Transcript
Maria:
One day as I was walking along the site, I saw several people working in an area in close proximity. They were sitting at cubicles. I thought it was odd. Some of them had masks. One did not. As difficult as it was, I thought I really need to go and talk to these people. What did I have to lose? I went in, said hello, introduced myself, and identified myself by my name only. I didn't want anyone to feel that they'd have to do something because I was the division director.
I just started conversation and ask the individual why they were not wearing a mask, and I got a really good answer. The answer was, I'm sorry. I was just finishing my drink from lunch. My response to that was thank you very much. The individual was very nice about putting their mask on, but I had to continue to question why they were sitting so close together.
We were in a very large room and there were very many stations and yet two people were sitting side-by-side. I identified the fact that we have a six-foot requirement and it's important that people stay as far away as possible from one another so that they protect themselves and the people that they're working with.
Everybody seemed to understand that and they were quietly and comfortably moving their things and thanked me. I thought that was a really great way to end it. I didn't feel uncomfortable at that point, and we actually had an opportunity to stand at a distance from one another and talk a little bit about who we are and what we were doing.
Marcia:
That's a great story, Maria. At any point, was there any discomfort in your intervention?
Maria:
Well, I think anytime you're intervening with something, there's some level of discomfort. But in my mind, I look at it as it's trying to help. If we all take that attitude, that I'm only trying to help and I'm concerned about you. It's about you and not necessarily just about me. I think that makes it a little bit easier, and that's the mindset I try to keep, that this is about protecting ourselves in each other.
Marcia:
Welcome to Onsite Insights, a series for managers and supervisors responsible for onsite work activities at Berkeley Lab during the COVID-19 pandemic. Each episode explores core challenges or topics facing onsite workers, and will feature guidance, success stories, and practical tips for navigating you in emerging situations. The goal is to promote safety awareness and mindfulness, consistency in the application of policies and protocols, and support for everyone in the return to onsite work.
Tina:
Maria Nappi's story was compelling. I'm sure many of our listeners have experienced some of those awkward situations in which they witnessed behavior that veers away from safety standards.
Marcia:
Yes, Maria said she was simply trying to help and was primarily focused on the protection of others. She overcame the discomfort shifted to the it's-kind-to-remind mindset. The one that Joseph Grenny promotes in the prerequisite video.
Tina:
Yes, these videos are short and great ways to support similar situations. Additionally, this is all in the spirit of helping the overall community. This episode spotlights this new type of upstander behavior. What will you do when you see unsafe in-person behavior? How do you communicate the limits of your comfort zone, and how do you encourage others to do the same?
Marcia:
Yes, these are some of our guiding questions. Additionally, if it's been some time since you've been on site, what can you expect when you return? What is different in terms of access to the site, buildings and other lab facilities? What new challenges have emerged for custodial and maintenance staff and how can you help?
Tina:
Episode one gave an overview of integrated safety management as it relates to COVID. This episode is focused on what you can expect when you returned to onsite work from a physical and logistical standpoint. We explore these topics with four guests., Brent Henderson, Blair Edwards, John Tully, and Dave Van Dam.
Marcia:
My name is Marcia Ocon Leimer.
Tina:
And I'm Tina Clarke.
Marcia:
And we are your hosts for this Onsite Insights episode. We start with Janie Pinterest's interview of Brent Henderson, facilities division director. We hope you enjoy.
Janie:
You've probably all had the experience out in the community, encountering someone not wearing a mask properly or not maintaining six-foot distance. How about on site? What do you do when you notice another person who's not masked up appropriately? How can we speak up and be upstanders, and ask them to wear their mask? Our next guest is now our facilities director. Please join me in welcoming Brent Henderson.
Brent:
Thank you for having me.
Janie:
It's wonderful being able to speak with you today, Brent.
Brent:
This is audio only, right?
Janie:
Correct, yeah. We can make faces and everything.
Brent:
All right, good, because that's what I was going to do.
Janie:
I was counting on it. I'd like to know what situations you've seen or experienced or been aware of as a manager at the lab.
