Episodes
Monday Jun 29, 2020
Monday Jun 29, 2020
Philipp Heinrich is an entrepreneur, security instructor, and weapons trainer in Germany. He’s an oracle of face validity and recognizes both gradual and rapid nuances in society. Are Germans smashing into Finite Voltage? How does it manifest? Is anyone spared? Read the full blog post for episode #141 at safetyphd.com. ABOUT PHILIPP HEINRICH. Philipp started his career in security working as a night watchman while attending university. After working in human relations and studying business psychology, he decided to become an entrepreneur at the age of 24 and sold his business 3 years later. Returning to his passion of teaching security and weapons training, he is now working as a security instructor and business consultant. FACE VALIDITY IN GERMANY - SCARCITY MINDSET OR LUXURY BINGE? Phil noted that things continue to rapidly change in Germany. He shared that the government put forth several economic stimulus initiatives for citizens including tuition and job training. As grocery stores presented with partially-filled shelves and limited hours, the cause was less a direct response to the virus pandemic and more attributable, per Phil, to people choosing not to work and accept government payments. He shared that stores are, surprisingly, flush with comfort items - trinkets, toys, etc. As a lifelong resident of Germany, Phil pointed out that these items are not ordinarily found on store shelves this time of year. CROWD IN THEORY. Commonly associated with economics, “Crowd In” theory also has a psychological interpretation described as people feeling they need to surround themselves with “comfort” items during a time of crisis - when they think they might be bound to their home for a long period of time. This is an intriguing concept and much different from “Scarcity” theory which fueled runs on toilet paper and pasta. Phil stated that video game systems had been sold out for three months and that it was impossible to even locate refurbished laptops. Doc and Phil unpacked Crowd In theory and recognized that observing it denotes that people believe a chaos event will be of a long duration. After purging the soup aisle, shoppers ramble their carts to the interior paint department. Phil perceives that elderly people in Germany remember World War II and how having physical possessions was deemed more important than money. MEASURING FINITE VOLTAGE. When the news of the pandemic stay-at-home orders were delivered at Phil’s workplace, he observed some co-workers immediately panic and embellish worst-case scenarios as if they had already come to fruition. He was shocked that some of the people that had been based in STEM and empirical processes were suddenly occupied with conspiracy theories and sought confirmation bias for their irrational, paranoid mindset. Phil judged that older Germans have become both anxious and reserved as they enter a fourth month of pandemic lockdowns or civil unrest curfews. The working class is choosing to limit participation in the workforce although the government is offering generous paid training and paid positions. Phil shared that high unemployment figures are, in part, due to people unwilling to accept training or jobs of manual labor, business, security, IT, etc. Finite Voltage becomes difficult to measure when people exist in an artificial environment that offers cash not to work. Doc and Phil speculate how this context might separate people from agency and purpose. Existing, but for what reason other than to exist? WHAT PREPARED PHIL FOR 2020? Phil is trained in a civilian defense role that is similar to how the National Guard in America would deploy after a natural disaster. He’s served in medical support and in technical support to the fire department. Familiar with safety systems, Phil is cognizant of safety bravado and leaders choosing to fatigue protocols. He tells a story of participating in a routine civil defense drill in late February that involved spraying water from fire hoses. Phil spoke up and suggested that participants wear face masks to prevent inhalation of dirt or other particulate matter within the water aerosol (this was prior to COVID19 fears). He was aware of Legionnaires disease - which is caused as bacteria spreads through mist. And, water pumped from standing ponds or stagnant reserves isn’t anything you would drink without boiling. Sadly, leaders and peers shrugged off his recommendations. Phil noted that this “it won’t happen to me” response was in line with society’s overall tendency to downplay risks. FOLLOW DR. PERRODIN: Twitter @SafetyPhD and subscribe to The Safety Doc YouTube channel & Apple Podcasts. SAFETY DOC WEBSITE & BLOG: www.safetyphd.com. The Safety Doc Podcast is hosted & produced by David Perrodin, PhD. ENDORSEMENTS. Opinions are those of the host & guests. The show seeks to bring forward productive discourse on topics relevant to personal or community safety. This is episode 141 of The Safety Doc Podcast published on 6-29-2020.
