A pandemic rages, a democracy falters, and the workplace is once again the center of environmental, social and economic justice issues in the second or third (depending on your viewpoint) decade of a new century! But first...
Happy New Year! In this first weekend of the New Year my home is filled with grandchildren, children, sibling, and parents and we are blessed. I give all glory and honor for my current situation to Jesus Christ my Lord and Savior, Jehovah God my heavenly father, full stop. If you come across this reflection don't confuse me with hypocritical and false witnesses to God's goodness and grace. Yes, this is my professional/business blog but my purpose is service to my community and for me faith and service go hand in hand. And yes, I also speak of the current politics as I am as a businesswomen concerned and bound by political winds.
Our home and family has been touched by COVID-19. We have lost family, friends to this virus but we can also boast that family and friends have overcome it. While workplaces have been forced, many kicking and screaming into compliance, by either changing the working environment with engineering controls, moderating workflow with work practice controls, and actively requiring PPE, personal behaviors outside of work have been harder to manage. And so the pandemic rages, with healthcare systems overburdened and health services compromised. Unfortunately this has also meant personal service and leisure/dining workplaces are suffering as many have been asked to close again despite following workplace COVID-19 protocols. Public institutions, schools and the like struggle with decisions on opening up or staying closed. 350,000 deaths and counting, attributed to one root cause. This is something I think many are not really considering even as there are at least four confirmed and distributed vaccines available to fight this disease. Our behaviors may not give opportunity for the vaccines to truly control the suffering before many more lives are lost or forever changed.
A peaceful transition of power has been the cornerstone of American Democracy with fewer than two challenges to that transfer in our 240 year history. It seems the outgoing administration is adding to that count and believes the election was rigged going so far as to ask election administrators to find votes??? No concession only challenges that I have not seen evidence to substantiate. A new congress (117th) is being sworn in today as I share my thoughts in this blog. American Democracy, our republic has some structural flaws and deep rooted issues that must be faced and I for one believe it will take principled and truth seeking leadership to achieve that objective. One of Congresses first official actions will be to certify the election results and welcome the incoming administration. Nothing more to say, just prayers! Workplaces will be impacted!
Many of us will spend more of our adult lives working, going to work, being in the workplace than we will spend in our own homes. The challenge of workplace safety has been and will always be about changing personal behaviors and changing how we think about and view our respective roles in society. We all depend on each other and must recognize the knowledge we possess has always been conditional. Where we were born and to whom we were born. Access to and the valuing of knowledge transfer has very much been a factor of place and timing. In 2021 we can look back to see our lessons but we really gotta look. We must continue to strive for environmental, economic and social justice and recognize it may present first in workplaces!!! We must recognize the conditions of our current situations with humility and grace. When we study the history of COVID-19 and what we did, how we reacted, I wonder what our lessons learned will be? I am contemplating a few for discussion in a future workplace safety training course. Hope to see you there!
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