Brent:
The situations that we see are when sometimes people forget to wear their mask or they don't have it on all the way, like it's under their nose. Or they're not social distancing like they need to be. Those are the kinds of typical problems that we've seen since we've implemented the new measures.
Janie:
What kind of approaches have you used to bring it to the person's attention?
Brent:
Well individually, if you see someone not wearing their mask correctly or not social distancing, then you alert them to that. They almost always are happy that you pointed that out, because it's very easy to forget sometimes or to be caught up in the task that you get closer than you realize.
Brent:
But the first level that we have to address is the activity manager, because that forms the foundation of our work planning and control. That's really foundational to all of the safety-related controls that we have in place for any a task. But certainly, for COVID. In fact, we have an activity manager just for COVID controls, and so we put that into the training system, and then each person goes through that particular training, and then they acknowledge the information and thus accept the controls.
Brent:
Then of course as you know, every employee also takes the safety pledge, which is each of us pledging that we will do our best to keep ourselves safe and to keep others safe by always working within the COVID controls.
Janie:
If you actually see someone or come across somebody, what are some of the ways that you actually alert them?
Brent:
Usually you just get eye contact with them. If it's a re-ask, then you just make the motion like you're taking out your own mask and they realize, oh. Either they're not wearing it or it's not being worn properly, and they almost always self-correct right on the spot.
Janie:
There's that nonverbal that works really well, it sounds like?
Brent:
Yeah. Then also if you're close enough to talk to them, then you can say, hey, forgot your mask. Verbal or nonverbal, either one is good.
Janie:
That kind of reminder of you forgot your mask generally works out pretty well, then?
Brent:
It does. There'll be occasion where the people might be far enough away. Let's say they're inside of a boundary. Maybe that's a construction boundary or some other kind of area where it's hard to get in there. In that case, you could just signal visually.
Janie:
Have there been situations when you've needed to walk up to somebody and let them know?
Brent:
I've never had to really walk up to someone because they always are responsive. Of course, I have it always tried to maintain, or I would maintain my six-feet distance from them. But that's plenty close enough to get their attention either by talking to them or signaling.
Brent:
Main thing is that we don't walk away without knowing that we have transmitted that information to them, and that they acknowledge that yes, they need to put their mask on or social distance or leave that room. We don't have to be really stern about it. But as managers, we need to make sure that they understand and that the situation is correct.
Janie:
I appreciate that, Brent. I've also heard of approach called speak up and let go, and that approach basically said something similar. That you kindly remind the person and then you let go. You break off eye contact and you don't make it a standoff. How does that sound to you?
Brent:
It sounds like a wise thing to do. People react in different ways and some people could easily perceive, if you were to persist directly addressing them for what you saw, they could perceive that in a number of negative ways. By speaking up and then letting go, you're allowing them to self correct, safe base and continue about their work without having a lot of negative feelings about it.
Janie:
It sounds like there's a balance to strike though, as a supervisor or a manager to make sure that they got the message clearly. How about if we flip it for a moment, and let's say that it's me or you being reminded to keep our distance or to wear our mask properly? What thoughts come to your mind for that?
Brent:
Well, the first one is, thank you for telling me. Because it's embarrassing to accidentally walk out without a mask on or to just have a momentary lapse. But mainly it's good because if someone had the virus and didn't know it, and they can transmit the virus without even realizing they have it, and it keeps me safe, and it also would keep them safe for me if I had it and didn't realize it. It's absolutely the right thing to do, and I personally I'm thankful for when people point things out that aren't right.
Janie:
That's really key. I'm wondering if you have some other summary statements or messages that you want to convey on this topic to on-site supervisors?
Brent:
Well, just that sometimes it takes a while for people to realize that changes have happened and to get used to those changes. We're always basically creating new habits for our people. And we just have to be mindful of that. And that just a one-time communication isn't enough. We have to continually reinforce it with our messaging to our people, meanings, and also in conjunction with the HNS they... Every division has a division of safety council officer, and they're very helpful.