- Purchase Dr. Perrodin’s Book: School of Errors – Rethinking School Safety in America. www.schooloferrors.com
Friday May 15, 2020
Pandemic Lingo | Shaking a Contact Tracer | Bacon Maldito Interview
Friday May 15, 2020
Friday May 15, 2020
Guest Bacon Maldito talks about new terms since the COVID19 pandemic, shaking Contact Tracers, closing city streets for green space, permanent protocol changes for a temporary event, & deals at Dissmore's IGA. PANDEMIC LINGO - 15 NEW TERMS SINCE MARCH. In a mere sixty days, Americans have expanded their vocabularies with at least 15 new pandemic-driven terms / directives, including: (1) Practice Social Distancing; (2) Shelter in Place; (3) 6 Feet Apart; (4) Essential Travel Only; (5) Safer at Home; (6) Sanitize Every Hour; (7) Wear N95 Mask; (8) Use Gloves; (9) Wash Hands Every Hour; (10) Flatten the Curve; (11) Self-quarantine; (12) High-touch areas; (13) Essential business; (14) Essential Worker; and (15) Social Distancing. As Bacon and Doc carve through at least three of these terms, the matters of ambiguity and inter-rater reliability surface. What is an essential business? Is this static, or does it change throughout a prolonged crisis, such as a pandemic? Oh yeah, Bacon brings out the festivus pole for his extended “airing of grievances” periodically interrupted with plugs for restaurants, stores and products not otherwise endorsed by The Safety Doc Podcast. WEARING MASKS - THERE IS A RISK. The purpose of wearing a mask during a pandemic is recognized by Bacon and Doc. A mask will limit aerosol particles from entering a person’s nose or mouth and will also dampen aerosols expelled by the person through breathing, talking or sneezing. Yet, with a range of masks now being marketed to the public and a wider range of homemade masks, the media narrative is silent about masks contributing to excess CO2 inhalation which is known to present health risks and diminish cognitive abilities. In fact, the National Institutes of Health studied CO2 and O2 concentrations in integral motorcycle helmets. In the September, 2005, edition of Applied Ergonomics, one such study (and yes, there are several studies of closed-face helmets and masks relative to CO2 concentrations) found that motorcycle riders wearing full-face helmets could increase their CO2 intake by 4% or more - and this could contribute negatively to a motorcyclist’s cognitive abilities. As the media taps “experts” on how to make masks out of socks and coffee filters, a very real issue is not addressed - and that is how to create a mask that doesn’t result in a person inhaling some of the CO2 that they just exhaled? WHEN THE CONTACT TRACER COMES A KNOCKIN. H.R. 6666, the TRACE Act, was introduced on May 1st by US Rep. Bobby Rush. The bill would approve billions of dollars for contact tracing - both in technology and in staffing people that would work as contact tracers. After someone tests positive for COVID19 (or a future virus), a contact tracer would work to identify where the person has been and who he or she has come into contact with. Nearly 1,400 people are being trained to help with COVID19 contact tracing in Washington State. While participation in contact tracing in Washington State is voluntary, other states have sabre rattled consequences for persons refusing to cooperate if a contract tracer knocks at the door. Bacon, Doc and a lively chat room unpack the Pandora’s Box of information obtained by a contact tracer - and potential misuse of harvested data. DISSMORE’S IGA. Doc gives a nod to 2-time Safety Doc Podcast guest Nick Schulaner by displaying four outrageous grocery values from Dissmore’s IGA - located near Nick’s place in Washington State. BOOK IN CAN. And, friend of the show John Steele noted that canned goods can be feasibly mailed by the postal service if you claim it’s a “Book in a Can” - thus invoking the $3.33 flat media rate. FOLLOW DR. PERRODIN: Twitter @SafetyPhD and subscribe to The Safety Doc YouTube channel & Apple Podcasts. SAFETY DOC WEBSITE & BLOG: www.safetyphd.com. The Safety Doc Podcast is hosted & produced by David Perrodin, PhD. ENDORSEMENTS. Opinions are those of the host & guests. The show adheres to nondiscrimination principles while seeking to bring forward productive discourse & debate on topics relevant to personal or institutional safety. This is episode 135 of The Safety Doc Podcast published on 5-14-2020.
- Purchase Dr. Perrodin’s Book: School of Errors – Rethinking School Safety in America. www.schooloferrors.com
Monday May 11, 2020
Monday May 11, 2020
Before 1961, the United States did not publicly educate any children with any disabilities. If a child had cognitive or emotional disabilities, deafness, blindness or needed speech therapy, parents had to educate their children at home or pay for private education. In 1975, the US voted to ensure that all children, regardless of their differences, should have access to free public school education. This was the start of “special education” in America’s schools. INDIVIDUALS WITH DISABILITIES EDUCATION ACT (IDEA). Approximately 7 million students with disabilities ages 3-21 are served under IDEA. Students with disabilities comprise 14% of all public school students. IDEA requires schools to provide appropriate education to all students in the least restrictive environment (LRE) possible. This means, for example, it is illegal to separate children in wheelchairs from children who do not require such assistance. WHAT IS SPECIAL EDUCATION? Special education is specially designed instruction that addresses the unique needs of a student eligible to receive special education services. Services are provided in accordance with a school-developed Individualized Education Plan (IEP). Examples of special education services include speech-language, learning disabilities instruction, and audiology. In addition, accommodations like additional time for assignments or audio books; or services - such as an adult aide or picture schedule, might be provided to the student. SOME SCHOOLS ENDED THE YEAR EARLY - DEEMED REMOTE LEARNING TOO TOUGH. Georgia, Texas, and other states waived the minimum instruction time requirements during the pandemic. As states opened the gates to the earliest summer vacation in a century, they concurrently closed the book on IDEA-mandated special education services and braced for unrelenting litigation from parents of students with disabilities. BETSY DEVOS STANCE ON IDEA. In April, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos denied requests to give school districts the option to bypass