Workplace Safety for US Workers – Workbook

Self Awareness

As we begin our exploration of work it is only fitting that you reflect on your experiences and perspectives of and with work. One of your first activities was to introduce yourself and share some of your background. This next activity is one designed to have you get a better understanding of why you may have certain views on work and worker safety, being ever mindful of who you are. The Keirsey assessment is one of many types of personality profiles that seek to place individuals in groups with specific traits that may align with career paths or competencies. It is therefore reasonable that personality traits may also shape how you will view and approach safety in the workplace.

Access the Keirsey Assessment here (Links to an external site.)(opens in new window) or the 16personalities assessment and record your results. If you use the 16personalities assessment you will need to contrast your results with slides 6 and 17 below to determine which quadrant you belong. You may also just speak to your attribute without associating with it with the Keirsey temperament.

Reflect on your assessment by choosing one of the self image attributes (slide 17) of the Keirsey Overview sharing how that attribute would make you a safer worker. Provide detail, minimum one paragraph.

NWOW-Do you value all workers?

Social Diversity Respecting and value differences is a basic tenet for the future of work. How you view yourself and co-workers shapes your perspective on who matters and what matters in a work setting. When there are differences in who matters, there will be challenges to keeping all workers safe. The following personal reflection activities are designed to encourage you to value differences to ensure all workers matter.

Gender and Ethnicity

Use the the following excerpts from the NWOW social diversity lesson 1 to complete the questionnaire and class discussion at the end of the lesson.

Attributes of Social Diversity Awareness

• Respectful of differences in others’ backgrounds and beliefs in local communities and the world at large.
• Values diversity in the workplace, including gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity, and age.
• Understands these differences can actually improve products, services, or work processes.

Gendering in the Workplace

• There are still inequalities that exist in modern work environments for the types of jobs considered more appropriate for men and women.
• Can you name some examples of types of work where you feel there is a stereotype of it being a “male” job or a “female” job?
• There are also inequalities in pay scales for men and women occupying the same positions.
• The 2017 Economic Justice Report showed a 20% wage gap between men and women in the United States. It estimated that based on the rate of pay from 1960-2015, women are not projected to reach pay equity until 2059.
• This pay gap increases for both women and men of color.

Class Activity

Having open discussions and striving to understand others from their own perspective, not from yours, is the first step in Social/Diversity Awareness.