Brent:
That's a resource that everyone should also utilize to help walk around in the field, talking to people, helping them to be in compliance with all of the latest guidelines. We have to remain vigilant. We have to continually strive for a safe work environment because that's... we're required by law to give everyone a safe work environment every day, all day long. It's our responsibility to make it that way every day.
Brent:
We have to battle a complacency. We've been very successful and I think that's a testament to our leadership and our safety and health policy makers as well. Because they're experts and they've really done a fine job analyzing all of the different possible ways that the virus can be transmitted and making sure that we have addressed all of those. But with success can come complacency, right?
Janie:
Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Brent:
If we get complacent, we let our guard down. That could be the one time where one of the people has the virus and doesn't realize it, and that could be the one time that it transfers. The only way we can always be safe is for all of us to always follow all of the COVIT controls. The social distancing, maintaining six foot separation, wearing the mask, wiping down surfaces to disinfect surfaces after we've been there.
Brent:
We do all of those things because that's our responsibility and our obligation to work here at the laboratory. It's also important that supervisors and managers ensure that their people are up-to-date on all of the latest training. That they are signing into activity manager every time that it changes, and that they accept the new controls, and that all of their EH&S training is current, so that everybody is as safe as they can possibly be.
Janie:
Thank you. These are really key messages for us to be carrying forward. Thank you, Brent.
Brent:
Thank you. I appreciate the opportunity.
Marcia:
Brent's interview spotlighted nonverbal and verbal cues for demonstrating upstander behavior to uphold our health pledge. We discussed the speak up and let go method, and how different situations call for different forms of intervention. It was great to hear Brent's insights on this. Next, we talk with Blair Edwards who is responsible for the lab's protective force and physical security.
Marcia:
He serves as a rotating emergency director, and has been involved in facilitating weekly building and safety discussions since March, 2020. Blair also leads the team responsible for distributing sanitation supplies. During this segment, you'll learn about the logistical changes that have occurred in the site security space.
Marcia:
Thank you for joining this Blair Edwards.
Blair:
Thank you for the opportunity to talk about my department and what we do for the lab.
Marcia:
I'm sure your job has changed dramatically since the start of the pandemic.
Blair:
If you would've told me a year ago that I would have been overseeing building safety and sanitizing supplies, I would have probably looked at you funny.
Marcia:
I'm sure. Tell us more about that, Blair. What should managers expect by way of COVID sanitizing supplies and signage and that kind of thing, since you mentioned it?
Blair:
After the Shelter in Place order when the lab was basically running on just minimum operations, as we started to talk about returning to work and bringing more people on site, we immediately noticed that there was a challenge with getting sanitizing supplies and having those supplies available and ready for employees as they came back to work.
Blair:
The lab operations division and procurement work together to come up with a process to bulk order the supplies and come up with a distribution that was more centralized to ensure we got consistent supplies out to each work location, based on the number of people working in those areas.
Marcia:
What were some of the challenges that you experienced? I'm imagining that there were a lot.
Blair:
It was very difficult in the beginning obviously. First and foremost, we were competing with the rest of the world for those supplies. Finding vendors, getting procurement agreements together, trying to piece together exactly what we needed from a supply standpoint. There was lots of challenging messages in the beginning on what to use, how, what type of sanitizer, the different types of sanitizers that were out there.
Blair:
We worked really hard to come up with EH&S to come up with standard items that we felt we needed to have. Hand sanitizers, sanitizing solutions either in a sanitizing wipe or in a spray solution that you would then use paper towels to wipe down surfaces to keep them clean. Paper towels, Kleenex, because we just figured that we needed those things in place. Then we transitioned obviously to face coverings and the different types that were recommended in the beginning, and finding sources to get those in stock.
Marcia:
Wow, so many considerations and so many varieties of options for all of us.
Blair:
It was very challenging, and then obviously, how do we distribute them? Security emergency services division stepped up and came up with the ordering process. We did an initial distribution and then we put together a Google form, and working with the building safety coordinators and the building managers, we came up with a process for them to place orders. And the security team takes those orders, fills them and then just delivers them to the location that the building manager or safety coordinator has asked us to drop in that.
