Emergency Preparedness: And now the short fuse of incivility is lit.

Yesterday I went through CPR and first aid certification at my local American Red Cross chapter. It was the first time I had ever been certified for either and there was a full house of folks from childcare workers, to teachers, to volunteers, to parents and expectant parents like me.

But there was no one from a place of employment solely for the purpose of being certified for their office, business, factory or plant -- beyond childcare and education.

Interesting considering the primary Red Cross manual we were given was titled First Aid/CPR/AED for the workplace.

Of course it was only one class out of many this chapter alone does, so I'm sure there are many employers who send folks to be certified (my primary reason was for my family but secondarily was for our firm).

HR along with security personnel and management usually drive emergency preparedness, but smaller companies, especially those less than 50, have no HR representation, so it's up to the managers and business owners to plan for this and have someone get certified.

Natural disasters, employee health problems, workplace accidents, and workplace violence are all situations to be prepared for.

And now the short fuse of incivility is lit.

Yes, incivility. You're seeing it played out exploitively in mainstream politics and media of late but it's also been on the rise in the workplace according to Diane Berenbaum in article titled Workplace Incivility on the Rise: Four Ways to Stop It (referencing facts from The Cost of Bad Behavior by Christine Pearson and Christine Porath).

Here are just a few of the statistics from their research study of 800 employers:

Sometimes incivility is blatant, like:

And others times it may be a bit more subtle, like:

Diane's Human Resources IQ article highlights these steps to take:

You can read the details of each in the article. Incivility is wrecking the workplace and destroying the already fragile peace we long for in our daily lives, at work and at home.

My additional recommendations for incivility?

Foster personal responsibility, civility and collaborative problem solving in your workplace environment.

Be prepared for emergencies -- get folks CPR and first aid certified at your workplace.

Post by Kevin W. Grossman (join me on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn - and now join HRmarketer on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn!)


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