Emotional Terrors in the Workplace: Protecting Your Business Bottom Line - Emotional Continuity Management in the Workplace

Natural Disasters

Natural disasters come in many shapes and sizes and originate from a variety of sources that are essentially indigenous to the elements of life on planet Earth: fire, air, water, and earth with include such amazing disastrous effects as:

• Floods

• Hurricanes

• Tsunamis

• Tornadoes

• Earthquakes

• Thunderstorms

• Wildfires

• Volcanoes

• Winter Storms

• Drought

• Heat Waves

Some experts include biological and chemical disasters in this category due to the natural order of biology and chemistry of the earth. In that discussion, someone always says, "well then Man Made Disasters are natural also." Nevertheless, the purpose of this book is not about such distinctions, because no matter the cause or strata of a disaster, human beings will have an emotional response.

What had just been a small brush fire was now a potential catastrophe. Heidi, a seasoned manager, was calm and did well with multi-tasking until she heard that the fire was headed toward her home. She had to decide whether to stay at work or go home to evacuate her house. She suddenly became immobilized and was unable to make simple decisions for herself or others.

Learning Byte

Do you have your roles defined? Do you have your own emergency plan for your family and pets? How would you manage your own personal concerns in the face of a natural disaster at your work site? How would you handle your work site responsibilities if your home or family were involved in a disaster?

DO THIS : Make your own emergency management plan for you and your family before you make one for your company.

DON'T : Wait.

Man-Made

Some catastrophic incidents, although real in consequence, are induced through the direct or indirect influence of people. There is an argument that suggests that since people are part of nature, there is no such thing as an unnatural disaster. Be that as it may in theory, many "man-made" disasters would be avoidable if people had not been involved. Terrorism is absolutely a man-made disaster.

• March 28, 1979, Reactor 2 at the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant suffered a partial meltdown. Over 2,000 personal injury claims filed

• October 1983, Vehicle bombing of the U.S. marine and French Army barracks in Lebanon, kills 295

• December 1988. The bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, kills 270

• February 1993. The vehicle bombing of the World Trade Center

• April 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building, Oklahoma City, kills 168

• October 2000 bombing of the USS Cole, kills 17

• September 11, 2001, Terrorism in three sites kills thousands

• October “December 2001, Bioterrorism incidents with anthrax kills several

Toby worked in the hospitality industry and had significant professional accomplishments, was well regarded and saw an excellent future in the company. Toby lost several personal friends during the World Trade Center disaster on 9/11/01. He attended several memorials and funerals and struggled to support friends who were now widows and widowers. He grieved privately to not further disturb these friends . When Toby asked for time off to attend funerals the management gave him permission to go but reproached him for not "getting over it." After the third memorial , Toby was fired and was unable to find a new job for over a year. While dealing with the emotional losses, he also lost income. Unable to pay rent he lost a home. He applied for financial assistance from several sources that were publicly fundraising to support victims of 9/11 as well as state, federal and local agencies. Toby did not qualify because he was not related to any of the deceased. He had to relocate for work and thus lost even limited emotional support systems. He eventually found part-time commission work but was laid off within a couple of months due to downsizing and remains underemployed, with no benefits and no savings.

Melinda, a health care delivery manager had a full career including responding to many traumatic events. This professional was well seasoned. The terrorist bombing was catastrophic, but Melinda was not directly influenced and offered up managerial services to assist in the emergency recovery work. During the initial recovery work, she had no personal difficulty, although appropriately touched by the scope of the event. The event turned "personal" when this employee caught sight of the small crumpled body of a deceased child. Melinda had purchased some novelty apparel for a grandchild earlier in the week. The deceased child was wearing the same novelty apparel. Melinda personally identified with the scene, lost capacity to function in the event, and left the worksite unannounced.

Dear Dr. Hawkins Mitchell, I would be glad to tell you my thoughts about how I have seen managers in difficult and potentially disastrous situations. As you know, I'm in the military. We currently have about 2000 people in my unit including military and civilian workers. We haven't had a natural disaster, but we have been threatened by one several times. Most of the employees deal with the possible problem well, but some do react to even the mere threat of an event. These people panic easily and would not deal with a big problem very well. I call them the "sky-is-falling" people. Managing them is difficult. As a military installation we deal with some weather-related issues but we also deal with the man-made stuff, you know, possible terrorism. We are sort of on alert for that everyday. A lot of money and time have been invested in getting prepared for a possible event. Some employees feel that security is just a bother because "nothing ever really happens here." They're more worried about work slowdowns than the big picture that includes contingency planning and exercises.

Sometimes it is the people themselves that create temporary disaster. We have several threats of violence cases each year. In our unit if an employee is even slightly angry , they are sent home until a doctor says it is safe for them to return. Talk about work slowdown ! Managing disasters is hard work on top of my regular workload! Respectfully, Sgt. Major Jones

From the New York Times, February 20, 2004

An article by Sarah Kershaw reports a lack of safety exists at the Hanford nuclear cleanup site in Richland, Washington. For five decades, the nuclear industry has been the center of industry in the Tri-Cities area, Kennewick, Pasco and Richland. 11,000 workers face the cleanup tasks . The original 70-year cleanup deadline is now cut to 35 years . The fact that a cleanup project of this magnitude is dangerous is not a stretch of the imagination . Dr. Tim Takaro, a clinical assistant professor at the University of Washington who deals with Hanford workers on a regular basis, was quoted as saying it was dangerous. Not only is the community dealing with the danger, now it faces investigations and scrutiny of even more daunting proportions . Legal battles over health, past, present and future, are running rampant in a community of workers who are responsible for over 177 underground tanks that hold 53 million gallons of toxic radioactive wastes which, according to Kershaw contaminated 270 billion gallons of groundwater near the banks of the Columbia River. Apparently, Dr. Takaro is finding workers with illnesses and reports 45 incidents of 67 workers needing medical attention within approximately an 18-month period, suggesting the presence of toxic leaks. A Government Accountability Project, a nonprofit group pressing legal actions, reports: "Hanford is in the process of creating a new generation of sick and injured workers."