Marcia:
Great. Tell us a little bit about the main site, now that we've talked a lot about sanitation supplies. What's changed since the site started.
Blair:
Well, the biggest change is we've been restricted on how many people can come onsite. One of the challenges was how do we manage that from an information standpoint, and controlling who's coming onto the lab, who's approved. The first thing we did is we initiated 100% badge and at the gate.
Blair:
My physical security team worked really hard to upgrade the technology at the Blackberry gate so we had newer card readers, different technologies. We now have a wireless card reader that we can go onto verses or assist people to badge in without having to get out of a vehicle. We went to 100% badge access at the gates. No longer parking passes. It's actually, you have to have an LBNL badge, or you have to be on the approved access list for that day.
Blair:
That is done through the manager you work for, your supervisor, your division, the construction project you're working for. We get daily emails with the people that are approved to come onsite that day. Then the biggest thing is 100% ID checks. If you don't have an LBNL badge, we are going to require you to produce a government-issued identification to verify that you are who you are and that you are on the list to come onsite.
Marcia:
Okay, so no longer, well, my parking permit will be enough for this?
Blair:
No, it will not be enough. We are transitioning to a 100% badge access site. We are building the technology ar the gates to be able to manage normal flow when we return to normal work, that you will badge in to come onsite.
Marcia:
Now let's change in terms of the entrance to buildings, going in and out of the building.
Blair:
There's quite a bit actually. Along with badging at the gate, we have changed and transitioned all of our buildings to badge access 24 hours a day. But what we did with that is we changed... Prior to COVID, during the normal business day, the front doors were open. You could go into any building at any time.
Blair:
What we've done is we've created an access permission and given it to all employees with an active LBNL badge, what we call business needs. Your badge will open the front door to all buildings, unless that building is a property protection area that has restricted access. From 6:00 AM to 8:00 PM, your badge will open the front door. It may not get you in to any other parts of the building, but it will allow you access to the main entrance points to all buildings.
Marcia:
Making it even more increasingly important for people to have their badges on them at all times.
Blair:
Well, that's, the intent, is to go to a badge culture. Not that you have to walk around and wear your badge everywhere you go, but that you have your badge on you, and you use it to enter buildings. The other advantage to badging into the site and into buildings is from a COVID standpoint. That information, we have the ability to know who went into a building.
Blair:
If there was a COVID situation where we needed to do contact tracing, we can now run a badge report and pretty much narrow down who went into that building that day. And provide that information to our health services so they can do contact recent if that were to occur. From a safety standpoint, if there was a building emergency, we could know who was actually in the building and then account for people as they come out.
Marcia:
It's good information to have.
Blair:
One more thing I forgot about the front gate. We've also installed technology on the exit lane, that if for some reason we were in a very significant emergency situation, we would be able to badge people in and then also we have an exit badge reader now, so we can identify clearly at any time draw a line, determine who is still onsite if we were in an emergency situation.
Marcia:
Well that's great.
Blair:
Really good technology upgrade to help with safety and security of the lab and our employees.
Marcia:
That's right. It's really good to know. Tell us about the badge situation now for new employees. I'm sure that your badge office situation has changed the set up. Is that right?
Blair:
Most definitely. The badge office used to be, you could just walk in and get your badge fixed. Obviously, in the COVID and the SIPs situation, the badge office hours have changed and the badge support has changed. For new employees, it's very controlled through HR. You have to go all the way through the HR process and be completed before you can get to the next step, which is coming onsite to go to a new employee badge appointment.
Blair:
You've got to go through your I-9 stuff to make sure all that is completed before you get your badge. That is a much more integrated and scheduled event now. Where it used to be everybody came onsite on day one and you went through a schedule, it's a little bit different for new employees, and it's also very different for existing employees. If for some reason your badge expires, your badge is broken, you need a new badge, the badge office hours are very restricted. They're open three days a week, and that's based on demand. As we bring more people on, we'll potentially increase the hours, but it's by appointment only.
Marcia:
Okay. Is that available on your website?