major parts of IDEA. Devos’ decision leaves questions about compliance and whether school districts will become vulnerable to legal action if they fail to fully serve students with disabilities, now that nearly every state has ordered or recommended that school buildings remain closed for the rest of the academic year. Students with disabilities have lost access to specific types of support they received in school — whether that was a therapy that required an adult to physically touch a student or a one-on-one aide to help a student with math assignments. BARRIERS TO SUSTAINING SPECIAL EDUCATION SERVICES - TOO MUCH TO OVERCOME? (1) Cost: An unresolved matter surrounding special education has always been the cost. It is more costly to educate children with disabilities because they require more time and resources than students without disabilities and school funding is falling off a cliff. Schools will be forced to negotiate extreme austerity measures and consolidate services. (2) Staffing: Special education staff shortages are felt by all school districts. As schools make reductions, special education teachers, who often serve smaller caseloads than regular education teachers, will equally share the pain of attrition of reduction in force. (3) Inclusion. From a philosophical angle, the pandemic advances the narrative of including students with disabilities with non-disabled peers. (4) Social Distancing. Students with disabilities who are unable to wear masks or adhere to social distancing, including students with intellectual disabilities, early childhood students, or students with autism, will present significant challenges to schools. With touchy seclusion and restraint laws on the books, teachers won’t force students to wear masks against their will - even if the student doesn’t possess the cognitive functioning to understand the benefit of the mask. Students without masks will fatigue virus-mitigation protocols and could open up litigation by school staff, parents and even other students claiming that their health is placed at risk. CANADIAN SCHOOL’S DYSTOPIAN BACK TO SCHOOL VIDEO. Doc plays a “Welcome to your new school routine and rules during virus times” video a Canadian school shared with families this week. Kids must stay 6 feet apart, playground closed, gym closed, yikes! He notes that many US schools are prepping similar misguided, impractical protocols. FOLLOW DR. PERRODIN: Twitter @SafetyPhD and subscribe to The Safety Doc YouTube channel & Apple Podcasts. SAFETY DOC WEBSITE & BLOG: www.safetyphd.com. The Safety Doc Podcast is hosted & produced by David P. Perrodin, PhD. ENDORSEMENTS. Opinions are those of the host & guests. The show seeks to bring forward productive discourse & debate on topics relevant to personal or institutional safety. This is episode 134 of The Safety Doc Podcast published on 5-10-2020.
- Purchase Dr. Perrodin’s Book: School of Errors – Rethinking School Safety in America. www.schooloferrors.com
Tuesday May 05, 2020
Return of Chuck Mak: Face Validity from Pittsburgh
Tuesday May 05, 2020
Tuesday May 05, 2020
Chuck Mak delivers face validity from Pittsburgh, describing the rapid scale up of University of Pittsburgh Medical’s campus for influx of coronavirus patients; the biggest IT challenges; essential worker papers; COVID19 GIS hotspots tracked by phone; economic smash landing; and locus of control. This is episode 133 of The Safety Doc Podcast and was published on May 5, 2020. SCALING UP ONE OF THE NATION'S TOP MEDICAL FACILITIES. University of Pittsburgh Medicals’ Chuck Mak describes the rapid closure of the university campus agency to the hospital and contingency plans to utilize dorms to house essential medical workers. He notes the silence and complete evacuation of an area that otherwise resembled a bustling city. BIGGEST IT CHALLENGE FOR HOSPITAL. The network, it seems, had ample capacity to expand and to embrace more people using it. The barriers, Chuck notes, are access to mobile devices such as iPads and Chromebooks that would be necessary for telemedicine. Within weeks, the use of telemedicine increased approximately ten-fold. While this might constrict after the coronavirus event, Chuck anticipates that telemedicine will follow an overall growth trend and that the information network and technology has proven it can support such a model. ESSENTIAL WORKER PAPERS & GIS PHONE MAPS FOR PANDEMIC HOT SPOTS. As an IT employee, Chuck was immediately deemed “essential” by his employer. He was provided with a document to carry with him whenever he drove to or from work - a document that he would provide to police if he was stopped. Additionally, he was accessing real-time global information system (GIS) maps on his phone that revealed areas of his county that were reporting the highest numbers of COVID19-positive persons. Chuck noted that the map was both intriguing and puzzling, as the purpose of the large blue circles (dense positive areas) didn’t translate into him altering his route or daily activities. REAL BUT NOT TRUE - FACE VALIDITY. From mid-March to present, Chuck has served as a member check for Doc - reporting what he authentically was observing in Pittsburgh. Face validity from someone “on the ground” confirmed what was real, but also not true. For example, Chuck reported that the hospital was rapidly expanding its mobile IT capacity and preparing to use more locations both on campus and off campus in anticipation for an influx of pandemic patients. The expansion of IT capacity was real. However, the influx of patients didn’t manifest. This isn’t to purport some type of conspiracy, but rather to delineate the difference between real and true. LOCUS OF CONTROL. As a small business owner with an online platform, Chuck noted that the demand for his sports memorabilia items had evaporated as the economy slammed into a wall the past month. He opted to idle his storefront and focus on the things that he could control - such as his work at the hospital, accepting in-person rotations on campus, and securing essential items such as food. FOLLOW DR. PERRODIN: Twitter @SafetyPhD and subscribe to The Safety Doc YouTube channel & Apple Podcasts. SAFETY DOC WEBSITE & BLOG: www.safetyphd.com. The Safety Doc Podcast is hosted & produced by David Perrodin, PhD. ENDORSEMENTS. Opinions are those of the host & guests. The show adheres to nondiscrimination principles while seeking to bring forward productive discourse & debate on topics relevant to personal or institutional safety. This is episode 133 of The Safety Doc Podcast published on 5-5-2020.
