part. You're one manager with all this influx around you.
Speaker 2:Well, the interesting part of that, too, is that at that time, people were not using cell phone cameras either, that's correct.
Speaker 1:So that was good For those of you know we have to do a legal disclaimer.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, so you want to make sure that you evaluate your own place each situation and get some training for the risk that could happen at your location. This is not. All these tactics apply no matter what's going on, so make sure that you're doing an evaluation.
Speaker 1:That's correct.
Speaker 2:Disclaimer.
Speaker 1:All right, so that's, that's basically our top three, and okay, let's do a bonus one. How about that? Let's do the one you would never think about.
Speaker 2:Well, how did you close out? I want to know how you closed out the window.
Speaker 1:I Secured the scene, had people get to block out the parking lot, had all the employees move away.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so nobody's dignity.
Speaker 1:We call the ambulance and we set up a pathway ambulance. We did call the cops and get them to come help you. I knew them because of small towns. They did permanent control for us. They'll stop traffic on the road and then they actually we just had the people set down and just managed in that way and then Myself and the nurses medically treated. The person was down and what's got there? Then we treat there, but wait, so we just. You have to calm that scene down. You have to. You have to bring it down and stop the, the buzz. You know the all, whatever that is. You've got to slow it as you start doing in pods.
Speaker 2:Well, you have to make sure that you don't put yourself in harm's way, because then you're not helping anybody.
Speaker 1:You will be excited, but you have to stay calm. You have to be clear. Yes, it's very hard to do. You walk in and your emotion will stay, but you can't. You have to. You have to think about. They're in a state of mind that they're not associating you with anything, that you got to calm that situation.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's like they don't even see they don't see anything and the periphery at all happening All right, so here's, here's my bonus one.
Speaker 1:So here's the one I had fun with today. So so this, this thing here is called a cow. What's a bull actually?
Speaker 2:He's a long way.
Speaker 1:But the point of it is these what? But I worked at a cattole plant and One day they called the guy the safety guy and they're like hey, you with the you know rated shirt and pants I guess you know I'm about my ass, was I should? They said you need to go out and out to the production floor or the harvest floor and like, okay, so I go out there and and I open the door and there is people, free wearing equipment, people, unconscious, in front of you laid out seven of them.
Speaker 1:I mean just a line of them laid out. Animal had decided it was not his day.
Speaker 2:So he was in a day to go, so he wasn't having it walked through some people and made them unconscious. I don't know that he walked.
Speaker 1:I think he probably thinking he just took his pace, whatever was anyway. So what you need to know is, when I open the door, he's right there, by 20 feet in front of me and he's like hello, and they're like hey, yeah, yeah. Major plant on the production floor with this animal I'm all me and everybody else looking at me like glad we called the safety guy.
Speaker 2:I'm like no, no, let's pause for a minute, because this was pre Everyone wearing vests.
Speaker 1:Absolutely so. So we had a couple events, this one and another one at my location. You know, I was like you know there's a thing called a rodeo and for those you don't know, we go to the rodeos and stuff. But I was like you know they were vest for these kind of problems. And again back to my, my outfit. I was like why am I not wearing at least a vest or something, because I'm getting rid of? I mean, I guess I could have tried to be a rodeo clown.
Speaker 2:I don't know, but I Know maybe he's looking at my outfit saying that guy let's go after.
Speaker 1:But the point of it is that that's the view I had.
Speaker 2:I that may not sound like what was to me, it was there, but else because that well, entity was hurting a lot of people, yeah, and as a safety person, you've got people up on equipment that's not supposed to be that's yeah, the guarding's not really right.
Speaker 1:It's slick on parts of it. We got people are unconscious, people find it. We're trying to get medical assessment of them. We're trying to manage them. I am so sorry, yeah, and so on the struggle again when you do your, your Evaluation risk or your first day CPR or your violence, the workplace, whatever category you want to put these into, you got to go back to think about what you're gonna do real there.