Blair:
What happens is you have to email site access to request an appointment. What they're going to ask for is a letter or an email from your supervisor stating you are approved to come onsite during our current operations status. Then once they have that evidence that you've been approved to come onsite to work, then they will send you a link to the schedule that you'd be able to pick an appointment to get your badge, a new badge, or get your badge situation addressed.
Marcia:
Got it. Great. Tell us about the parking situation. How has that changed? I'm sure we don't have the parking problems that we did before the SIP.
Blair:
There's plenty of parking. You may not be able to park right next to your building, but you can probably park really close to your building currently. Obviously that will change-
Marcia:
That's good.
Blair:
... as we increase in on-site population and I work directly with John Tryneski on the parking program and so we're in communications about when we're going to need to potentially start to deal with that, how we're going to administer parking passes, and making sure people coming onsite do have an active parking pass.
Marcia:
Well, I also understand that there've been some changes in your operation center as well. Blair, could you tell us a little bit about that as well?
Blair:
Yeah. SES division, when I got here, we were just security. Obviously as we transitioned into a division in emergency services back. We've really focused on changing the function of the operation center, used to be called the security operation center, with the primary focus on just supporting security missions. We transitioned to the site operation center and integrated more emergency management type monitoring.
Blair:
They're monitoring all of our emergency management dashboards, our weather dashboards. They're getting included in more notifications and pushing out more notifications to leadership on the condition of the lab.
Marcia:
That's wonderful.
Blair:
On top of that, they are empowered and had been trained on badging stuff, so they're able to do a little bit more assistance with badging. As we progress through getting back to normal operations, they will actually be the off hours badging station-
Marcia:
I see.
Blair:
... to support. If you have a badge issue and you work on the late shift, you would be able to come in and we would be able to help you in the operation center with your badging issue.
Marcia:
That's good to know. Good to know. Have there been any interesting situations that you faced with since this start of the SIP, any fun ones to share?
Blair:
Really good question. We've had some very interesting things. The fun things with the reduced human population on the lab, the wildlife has taken over. The deer and the turkeys are very territorial of the roadways now because there's really no hardly people driving on them. You're more delayed in having the turkey crossing because they just stand in the middle of the road. For a fun wildlife thing.
Blair:
But we did have a small grass fire on property that was caused right down on Cyclotron Road at Hearst. That was very eyeopening. We were very fortunate, but that was a significant situation that turned out very well. We had a very observant employee coming onsite, notified security and we were able to get ALCO, our fire department down there and they were able to put the fire out. It was early in the morning, high humidity and no wind. Had there been different conditions, that could have been very significant.
Blair:
We also had recently an issue with, in a area where wood post was smoldering and smoking, and we had to have ALCO come and put it out in the middle of a red flag warning. We were very fortunate. There was a contractor that saw it and responded, took some picture evidence of it, and then they were able to extinguish it and we got ALCO down there, and put it out. But we were in extreme fire danger and we've all got to be good citizens on that. There's just not a lot of people, so some of those things can happen and people won't notice because we're just so reduced in staffing.
Marcia:
Absolutely. Well, it's a good thing that people were observant.
Blair:
Yeah, most definitely. We're doing an elements article to recognize the two gentlemen that saw it.
Marcia:
That's great.
Blair:
My last thing, I don't know if it's an interesting thing, but people have dramatically increased their ability to drive really fast on the lab because there's just not a lot of presence. We have lots of people driving past and apparently they believe stop signs are potentially optional. I just asked people to slow down, pay attention and please obey all of the traffic rules onsite because you never know when UCPD is going to be here to remind you.
Marcia:
Exactly. Even with the increased traffic of turkeys and other creatures on the roads, people are still driving fast. So slow down. Yes, thank you for bringing that up for sure. In summary, it sounds like prior to coming on site, Blair, supervisors should prepare their staff for these onsite changes before beginning of work. Would you agree?
Blair:
Yeah. The real big thing is making sure they're prepared to come onsite. If they have a badge issue, get with site access before they come onsite to make sure we can get them the badge support they need. Or that they need their badge to come onsite, we can always tell when it's someone's first time back because they wave their parking tag ups. We have to tell them they need to badge in.