- Purchase Dr. Perrodin’s Book: School of Errors – Rethinking School Safety in America. www.schooloferrors.com
Sunday Apr 12, 2020
Coronavirus is our Chernobyl (not our 9/11) | LIVESTREAM 4-11-2020
Sunday Apr 12, 2020
Sunday Apr 12, 2020
As an American teenager during the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster, Doc recalls being cautioned to stay inside whenever it rained due to radioactive rain; camera companies warning people that film images might be peppered with blotches due to radiation; isotopes destroying farm fields; and to brace for an outbreak of cancer. In this livestream, he explains why the coronavirus event is similar to the 1986 Chernobyl disaster and also the flaws with calling the pandemic “our generation’s 9/11.” MEET TEENAGE DOC. In 1986, Doc lived with his parents and brother in a small town in central Wisconsin. He played baseball, mowed lawns and fished under the bridge. And, a bomb shelter in his home’s basement was a daily reminder that the United States and Soviet Union were on the brink of WWIII. The radio station played Nena’s chart-topper “99 Red Balloons,” a song protesting nuclear war; the movie Rocky IV portrayed Russia as corrupt, evil and powerful - only to fall due to the determination and grit of American boxer Sylvester Stallone. ABC’s 1983 TV movie “The Day After” left an indelible mark on Americans questioning what would happen if the US was pulverized by Soviet ICBMs. CHERNOBYL NUCLEAR REACTOR DISASTER. On April 26, 1986, there was an explosion in the number 4 reactor at the Chernobyl Nuclear Reactor Power Plant in Prypyat (Ukraine) spreading radioactive clouds all over Europe and a large part of the globe. CHERNOBYL CONTINUED TO DETERIORATE. The accident caused the largest uncontrolled radioactive release into the environment ever recorded for any civilian operation, and large quantities of radioactive substances were released into the air for about 10 days. This caused serious social and economic disruption for large populations in Russia and Europe - and placed the entire northern hemisphere on high alert for months. THE RESPONSE TO CHERNOBYL - WHAT THE PUBLIC WAS TOLD. The Russian government and state-controlled Russian media were slow to alert the public. Police wore gas masks, but residents only heard rumors. In Prypiat, life briefly went on as usual and seven weddings were held the day following the disaster. The government was uncertain how to stop the radioactive fires. Water would just intensify the blaze. Sand was an option, but it had to be delivered by helicopters - dumped into the damaged reactor - that could take weeks or months - and it might not work. 36 hours after the explosion, the 47,000 inhabitants of the nearby city of Prypiat were evacuated via more than a thousand buses. PERMANENT TEMPORARY EVACUATION. Residents were told to take few personal belongings and identity papers and that they would return home in several days. They never returned home. Prypiat, and a large swatch of land around Chernobyl, was deemed inhabitable for at least 180 years. HOW THE CHERNOBYL DISASTER IMPACTED DOC. Nuclear radiation was hard to comprehend and you couldn’t perceive it with your senses (similar to a virus). Fires, floods and tornadoes were tangible - radioactive isotopes were obscure sci-fi, but the tone of the reporters, the behavior of adults, it was obvious that this was a serious situation. Media advised people to avoid the rain because it might cause cancer. Doc’s baseball coach rambled about radioactive particles on the field and how players should “wash up” after practice or a game to chase away radioactive particles. Doc’s mom canned vegetables throughout the summer and fall to offset potential food shortages due to contaminated farm fields and livestock. Ironically, the shelves of the 1960s era bomb shelter were stocked to capacity in the fall of 1986. WHEN IT BECAME REAL FOR DOC. Radiation became tangible to Doc when his science teacher walked around the campus with a brick-sized Geiger counter that made static-sounding clicks as it detected radioactive particles. It clicked a lot outside. US MEDIA COVERAGE OF CHERNOBYL. On Sundays, Doc’s household received the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel which was considered the “big city, reliable news source. The story about the Chernobyl explosion described “a deadly could of radiation across large sections of Russia and Europe.” But, the disaster was still portrayed as being remote and not something to worry about in the USA. The local library had an array of newspapers all clamped onto large wooden poles (remember those?). Per the Duluth Minnesota Herald, May 15, 1986: “Airborne radioactivity from the Chernobyl nuclear accident is now so widespread that it is likely to fall to the ground wherever it rains in the United States, the EPA said.” Doc had been to Duluth - it wasn’t that far away! COMMUNITY CONVERSATIONS. It was around that time, in mid-May, when local news, teachers and parents began talking more about radiation in America - in Wisconsin. People speculated about the government’s game plan. Would everyone be required to stay indoors? Doc and his peers were aware and invincible. WHY CORONAVIRUS IS SIMILAR TO CHERNOBYL AND NOT LIKE 9/11. Chernobyl and Coronavirus are rapid onset disasters that remained “in progress” for months. 