00:02.73 Heather Okay, this is see her on podcast episode 83 and we're talking about um, preparing ourselves for dangerous field circumstances and and also how do we react to fields sort ah dangerous field circumstances. Um. In segment One. We've talked about the current situations that some of us have encountered and what um, that's plaguing field staff ah currently and because that does change I think people don't realize and a lot of times she spent a lot of time on climate a lot of time on. Heat related and bugs and bacteria. But we don't talk about what is the ever changinging ah danger and I think that that is more dangerous because you don't know that you're going to encounter them. Poison Oak Heats These are all things that have been looked at and safety. Um, departments have created training for and have provided us hopefully with the proper equipment to to make sure that we can um, handle those situations properly but it's to me what is the most dangerous are those situations that you sometimes can't anticipate. 01:15.97 archpodnet Me. 01:17.51 Heather And um, so we're going to talk about in this section. How do we anticipate circumstances that are um, strange and and I think for me this is something that I think about a lot because I'm not in the field. It's easier like as a mom. Um I feel safer when I'm with my kids especially when they're younger because I knew that if something happened I would be there to help them through it. But as children get older. You have to you you think about what could happen. 01:46.17 archpodnet Yeah, yeah. 01:54.92 Heather That they're not going to know how to react to and I'm not there to help them through it and it's the same thing I don't of course I don't see field steps children. However, except for in the in the um aspects that I care about them deeply and I want them to be safe and so I'm always. Trying to anticipate what could happen out there and how do we prepare staff the best that we can and you know talking about read these remote areas. 1 thing that comes to mind that we use quite a bit is making sure that you have somebody on staff. 02:16.60 archpodnet For. 02:30.28 Heather You know we're seeing people travel across the country doing work and if you have somebody who comes in from I don't know Illinois and they're coming into urban l a and nobody else from urban l a is on that crew I think that's a mistake I think one one aspect is. You need to have somebody who's local who understands the landscape who understands the community who can help people through a hairy situation. So I think that's one one um thing that that people may not think about when they're sending field crew out there that. Um, I'll leave it open for others and see if others have ideas. 03:09.58 archpodnet Well first off what I what I took from that before Andrew goes is no one should ever go to l a I totally agree, go ahead. Andrew. 03:09.61 Andrew Kinkella Okay. 03:16.16 Heather Yeah, yeah. 03:18.54 Andrew Kinkella Ah, man you just that is the ah that's the winner that is the answer to that question. Um, now I made so as we were talking I made a little list of stuff of like hey what you know hey some tips and tricks to keep yourself safe. Um. 03:23.36 Heather I think. 03:25.60 archpodnet Um, yeah. 03:31.70 Heather Oh. 03:34.62 Andrew Kinkella First based on my story in the last segment make sure you have good directions to the place. You know that's and that's a note not just to the staff but to the higher ups in crm I mean how many million times have we all experienced where like the office. 03:38.21 Heather Yes. 03:42.10 archpodnet Um, m. 03:53.60 Andrew Kinkella Gives you horrible directions. You know. 03:53.69 archpodnet Yeah. 03:55.15 Heather Well in this it is in this. Um, one little thing I'd like to add to that So There are people you know most companies Now. It's so accessible These apps. That can put the project location right On. It's highlighted in Blue. There's no reason Yes, you need directions. You need an address a lot of times these projects I don't have addresses yet right? and so especially if they're in the middle of Nowhere. So having. 04:06.50 Andrew Kinkella Um, yeah. 04:11.97 Andrew Kinkella Um, right. 