Blair:
COVID supplies, making sure if you're having someone come onsite, explain what we have available, what you have available in your building for them. Talk about the COVID rules referring to all the COVID sites so they're prepared. It's just really important that as a supervisor, you're engaging your people as they return to site and making sure they have the information they need to be successful to get onsite and then be safe while they're onsite.
Marcia:
Most definitely. Well, very good advice. Thank you so much, Blair for joining us today and for the work you and your team have done for return-to-work efforts. I know it's been very extensive and you've just touched the surface here. Thank you so much.
Blair:
Thank you again.
Tina:
It's clear from Blair's interview that a lot of work has done to ensure people have what they need to work safely while working on site.
Marcia:
Yes. Blair's comments on the distribution of supplies, building access and the new tracking technology in supportive contact tracing was really very reassuring.
Tina:
Next, we explore the challenges that have emerged for custodial staff and crafts workers, conducting the work in various buildings. They've been on site since the beginning and offer some wonderful insights. The next segment features John Tully, field services manager for facilities. He leads several crafts, including ground keepers, painters, custodians, carpentry and laborers.
Marcia:
Thank you for joining us today, John.
John:
Yes. Thanks for having me, Marcia.
Marcia:
I bet your job has changed substantially since the start of the pandemic.
John:
Yes. I've never given any thought in my career about working through a pandemic and being as involved as I have been here at the lab. I thought many times about my involvement in a natural disaster like an earthquake or fire, but never a pandemic.
Marcia:
Yes, I can imagine.
John:
I've never imagined I would be so involved in this whole process of keeping a laboratory sanitized and safe for people to come to work. My main focus in my career has always been on maintaining a safe and working infrastructure.
Marcia:
We probably were more prepared to tackle conditions under a big earthquake versus a pandemic for sure. Why don't you start by telling us how your areas have changed since the start of the Shelter in Place?
John:
Well, the main thing is we have a whole new host of safety requirements to adhere to. Social distancing has added challenges to planning our work while maintaining safe distances between workers. A lot of our work is normally done with more than one person, so that adds a lot of difficulties. Identifying alternate ways for workers to perform some tasks while maintaining safe distances as sometimes been pretty challenging.
Marcia:
Tell us about those challenges, what's emerged for your staff since the start of the pandemic in terms of those challenges.
John:
All of my staff was deemed essential. The first challenge that we had was convincing everyone that they could come to work every day and work safely with the controls that we have in place. Another challenge was working with the custodians to help them feel safe sanitizing area, where someone had a possible COVID exposure. From that, we have a group of volunteers that have been trained on how to sanitize an area.
John:
We've also purchased two machines that can sanitize large spaces much more efficiently and quickly than sanitizing by hand. This went a long way in helping staff feeling comfortable coming to work.
Marcia:
I bet that was attorney and trying to get people to that point where they were finally comfortable coming into work after being onsite for some time.
John:
Actually, in the beginning it was quite a struggle. We had a lot of group meetings. I had experts, subject matter matter experts from EH&S as well as medical facilities management. We went through quite a bit. It was challenging.
Marcia:
Your staff, particularly the custodians and crafts regularly visit many buildings throughout the site and sometimes engage with staff from different divisions. How can supervisors help support the work of these individuals in their efforts to adhere to safety standards from your perspective?
John:
Well, in facilities supervisors and managers are required to do two COVID safety inspections per week, and those are documented and recorded in a simple but needed application that we have. For supervisors in other organizations, I would recommend spending time in your work areas throughout the day, performing your own inspections. Not so much to find fault, but to be a help and encourage and remind people as they work to use proper safety precautions while they work.
John:
It's real easy to get wrapped up in your tasks and make mistakes or forget your social distancing, et cetera. Maybe not even putting your mask on. Also I would recommend regularly meeting with your staff via Zoom or some other way to include your staff's ideas or concerns about COVID safety. We encourage our staff to try to be mindful of other people's concerns regarding COVID safety and try to remember that everyone has different levels of insecurity regarding exposure to others in their areas and not to take anything personally.