9/11 - as horrific as it was, concluded on 9/11. Nobody feared another attack on September 13th and two weeks later, the NFL resumed and comedians returned to comedy clubs. Radiation and a virus are invisible. Humans best perceive them through secondary face validity such as watching what authorities are doing and supplies at stores. A flood is tangible. When a flood destroyed homes near Doc’s town in 2008, he went atop the levee and joined a crowd of onlookers watching and snapping photos of decks, shingles and water heaters bobbing down the river. Furthermore, it’s a different psychological construct to battle a fire or flood versus swinging at a ghost. In addition, both events continue to build to a peak - the onset isn’t the peak. And, these events might be corralled, but never eradicated. In fact, present-day wildfires near Chernobyl are releasing large amounts of radiation that was temporarily absorbed by trees. WHEN THE DISASTER IS PROLONGED - THE BREAKING POINT. In podcast #34 back in 2017, Doc talked about WWII psychiatrist, Dr. Appel, who studied frontline soldiers. He found that infantry soldiers survived a maximum of 238 aggregate combat days (ACD) before a fate of (1) physical casualty, (2) prisoner of war, or (3) psychiatric casualty. For the first time, it was realized that every soldier had a “finite voltage” and sooner or later would break – even if they appeared to have held up magnificently under incredible stress. So we have to ask, what’s the finite voltage for each of us now that we are 30 days into stay-at-home orders and a high velocity of information of changing contexts and situations? FOLLOW DR. PERRODIN: Twitter @SafetyPhD and subscribe to The Safety Doc YouTube channel & Apple Podcasts. SAFETY DOC WEBSITE & BLOG: www.safetyphd.com. The Safety Doc Podcast is hosted & produced by David Perrodin, PhD. ENDORSEMENTS. Opinions are those of the host & guests. The show adheres to nondiscrimination principles while seeking to bring forward productive discourse & debate on topics relevant to personal or institutional safety. This is episode 129 of The Safety Doc Podcast published on 4-11-2020.
- Purchase Dr. Perrodin’s Book: School of Errors – Rethinking School Safety in America. www.schooloferrors.com
Saturday Apr 04, 2020
CORONAVIRUS CRUSHES CAMPUS | Interview with University Student Nick Schulaner
Saturday Apr 04, 2020
Saturday Apr 04, 2020
Nick Schulaner’s keen situational awareness enabled him to make the right decisions and safely navigate the rapid, unanticipated closing of his university campus due to the coronavirus pandemic. In this exclusive interview, Schulaner deconstructs the frantic shut down of his campus, migration to online learning, and overlooked electronics that are crucial to surviving in a stay-at-home decree. RETURN OF FRIEND OF THE SHOW NICK SCHULANER. Mechanical engineering emerged as a field during the Industrial Revolution in Europe in the 18th century; however, its development can be traced back several thousands of years around the world. It is perhaps the most diverse of engineering disciplines. Stage left to university student Nick Schulaner who is pursuing degrees in mechanical engineering and marketing. His aptitude coupled to knack for connecting larger schemas positions him as someone that solves problems. SITUATIONAL AWARENESS. As described in the book School of Errors, situational awareness is critical to quickly identifying changes from normal, AKA the TORUS. Nick shared that he was aware of how the coronavirus was impacting regions of the country three days before it became a furious storm that shattered his campus. WHAT ONE THING DOES NICK RECOMMEND RIGHT NOW. As jobs and education have been shuffled to online platforms, the need for a robust Internet router to handle multiple devices and larger bandwidths makes the top of Nick’s list. He recommends buying a new router and to seriously consider models designated for “gaming” as they often have options that work well for kids in virtual classrooms or people watching videos. Expect to pay more, but you won’t regret it! If your router is 5 years old, it’s probably obsolete! VIRTUAL LEARNING HAS ARRIVED. Nick notes the capacity has existed for the better part of a decade and the pandemic forced the hand of K-16 education to evolve to virtual platforms. Nick notes the paradigm shift embraced, or rebuffed, by his professors. GREAT TIME TO BUY USED ELECTRONICS. Nick adds that the economic plummet has a silver lining for anyone wanting to upgrade their phone or computer. Facebook Marketplace or Craigslist have been flooded with modern electronics. It’s a buyer’s market and Nick is confident that most people will be able to find gently-used electronics at a fraction of the price of new. IS NOW A GOOD TIME TO MARKET MY GIG? If you’re the owner of a physical location deemed non-essential, then the answer is no. However, if you are able to sell your product or services online, then now is a great time to invest in Facebook and other ads as prices have fallen in the past month. Nick describes one of his clients realizing a more than double return on investment in recent weeks. HOW WILL ENGINEERING CHANGE OUR WORLD AFTER COVID2019? First, Nick believes some things will simply be abandoned, such as dorms or other population-dense buildings that won’t be possible to retro-fit with anti-virus or social distancing technologies. He adds that someone is probably working right now on a device that will descend from the rafters of a 20,000 seat arena and either distribute a mist or laser beams to sanitize the facility after each use. Things nobody imagined a month ago will be necessary if mass gatherings resume after the coronavirus event. BATTERIES TO GET A BOOST. In addition, Nick anticipates that batteries will be rapidly innovated and that we should expect mobile devices to stay “charged” for days on a single charge. Mobile devices sold next year might come standard with batteries that last twice as long as today’s batteries. FOLLOW DR. PERRODIN: Twitter @SafetyPhD and subscribe to The Safety Doc YouTube channel & Apple Podcasts. SAFETY DOC WEBSITE & BLOG: www.safetyphd.com. The Safety Doc Podcast is hosted & produced by David Perrodin, PhD. ENDORSEMENTS. Opinions are those of the host & guests. The show adheres to nondiscrimination principles while seeking to bring forward productive discourse & debate on topics relevant to personal or institutional safety. This is episode 127 of The Safety Doc Podcast published on 4-4-2020.