04:17.70 Andrew Kinkella Um, yeah. 04:23.57 Heather Every one of your staff has an app on their phone that provides like you have a general area but then as you get closer to the area you can look and see that you that the boundary is outlined that to me as a must you have to have that. 04:34.66 Andrew Kinkella Yes, yep, it's huge and I would say most projects I worked on you know in serum over the years the first week or so we didn't have it. You know it's like. 04:38.23 archpodnet Me. 04:48.60 Andrew Kinkella Ah, wait you turn near the old oak tree and you go five hundred meters you know it's like no no, no like that needs to happen before so um directions and then if you're in like a crap situation where you have to deal with somebody. You know like I did racking their shotgun or whatever. Let's say it's even not as extreme where it's just you know angry. 04:48.30 Heather Um, right. 05:08.90 Andrew Kinkella Just got to be friendly move slow because they're they're going to be really Jittery and who knows if they have a gun. Um, another note to sort of see our M firms make sure everyone has a business card I find that a business card is a fantastic shield. 05:20.33 Heather Yeah. 05:24.70 Andrew Kinkella You just because you can kind of start the conversation with hey and you sort of give the business card as you smile, you know and go hey I'm just here to do this thing look professional if it's that first day make sure you're wearing your like good field stuff. Yeah and and look at of course. 05:38.46 Heather Ppe Also ppe. Yeah yeah, exact looks official. Yeah. 05:43.70 Andrew Kinkella All your you know? ah and that that ppe looks good. Maybe it's the day that you yeah, you wear the polo from the um from the company you know you look like you're supposed to be That's huge. It's just that. Um, yeah. 05:49.19 archpodnet Me. You know, just just a note I got to say a note on that too because the professionalism you know out in the field really goes a long way right? It's like it's like when I was in college and I was I was working at Kinko's when it was still kinko's and you know if I didn't really try that hard on a report. 06:03.16 Andrew Kinkella M. 06:03.23 Heather Oh. 06:13.92 archpodnet All I had to do was bind it put it in a nice cover and glossy color everything and make it look good and it seemed like I did a good job because you know it's like when you sell your car. You get it detailed right? because it people don't look a little closer. Well, it's kind of the same thing if you're wearing you know. 06:22.82 Andrew Kinkella Um, yeah, absolutely. 06:23.73 Heather Um. 06:31.77 Heather Looks apart. 06:31.98 archpodnet If you don't look like you're a bum and to be honest, a lot of people's a lot of people's field clothes. You know they do not look great right? They for some reason field clothes fit this like they don't want to look like you know that guy Josh from expedition unknown, whatever it is because it looks like he just bought his stuff from you know, ah Rei which is fine. He's on Tv. 06:37.51 Andrew Kinkella Yeah. 06:44.47 Andrew Kinkella Yeah. 06:51.61 archpodnet But also you know you don't want to look like a bum and I'll never forget this guy in Miami when we were on this project and they had us. They had us staying in a courtyard Marriott so you know not not a motel. 6 was a courtyard Marriott with a restaurant downstairs and in the mornings they had. 07:05.10 Andrew Kinkella Um. 07:09.20 archpodnet The restaurant opened for breakfast and like continental breakfast like you know, orange juice and you know little things and ah he comes down and he's got I mean no shade on anybody's tattoos but I'm sorry if you have neck tattoos you're going to look shady in certain circumstances. So not only did he have neck tattoos but he had like ripped up Jean shorts. 07:20.83 Andrew Kinkella Right. 07:23.36 Heather Um, one. 07:27.51 archpodnet Like a ripped up cutoff I think like flannel style shirt or something like that and he he literally looked homeless and that one of the guys that that was running the restaurant comes out and was trying to get him out and he's like dude I live here and thought he was because there's a lot of homeless around there trying to get in and just you know, just just do what they're going to do and. 07:38.31 Andrew Kinkella In yeah. 07:42.71 Heather Right. 07:46.23 archpodnet They thought he was homeless but he's legit A a decently paid archaeologist working on a project across the street. You know has an education has a degree but nobody would have known that and that's how he was treated and if you're seen like that out in the field I mean what do you expect? you know. 07:51.20 Andrew Kinkella Um, yeah. 07:51.19 Heather Um, right? Great yeah I think oh go ahead. Andrew. 08:00.59 Andrew Kinkella Exactly and I was just going to say that you know that Chris started that saying yeah ah relating it to detailing cars. It's like yeah detail yourself detail yourself. You know? and and I'm not here to say that I go out in the field in a polo and good genes every day but those first day or 2 you know when you're meeting people. Yes, you know do that? think about that it it just it. It brings so many happy returns if you do simple stuff like that. 08:21.49 Heather Right. 