Marcia:
Those are really good tips, John. Thank you for including those for onsite workers. I know that your staff is engaged with several people on site. I wonder if there's a key message you want to leave with onsite workers about the topic of the interactions with your staff as they're conducting their work?
John:
Yeah. What I would like to see, or I think what would be very helpful is if you see something out in the field where somebody has an infraction, please don't be afraid to meet that person and have a cordial conversation with that person and remind them of the COVID requirements. Either masking up or social distancing or sanitizing after they do their work.
Marcia:
Are people getting more comfortable intervening when they're seeing safety violations?
John:
I think so. People are a lot more open and it's a lot more normal now to be walking around with a face mask and wearing gloves when you're doing certain tasks, and making sure that you're maintaining your social distancing. Because most of our crafts, they're used to working together in teams. The whole idea of social distancing has added a whole new list of difficulties to planning work. It's really hard. A lot of cases, even our contractors had a real hard time with the idea that you have to be six feet apart.
Marcia:
I would imagine it takes a lot of reinforcement for this. Lot's of-
John:
Yes, yes. Because our crafts workers and custodians, they've been doing this kind of work for years. It's so easy to forget that you need to be six feet apart. You need to stay away from somebody and still do your work at the same time. I see it all the time in hallways when people are walking down the hall. It's really easy to forget.
John:
Having that conversation in the field and talking to those things over one-on-one is a very important thing to do, rather than to escalate things to where it becomes an issue. A human resources issue.
Marcia:
Well, there's an always an opportunity to resolve things in a cordial manner.
John:
Yes.
Marcia:
That's right. Well John, thank you so much for your participation in this podcast. I really appreciate your time.
John:
Thank you. Thank you very much for the opportunity. I appreciate it.
Tina:
As John stated in his interview, his team was deemed essential from the start of the pandemic impacts, and I have been doing an amazing job, maintaining our buildings to ensure everyone has a clean and safe workspace. With that comes a responsibility to adapt to potentially different building standards, cultures driven by functional areas.
Tina:
We appreciate his team's daily efforts and hope we can support a dialogue of support when seeking their help and understanding in the adherence of our safety standards. In this next segment, I speak with David Van Dam, Division Director for Security and Emergency Services. We discuss how onsite work could be impacted by public safety power shutoffs, also known as PSPS events. If this isn't applicable to this particular time of the year, please feel free to skip ahead for the conclusion of episode two.
Tina:
In the realm of PSPS preparation, the SES division, through the emergency management team work closely with the lab research and operation areas to help ensure the lab is best prepared for a PSPS event, through proactive planning and emergency operation center preparation. Likewise, the fire protection and an engineering team works hand in hand with facilities on the lab's wildfire and vegetation management plans. Thank you for joining us, David. I'm sure your job has changed dramatically since the start of the pandemic.
David:
It has. Thanks for that introduction, Tina, and thank you for having me here. At one point, Michael Brandt turned to me and he said, "Hey Dave, I bet you never thought you'd be a pandemic expert." That was back in February when we first started responding to the pandemic, and I am by no means an expert. But I would say all of us to a certain degree have become pandemic experts dealing with it. Another one of the challenges we have at the lab.
Tina:
Thank you. To begin, David, tell us about how the lab is alerted about potential PSPS events.
David:
No, good question. The lab receives notification of potential PSPS events through direct communications with PG&E. Not only does PG&E send daily weather alerts that we receive and that we look at with our emergency management teams, but we also have biweekly meetings with our PG&E account manager, and real-time communication both throughout the workweek, but then also when we are faced with actual potential weather events that put us in zone for a potential PSPS.
David:
There's seamless communication there. PG&E is committed to providing the lab 48 to 72 hours. Notice prior to a PSPS event. Sounds like a lot of time, but it's really not when you look at all the work that we have to do to prepare for an event such as that.
David:
Finally, one of the tools that we have this year that we didn't have last year is that we actually use GIS mapping and we get specific coordinates from PG&E on actual and projected outage areas. We're actually able to put that on our GIS mapping system, and we can real-time, see exactly where those outages are and where we think they're going to be so that we can make the best decisions to the lab.