- Learn more about guest Nick Schulaner at www.nickschulaner.com
- Purchase Dr. Perrodin’s Book: School of Errors – Rethinking School Safety in America. www.schooloferrors.com
Wednesday Mar 18, 2020
How Thinking About a Bagel Can Get You Through the Worst Day of Your Life
Wednesday Mar 18, 2020
Wednesday Mar 18, 2020
Doc talks about what it means to enter chaos from the perspective of someone that researches crises. THINK OF A BAGEL. It's tasty as hell and also a metaphor for our lives and routines. Humans expect things to be similar and go bananas when they are moved out of the bagel - and the further you get outside the bagel, the more chaos. CHAOS IS A NATURAL STATE. But, chaos is part of nature and the sooner we recognize it and embrace, the sooner we inventory our options and make intelligent decisions to get us to the outcome basin. In other words, there are infinite ways to get from point A to point B - yet we've become comfortable in thinking everything must be convergent, or linear, that there is a "best way" to do every specific thing. That's BS. If we would have kept on thinking that way, we would have devolved as a species and innovation would have been stifled. And, we were kind of that point of barnacle regulations and unchecked spending. EPIC HUMAN EVOLUTION. Some company made the last ice box. Restaurants, for example, are scaling up take up and drive-thru. They are changing business models and it's working. Doesn't mean that is won't be bumpy and that we won't have losses - we will - but we will also rapidly evolve - perhaps an unparalleled 24-36 month evolution as humans in how we work, educate, build, design, entertain, etc. than we would have experienced on the trajectory without the Coronavirus. In fact, these, and other, core aspects of societies might leap 10-20 years further down the road due to how we've had to "solve the problems" presented by the coronavirus disruption. There is a very real probability we will look back upon 2020 as a time of great human innovation and not a time of human collapse. SCHOOLS WILL CHANGE in 5 GREAT WAYS Also, watch this livestream for tips on navigating life during chaos, making better decisions, and also 5 ways that schools will be better after the coronavirus event. This is episode 122 of the Safety Doc Podcast. FOLLOW DR. PERRODIN: Twitter @SafetyPhD and subscribe to The Safety Doc YouTube channel & Apple Podcasts. SAFETY DOC WEBSITE & BLOG: www.safetyphd.com. The Safety Doc Podcast is hosted & produced by David Perrodin, PhD. ENDORSEMENTS. Opinions are those of the host & guests. The show adheres to nondiscrimination principles while seeking to bring forward productive discourse & debate on topics relevant to personal or institutional safety. LOOKING FOR DR. TIMOTHY LUDWIG, PHD? Dr. Perrodin’s “Safety Doc Podcast” negotiates school and community safety. To be informed about industrial safety, please contact Appalachian State University Professor Dr. Timothy Ludwig, PhD, at www.safety-doc.com. This is episode 122.
- Purchase Dr. Perrodin’s Book: School of Errors – Rethinking School Safety in America. www.schooloferrors.com
Friday Feb 28, 2020
Strength Trainer Drew Baye | Is Student Fitness Sapping School Safety?
Friday Feb 28, 2020
Friday Feb 28, 2020
Drew Baye has been teaching and writing about exercise for over twenty years, during which time he has personally instructed hundreds of clients, including elderly people and people with physical disabilities, one-on-one through tens of thousands of workouts. He maintains the number one blog on high intensity strength training baye.com and has been featured in several books about exercise including The New Bodybuilding for Old-School Results by Ellington Darden, PhD, Heart Strong by Ken Hutchins, and The 4-Hour Body by Tim Ferris. CALIFORNIA SUSPENDING PHYSICAL EDUCATION. Antonia Noori Farzan of the Washington Post (February 7, 2020) wrote about pending state legislation in California that would drastically impact physical fitness instruction, assessment and guidance for students. “For generations of students, running a timed mile around the track as part of a mandatory fitness assessment has been a painful rite of passage. To some, it can be downright embarrassing and humiliating. But that could soon be changing in California, where officials have raised concerns that annual physical performance tests can lead to body-shaming and bullying, and that they discriminate against students who have disabilities or identify as non-binary." PRESIDENTIAL PHYSICAL FITNESS. In the 1950s, President Dwight D. Eisenhower was horrified to learn that European schoolchildren were acing a fitness test designed by competitive rock climbers, while the majority of American kids failed. The fear that the United States was falling behind on the world stage led to the introduction of the Presidential Fitness Test, which rewarded the students who could do the most pull-ups and run the fastest miles. In 2012, the Presidential Fitness Test was quietly replaced by a program that focused on students’ overall health rather than arbitrary fitness goals. FITNESS. Drew defines fitness as, “Your ability to perform various physical tasks without fatigue and without injury.” He notes that strength training benefits muscles and also the heart – explaining the misconception that the heart is solely responsible for circulating blood throughout the body as many muscles are involved. EXERCISE. Per Drew, most people are unable to accurately define exercise. He defines it as, “A process by which the body performs work of a demanding nature in accordance with muscle and joint function for the purpose of creating tension and fatigue in the targeted muscles to stimulate improvement in muscular strength and size and through the stress in the muscles to place a demand on and to stimulate improvements in all those supporting systems.” NUTRITION. Ultimately, nutrition is a significant component of student fitness. Drew debunks the popular argument that kids of previous generations had similar diets as kids today – and they were more active decades ago. In fact, he notes that the higher level of activity kids had in the 1950s and 1960s decreased opportunities for them to consume extra calories – as they were out doing things and not sitting in front of a screen. STUDENT FITNESS IMPACT ON SAFETY. Drew identified 4 benefits of physical fitness specific to student safety (1) Students able to quickly get themselves to a safe location during a crisis: (2) Students being able to better recover from a physical