Guest Speaker's Safety Video Was Not Okay For Me...

[Orglethorp]

My last class of the day today (5-6:15 PM, yay... :meh:) was the dreaded "Engineering in the Workplace" course. Everyone hates it because we've got enough on our plates with our other 5 courses, and this sociologist professor (no offense to an sociologists out there) thinks her self-reflection writing assignments worth 1-2% each should be on top of our priority list and seriously thinks that 75 minutes of lecture about appropriate lunchroom chit chat topics is interesting. Today, we had a guest speaker in who was presenting on workplace safety. Okay, cool. Zone out as he drones on about things that don't apply to me because I'm beyond the "Youth Worker" age range he's targetting due to the program he's promoting, laugh at his funny animated stick man clip about the right to refuse unsafe work, etc. etc.

Then he shows us a documentary titled "The Lost Youth" produced by WorkSafeBC. Now, being that this is Newfoundland, the victims interviewed are all 30ish and living on the other side of the country, and the average age of the students in this course is 19, clearly the presenters don't expect students to have any sort of reason to be emotionally affected by this video beyond normal human reactions to tales of horrible accidents. Yeah, wrong.

As a 25 year old from the Vancouver region of BC, I can trace at most 3 degrees of separation to 3 of the 4 victims in the documentary. 1 of them is either the brother or cousin of a girl I was friends with in high school, I'm about 98% sure I grew up with the cousins of another, and a third (whose name rings a bell) grew up in a town not far from my home town and was injured on the job in the same mill where a family member of mine was also injured on the job. The last victim wasn't as familiar to me, but her injury was sustained using the same machinery I used to use (and was terrified of) while working in the bakery department at a grocery store for the last 5 years before I left BC.

After that video ended, we all left. Most of us electrical & computer students went straight down to our lab to work on our physics assignment, since it was due online at 10PM. I stayed until 10 (I was done at 9:30 but some of my friends weren't, and another student had half of my notes) and had to listen to people complaining about how bad the video made them feel. I don't doubt what they felt at all, but I felt so alone sitting there realizing that I was the only one who was upset by more than just the graphic content. I tried to smile when my friends walked past but until about 9ish I actually couldn't. My face wouldn't do it. Now it's midnight and I'm sitting here desperately wanting to go to bed, but I've got more homework that I just can't bring myself to finish...

 

[StarChild]

but I felt so alone sitting there realizing that I was the only one who was upset by more than just the graphic content

Dear Orglethorp, although we only can "meet" online, I'd like to tell you: "You're not alone. I hear you." May I send you some comforting hugs? ((((Orglethorp))))

And may I ask you, is it rather kind of shock you're feeling, or the pain of memory?... - Please feel free not to answer my question. I don't ask because of curiosity, but to let you know that it's okay, if you want to tell more about what you saw, or about what you're feeling right now. I'm listening to you. :)

 

[Orglethorp]

Definitely more shock than memory, other than being seriously creeped out by the story about the girl who was injured using the same machinery I used to work with.

This all just comes on the heels of a weekend party that also set me off. Being the weekend before Halloween, Saturday night was the traditional Halloween party on George Street (the 2 city blocks of pubs/clubs/bars open only to foot traffic in this city, and the event is confusingly called Mardi Gras). The idea is you pay $20 to get onto the street, which is fenced off and guarded for the night, and then cover is free at all establishments. I'm proud of myself to getting to the point where I'm okay with the normal crowd and noise level down town, but within 1.5 hours of arriving on Saturday night, I was so done. The clubs were so full that the bouncers weren't letting people in. One of the friends I was with kept asking if I was okay because I was spending more time standing still than dancing. I was trying not to get knocked over, occasionally shoving back at people who were going beyond crowded club clumsiness, and trying to keep my rising anxiety level in check. (That night out was not my idea, and I think I'll make sure I'm busy when this weekend rolls around next year.)

 

[HëllaBubz]

I'm fairly sure that it is no longer allowed to show faces or actual identifying information when it comes to workplace safety for the very reason that you were 'activated'.....well at least in Australia.

I'm really sorry you have to recover from this experience. I know there isn't much I can do, but I know how horrible it is to have to work through the hijacking that experiences like this do to your body and emotions.

 

[Orglethorp]

I certainly wish that were the rule here in Canada, but sadly, it isn't. Some provinces even have some pretty graphic workplace safety TV commercials. Thankfully that isn't true here in Newfoundland (not that I watch much live TV anyway), but an Ontario one was also shown in that class, and all I can say is DO NOT WANT! I can imagine what the fallout of these scenarios might look like graphically enough on my own, thanks.

 

[Venusian]

Hi Orglethorp,

It is very upsetting when you watch a video like that and realize that you know the people that have been affected and are familiar with where it happened. So many times we are insulated by the vastness of our country and it doesn't seem so real, even on a forum like this. Seeing something like that in a room full of people who can't relate as well tends to make anyone feel alone.

I had a similar experience a few years ago, it was another safety video ironically, I recognized the place where they shot the reenactment, it was a road I had travelled down many times. I had a close call there that very morning and had to look at my skid marks for nearly a month before they faded from the pavement. I commented on it and all of a sudden I saw it become a little more real for other people because they had noticed the skid marks too. I didn't talk about it much but the story got around and I do know it made a few other people think a little more about driving that road. I was part of the team that was presenting the orientation so I didn't mind it when the safety supervisor used my experience to illustrate the danger in that area.

I know that many of these videos have graphic content but I also know that in the industrial sector a lot of people have the attitude that it won't happen to them. I have worked with very safety oriented companies and with other companies that had the attitude that safety was something you only spoke about because it was regulated. Employees had the minimum training required and once it was done it was largely ignored, you did anything to complete the job. For some people it is the shock value of the video that makes it stick in their minds. Sugar coating the dangers does nothing to lessen the statistics. It isn't the safety conscious person that needs the graphic video, it's the ones that don't think it is important that need to see the scenarios that they are routinely in that need the graphics.

 

[Britt.f7]

I've never had a work one effect me that way, but I did have one in church cause issues. I use to teach Christian Formation(aka catechism) in a Catholic church for little kids. We had to all under go training to realize and recognize if a youth was being abused, physically or sexually. I did my best to avoid the training until I absolutely had to. It left me very uncomfortable and shaking on the inside as we all walked away.

I don't know how you did that party. It sounds insane. I have issues with groups and I know I would not have been able to stay long. I'm glad you know to take care of yourself next year.

 

[Orglethorp]

I don't know how you did that party. It sounds insane. I have issues with groups

That's exactly why I don't drink much when I'm going out. I don't drink much in general, but particularly not when I know I'm going to be in a loud, crowded place. I've never found my drinking limit (apparently I've inherited a high alcohol tolerance from Mom's side), but I definitely do not want to find it while I'm in a potentially triggering environment.