Speaker 2:And it's not what's happening at a sister location necessarily, or what happened down the road. I think it's with your business what's likely to happen or what is realistically something that could happen. I mean, yeah, it's always a risk that if you're at a cattle plant, you could have how get out.
Speaker 1:That happens you know, they get out in fields all the time so didn't get them shackled right or whatever, so you got it you see, all we're saying is when you, when you look at these, these events, is that back, look at the training you gave people, because I didn't have a lot of training and a lot of stuff and look at what you Be expected to do and what you can't do, and then look at the PPE too, because that's important to know.
Speaker 2:So if you're Having at your cattle location, everyone wears vest that's the cattle back in two thousand. You're welcome.
Speaker 1:Two thousand. We said let's start putting vest on. We started testing vest and that was my job. I ordered a whole bunch of a vest. We tried different kinds. We tried on the floors, driving in the areas where the all the livestock was, but we were trying to see what would be a better idea To for situations like that now so that people wouldn't be in this and out.
Speaker 2:You're at you, we go everywhere Everyone has a vest, so it's kind of cool. But I mean, but you know, you don't, you don't you wish you would have had one?
Speaker 1:I wish somebody would have brought up. Hey, here's something. Take something with you, not just hey. You go to the floor and go deal with this problem.
Speaker 2:Well, it wasn't half either.
Speaker 1:No, this thing is way bigger than this.
Speaker 2:You don't realize if you haven't been around a lot of Really at his face and then basically, we had to treat. I was part of the crew we treated all the people that were down.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and then we had to look at what equipment could in.
Speaker 2:We had some people you know, they jumped up all stuff, so you had all all of these things.
Speaker 1:I mean we're talking like 15 people work this animal took out because it there. If you ever go to any locations, it's narrow where they are.
Speaker 2:So when they go, there's serpentine yeah, there's not a lot of places to go.
Speaker 1:So, yeah, the point, the point, everybody is here. Evaluate the risk, you have a true location. Yep, don't get caught up and everybody.
Speaker 2:What are you, what is, what are you manufacturing? And and what Happened with that? That's great, and if you're going, if you've got live animals, that should be one of them, because they can be ball You're gonna have knives, if you're gonna have structure, if you're gonna stuff but eat it violence, workplace community thing and structures community thing.
Speaker 1:But you just got to evaluate what you haven't trained your people again, what you expect them to do and what you don't expect it you. It's just important to tell people where the cutoff is.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, because people put yourself in harm's way, Don't get in harm's way.
Speaker 1:Don't get your jobs to go home, be with your family and not get caught up in that cycle. So to close with this, they calm. Yep breathe through it for a couple minutes or stress up. So we've done. There's some of that you got to breathe it because you have about 15 seconds that you're trying to side. How the next?
Speaker 2:Well, and this really ties into the last two weeks of the, the Security threats, that's correct because some of this can come from security. I mean the. The first event you talked about that was a security situation. Had we gotten a heads up? It's great. Hey this is going on. We could have stopped that individual security.
Speaker 1:We let them get all the way to the plant and gave them a weapon on. They were already they could have hurt anybody. Yeah, so it's just what. Would you so? Would you manage this? Their voice to manage it. Yep, look at that. All right, that's what I get today.
Speaker 2:Happy Halloween everyone.
Speaker 1:Thank you everybody, take care, have a great week. I'm bones.
Speaker 2:Bye you. Thank you for listening to Safe, efficient, profitable a Worker Safety Podcast. If you're looking for more in-depth discussions or step-by-step solutions on all of the different safety and regulatory topics, please visit us at wwwallonsafetycoachingcom for web-based virtual coaching and training, or at wwwallondashsafetycom to book our team for onsite services, training sessions, to order merchandise, to learn more about our team and what services we provide in the field, or just simply to request a topic for us to cover on our next podcast. If you found today's podcast helpful and would like to support our podcast further, please help us by subscribing, liking and sharing this podcast with anyone that could benefit from the information we cover here, as that helps us to continue to put out this free content. Thank you so much for your support.