08:24.84 archpodnet Um, yeah. 08:26.83 Heather So I think that this you know this plays right into talking about the company's right responsibilities reverses the staff responsibilities so you know in the end you want yourself to be safe and sometimes you're working for a smaller company that doesn't have all. The tools at their disposal or they choose not to and so I think that either you choose not to work for companies that don't have that safety I mean obviously there's things that they have to have but the extras are trainings when 1 thing that we started. We've been. 08:47.83 Andrew Kinkella Yeah. 09:04.28 Heather Realizing that our staff has been coming across dogs more and more and more often and so and and guard dogs I mean these dogs if you're if I live in the middle of nowhere in a trailer. Um I'm probably going to have a guard dog too. So and. 09:08.66 Andrew Kinkella Um. 09:19.45 Andrew Kinkella And. 09:20.95 Heather These guard dogs their job is to make sure that um they alert the owner when somebody is on the property and they're probably not that friendly. So we started training our staff to on how to handle aggressive dogs and. I think that that's probably few and far between I don't think there's a lot of companies that do that. So if you are in those kinds of situations taking it upon yourself to even do some googling to train yourself to take a look and see if you can find you know there's lots of free training out there. Um. Even if you're just reading up or if you're working for a company that does provide that training making sure that you're paying attention to it so that when you as Nas needed or working for a company that doesn't have that training you still have that in the back of your head so you do as a staff have responsibility to train yourself up. Um. 10:09.16 archpodnet Yeah. 10:16.15 Heather And I do believe that companies have a responsibility to train the best that they can um, but of course you can't anticipate everything so just having a cool head is is 1 um, aspect of of keeping yourself. You know, safe on site. But. The other is making sure that you're training for whatever situation you at least currently know could happen. 10:41.46 Andrew Kinkella Right. 10:42.80 archpodnet Um, yeah I agree. Um there's there's a lot of circumstances when I've been on the field as well where we just weren't given enough information right? um. 10:52.24 Heather Who. 10:52.91 Andrew Kinkella Totally. 10:55.20 archpodnet We we weren't getting enough information as crew chiefs from the company and then we look like assholes when we go out there. Um, and also you know have business cards and things like that that you can hand somebody so they can even if you don't have a business card and I never once had a business card in Crm like as a crew chief they're probably not going to give you that especially if you're not permanent with the company. 11:12.18 Heather Right. 11:14.14 archpodnet But bring the business cards of the Pi out there right? because chances are they have business cards and you can hand that off and say listen if you got any questions talk to this person just sit there just set their minds at ease. Um, and. 11:24.64 Heather I Think that's a better idea. Actually the field. The um, the field manager because if you have a card yourself. You don't want them calling you I'd rather I'd rather give the P a P I's card. 11:28.47 archpodnet Yeah, well, that's true point. Yeah. 11:32.41 Andrew Kinkella Oh no I disagree just a little bit. You put your name on it. But it's just the company phone or whatever you know like so that because. 11:42.36 archpodnet That could be it. Yeah yeah, yeah for sure. 11:43.82 Heather Yes, exactly and we have we have separate we made um company cards specifically for that. So um, it doesn't have any 1 specific name on it or um, it's just the ah phone number for them to call. 11:51.80 Andrew Kinkella Um, yeah, it. 11:52.14 archpodnet Um. 11:57.38 Andrew Kinkella It it is good if you have the specific name though I made a big stink about this years ago with one of my companies I'm like you make me business cards because I knew how important they were in situations like this and it was the right thing and how hard is it to get some printer and print out some business cards with somebody's name on it. 11:57.53 archpodnet Yeah. 12:00.39 Heather Yeah. 12:13.11 Heather No you but I wouldn't want my personal number