injury; (3) If you’re stronger, you are better able to aid other people (which is also part of the FEMA Teen CERT program); and (4) Students maintain sharpened thinking skills and decision-making during a crisis due to the connections between physical fitness and improved cognitive functioning. IS ELIMINATING PHYSICAL FITNESS DISCRIMINATING AGAINST STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES? Dr. Perrodin asserts that California’s draconian measures to limit physical education are based on inaccurate perceptions that students with disabilities don’t enjoy, or don’t benefit, from physical education – an assumption he argues discriminates against students with disabilities and violates the Americans with Disabilities Act (Chapter 7, Addendum 2). FOLLOW DR. PERRODIN: Twitter @SafetyPhD and subscribe to The Safety Doc YouTube channel & Apple Podcasts. SAFETY DOC WEBSITE & BLOG: www.safetyphd.com. The Safety Doc Podcast is hosted & produced by David Perrodin, PhD. ENDORSEMENTS. Opinions are those of the host & guests. The show adheres to nondiscrimination principles while seeking to bring forward productive discourse & debate on topics relevant to personal or institutional safety. LOOKING FOR DR. TIMOTHY LUDWIG, PHD? Dr. Perrodin’s “Safety Doc Podcast” negotiates school and community safety. To be informed about industrial safety, please contact Appalachian State University Professor Dr. Timothy Ludwig, PhD, at www.safety-doc.com. This is episode 119.
- Purchase Dr. Perrodin’s Book: School of Errors – Rethinking School Safety in America. www.schooloferrors.com
- Learn more about this show’s guest at www.baye.com
Wednesday Jan 22, 2020
Morgan Ballis Interview | Preparing for an Active Assailant on Campus
Wednesday Jan 22, 2020
Wednesday Jan 22, 2020
As a school crisis develops, more time means more options. This episode’s guest works to put seconds back on the clock by teaching people steps to improve their chances for survival during a chaotic situation. ABOUT MORGAN BALLIS. Morgan Ballis is the Director of Strategic Planning & Training with Campus Safety Alliance which is a network of emergency management professionals, law enforcement trainers, and educational leaders providing evidence-based safety solutions for PreK-12 facilities and faith-based organizations. He is a firearms instructor, United States Marine Corps veteran, and is currently completing a doctoral degree in Emergency Management. ACTIVE SHOOTER DATA is CONFUSING. The number of school shootings over the past 20 years depends upon the source of the data. Morgan advocates for using data curated by the FBI which includes: number of attacks, locations of attacks, relationship of the shooter, timelines, and casualties. WHAT’S THE ORIGIN OF THE TERM LOCKDOWN? Lockdowns have become commonplace in today’s schools. Morgan shares that the origin of lockdown drills is rooted to 1970s Southern California when the threat was that someone driving by would shoot at a school. Imagine getting beneath window-level and pulling thick curtains on exterior windows. He noted that early lockdown drills where informally known as “Drive-By Drills” as the threat was external to the school. DIFFERENCES BETWEEN LOCKDOWNS IN THE 1970s and TODAY. Unlike the drive-by threats of the 1970s, contemporary active assailant threats are manifesting within the school. Morgan shares data that these incidents are shorter in duration (3-5 minutes) and more often completing before the arrival of law enforcement – especially in rural areas. These changes in the profile of an active assailant event are rationale for Morgan’s support of an options-based response. SITE-SPECIFIC TRAINING. The school is the unit of measure. Morgan stresses the importance of addressing each school setting within a school district and going beyond quantitative data to interview students, staff, and stakeholders. He revealed that some prominent school safety firms deploy architectural engineers who assess the school environment from a design, hardware and software approach. This creates a conflicted interest as the company conducting the safety assessment will subsequently market solutions that it will sell and install, such as cameras – despite other priorities of defining safety terminology, equipping staff with reliable 2-way radios and teaching standard communication protocols. A TEAM OF EXPERTS. Morgan embraces building a team of content experts to work with him – a group that is matched to the needs of the location. This is known as small group theory and is similar to how the CDC operates when faced with a potential pandemic. IF MORGAN HAD JUST ONE HOUR IN A SCHOOL. Schools seldom have more than ten days of contracted non-student time during a school year. This time is quickly carved into bits for developing curriculum, mandated training on blood borne pathogens, grading, setting up classrooms, ... School safety has secured its place at the table of professional development, but there’s never enough time, right? Morgan advises schools to identify how much time they will allocate to staff training for school safety. The first priority is defining terminology and establishing inter-rater reliability. The second priority is a reliable communication system with 2-way radios for all staff. Morgan’s emphasis on communications aligns to this 2013 interview with communications expert Fred Varian: https://tinyurl.com/Varian-Interview-ComSec LEARNING OBJECTIVES. Threaded throughout this interview was the need to cultivate learning objectives for school safety activities. Are we testing the school’s 2-way radios? Are we measuring the mass communication system that alerts parents? How might a few learning objectives completely change the tone of a school district and outside agencies conducting oft-controversial intruder exercises? And, what do most schools overlook? FOLLOW DR. PERRODIN: Twitter @SafetyPhD and subscribe to The Safety Doc YouTube channel & Apple Podcasts. SAFETY DOC WEBSITE & BLOG: www.safetyphd.com. The Safety Doc Podcast is hosted & produced by David Perrodin, PhD. ENDORSEMENTS. Opinions are those of the host & guests. The show adheres to nondiscrimination principles while seeking to bring forward productive discourse & debate on topics relevant to personal or institutional safety. LOOKING FOR DR. TIMOTHY LUDWIG, PHD? Dr. Perrodin’s “Safety Doc Podcast” negotiates school and community safety. To be informed about industrial safety, please contact Appalachian State University Professor Dr. Timothy Ludwig, PhD, at www.safety-doc.com. This is episode 117.