Tina:
That's great to know that the lab is getting real-time and seamless communications. David, what can supervisors do to prepare now for a public safety power shutoff?
David:
No, Tina, another good question. Supervisors play an absolutely essential role. I'm really talking about anyone that's part of line management. I would say the first thing is, know what your role is and know what the role is of the people that work for you, the people that are on your teams.
David:
You yourself may be an emergency essential employee, or you may have people that are on your teams that are considered essential employees. By the way, we're all essential employees. But in the context of a PSPS, what we mean by emergency essential employee is individuals who have specific jobs, specific tasks to prepare research and operations equipment for a power outage, or to possibly respond to any one number of incidents which may occur surrounding our many, many lab systems.
David:
There's a bout a little over 1,000 people on that list right now who may have to respond to the lab, so knowing your role and knowing the roles of the people on your team in that regard are absolutely crucial. Another crucial role that supervisors play and ways that they can help prepare is to really stay connected with your division leadership and any announcements that you see.
David:
Whether it's a level one message or a lab alert message that is sent out, when we're heading into a Firewatch or fire warning weather conditions, really keeping a lookout for those critical communications so you know exactly if you need to jump into action or anybody of your teams need to jump into action, you'll get that notice right away and you'll be able to participate.
David:
I would say my last point on this is the importance of educating your employees on the importance of preparing both at the work place, but also at home. Because if you're not prepared at home, you won't be prepared at work. Let me give you an example. If you're one of those employees who is absolutely critical for being a part of a team to make safe and make safe and stable piece of research equipment, and we're facing a potential power outage and your home is in that power outage zone, your priorities are going to be making sure that your family is taken care of as they should be.
David:
But you can do things ahead of time to make sure that's the case. If you actually Google emergency information on a to z, you will get a whole host of a suite of information on how the lab prepares and how you can personally prepare at home. Also ready.gov is a very good resource for that.
Tina:
David, thank you. Those are some really great tips. Is there anything else that you want to share with us, key takeaways that on-site supervisors should be planning for when a PSPS event occurs?
David:
Yeah. I think that my final thoughts on that are the safety of our people and the continuity of our research are really the priorities here. And everyone has a role. Whether or not you're a supervisor, whether or not you're part of that emergency essential personnel list, absolutely everyone has a role.
David:
Even if you're someone working from home and you may not be on one of those lists, your job is to stay connected with your supervisor, to stay aware, to stay informed, to make sure that you're prepared to make sure that you're safe, so really everyone has a role in these events. We also welcome the more that you know about what is going on at the lab for both preparedness and response, the better contributor that you can be to making sure that everyone's safe and making sure the continuity of our research remains on track, which is why we're all here.
David:
I would say lastly, these events happen quickly. You only need to turn on the news to understand how quickly the threat of a potential fire may have on the laboratory. Again, the more prepared you are, the better. These events happen quickly, so stay close to your communications, make sure you're aware of what your roles and responsibilities are. If you have a question that doesn't have an answer, there's multiple avenues are on our websites to reach out, as well as with your own line management.
Tina:
Great, thank you. I think you summarized that really well. Stay connected, be prepared and communication is important. Staying connected in the division leadership and the communication that you're receiving, so thank you, David. Thank you so much for joining us today and thank you for the work that you do. Thanks so much for having me.
Marcia:
Tina, what an informative set of interviews, building on integrative safety management and the post survey results from that last episode. We were able to discuss upstander behaviors to support a safe community culture, and give supervisors an overview of the logistical aspects of working onsite.
Tina:
Yes, it was great to hear from key people that have been on site for quite some time, managing essential functions. They had some good information for supervisors, and again, it seems like there's this common thread of communication delivered in a positive way. This goes a long way in helping others thrive in this new environment.
Marcia:
Yes, very much agree. Well, on-site listeners, I think that's a wrap for our second episode of Onsite Insights. Thank you so much for tuning in. We look forward to seeing you again at episode three, where we'll discuss teamwork and collaboration. Thanks again for listening and until next time, stay safe out there.