That's what I'm saying is you don't want your so you can have your name where you have a card and it has a line that you can write your name on it but it has the company contact. Yeah yes, yes. 12:15.91 Andrew Kinkella Piece of cake. No no, no yeah, but like yeah, but yeah, but you need your name. You need your name printed professionally in that moment because it's that moment. Where you meet that person for the first time and if you're just giving them some bs card that has nothing. You know it's just like company core. But if it's your name they go. Oh okay, you're Andrew yeah, you know and it makes that connection. Yeah, and that's that's that moment you know you only have that one first impression. 12:36.98 Heather Ah e. 12:42.88 Heather You're legit right. 12:47.43 Heather Right. 12:49.24 Andrew Kinkella And to me it's really it sounds really small and silly but to me that's really important. 12:55.44 archpodnet Ah, yeah. 12:55.87 Heather Yeah, um I think finally let's talk for the end of the segment on how do you know when to leave and what are your next steps. That's yeah and I think that you know for project managers That's where preparing. 13:00.36 archpodnet Yeah. 13:02.89 Andrew Kinkella Um, when in doubt leave easy. 13:13.50 Heather Staff before they get there for what they might encounter is a good way of not that you're trying for them not to leave in a dangerous situation of course but people are going to feel more uncomfortable if they don't know what they're going to encounter and then they're surprised by what they encounter. 13:15.22 Andrew Kinkella Yeah. 13:23.20 Andrew Kinkella Yeah. Right. 13:32.91 Heather When really it may be fine. Let's say as a project manager I have a client who in that client is the person who's living in that trailer and they are ah you know they look weird or they're aggressive. But I've worked with them and they're. 13:45.94 Andrew Kinkella Yeah. 13:52.30 Heather And they're cool. But if I don't go and tell the field staff that's going to be there that this is the kind of individual that you're going to be running into. Um they look you know, not that you're making any stereotype stereotypes or anything but that you're saying it's this person this is his Name. He's expecting you, You're set you need to set up your staff for success and if you don't you just say here's the address go and do it. That's not setting up your staff for Success. So and and that's when people feel uncomfortable and that's when people feel uncomfortable. That's when people decide to leave and it might be premature. 14:20.37 archpodnet Um. 14:27.68 Heather Where if you were to give them all the information before they get out there. They're less likely to feel uncomfortable and to leave when maybe it wasn't necessary. So I think the key is really a project manager properly preparing their staff but there are situations where I've had staff that. 14:40.95 archpodnet Yeah. 14:46.71 Heather Have called me and to me if for those that are as as needed. Um, and you're afraid I mean I was in that position too where I don't want to be the person who just leaves right? and so I push it a little bit further and push it a little bit further and I feel like I'm not in a safe situation but I don't want to be that. Person who left the site and didn't finish the work. So if you feel like you're in that situation. You go back to your truck and you call the person your contact the person has sent you on that survey and you explain to them the situation and they can work you through it that way they have investment that way they have. Um, you know they they may even know something they should have told you but they didn't think to tell you and they can walk you through the situation like um I've had situations where um, our client didn't give us all the information and then our staff goes out on site. And they get into a hairy situation. They don't feel comfortable. They go in the truck they call me I call our client say hey this is what they encountered and every and and the guy goes. Oh yeah, yeah, that's so and so he's a little squirly but he's fine and then within 20 minutes every everything is is settled. And they're able to complete the survey. But if you don't have those lines of communication now a whole day a shot and they have to go back out there. So. It's all it's communication and preparation ahead of time is key to avoiding some of those situations. 16:06.60 Andrew Kinkella Um, yeah. 16:10.50 archpodnet Yeah. 16:18.77 archpodnet Indeed all right? Well with that. Let's wrap up this conversation on the other side. We'll be back for 7 3 in just a moment.