- Purchase Dr. Perrodin’s Book: School of Errors – Rethinking School Safety in America. www.schooloferrors.com
- Learn more about this show’s guest at www.campus-safety.us
Wednesday Oct 16, 2019
Wednesday Oct 16, 2019
In 2013, A 7-year-old Maryland kid chewed his breakfast pastry into the shape of a gun at school and wound up with two days suspension. The pastry in question was not named, but it's gotta be a Pop-Tart, right? This dubious outcome, and others like it, are often the result of what is known as Zero-tolerance school safety policy. . WHAT ARE ZERO TOLERANCE POLICIES? Zero-tolerance policies were written into school handbooks in the 1990s, created originally to be a deterrent for bringing weapons into schools. Many students under strict zero-tolerance policies are punished without a second thought. School administrators are not afforded discretion to use professional judgment to match a consequence to a violation of the code of student conduct. This type of disciplinary procedure has been proven in research to have an overall negative effect on students, and a disproportionately negative effect on minorities. ABOUT RESEARCHER ANN MARIECOTMAN. Ann Marie Cotman is a doctoral student researching school policing at Texas State University. An educator since 1995 and a mother since 1998, Ann Marie fully respects and underscores that schools' first and most important obligation is to creating and maintaining a safe learning environment. As a researcher she is determined to make sure that safety driven policies truly support the safety of ALL students and are not unexamined practices that instead produce poor and inequitable outcomes. When not reading, writing, and researching, Ann Marie loves to play analog games with her three children and create art. She also gets to know the coolest kids in Austin Texas through her summer camp program and private tutoring! FOUR WAYS ZERO-TOLERANCE DISCIPLINE POLICIES UNDERMINE SCHOOL SAFETY: (1) prioritizes compliance over self-management/critical thinking; (2) undermines students' development of and confidence in their own decision making; (3) hides race (and gender, and other) inequities under the fig leaf of equal treatment; (4) discourages and interrupts the relationship building that is critical to creating a culture in which all community members want to come forward with concerns. ZERO-TOLERANCE PRETENDS TO REMOVE SUBJECTIVE DECISION MAKING THIS A PROBLEM FOR TWO REASONS: (1) Why would we want to remove the human element from addressing discipline problems? (2) We know both in design and application that it does NOT create an objective decision process. BETTER OPTIONS. Ann shifts the discussion to looking at the safety priorities of the school. Is it worth the time and investment to maintain polarizing Zero-tolerance policies at the detriment of cultivating relationships with students and families? And, for policies to be effective across the hundreds of thousands of school buildings in America, they need to be melded to each school setting. That involves affording the principal discretion to interpret and apply policies to best fit the setting. It’s not capitulating – it’s sensemaking. Ann also shared an example of a school that invited four students to serve on its safety committee and simple, potent positive changes that resulted from a group of educators and students working to solve the problem of chronic vaping by youth. FOLLOW DR. PERRODIN: Twitter @SafetyPhD and subscribe to The Safety Doc YouTube channel & Apple Podcasts. SAFETY DOC WEBSITE & BLOG: www.safetyphd.com The Safety Doc Podcast is hosted & produced by David Perrodin, PhD. ENDORSEMENTS. Opinions are those of the host & guests. The show adheres to nondiscrimination principles while seeking to bring forward productive discourse & debate on topics relevant to personal or institutional safety. LOOKING FOR DR. TIMOTHY LUDWIG, PHD? Dr. Perrodin’s “Safety Doc Podcast” negotiates school and community safety. To be informed about industrial safety, please contact Appalachian State University Professor Dr. Timothy Ludwig, PhD, at www.safety-doc.com. This is episode 110.
Purchase Dr. Perrodin’s Book: School of Errors – Rethinking School Safety in America.