#3
Bored Panda reached out to Brook See, the creator of the “Looks Like An OSHA Violation But Ok” Facebook group, to find out more about this awesome community. Boasting a whopping 492.0K members, the group started as a tag group! Brook recounted: “I saw an image posted one day and thought tagging it ‘looks like an OSHA violation but ok’ would have been funny, and fully assumed a group already existed. When I discovered it didn't, I created it.”
The creator of the group knew right away it was going to be big, but he said he had NO idea how big it would actually get! “And how fast. At one point, we were getting a thousand post submissions a DAY,” Brook told us.
When it comes to the content that gets shared on the “Looks Like An OSHA Violation But Ok” group, Brook explained that it’s “curated based on whether or not it relates in any way to any trade, and showing something dangerous, stupid, etc.” Beware that violence and gore are strictly forbidden.
Moreover, the group doesn't allow cross posting or advertising of any kind. “I think the course duration and moderating helped the group's popularity quite a bit, as it had a more curated feel than some of the wilder groups out there,” Brook said.
#7
Brook also said that lately, no posts are being approved, or very few and far between. “With a group that size, EVERY post generates a ton of moderating, as people will argue about literally ANYTHING. It's just so much work to keep up with everything, so the group has been semi dormant for a while now.” Not entirely, Brook added, but “Looks Like An OSHA Violation But Ok” is no longer a 24/7 job like it was for some time.
“The audience is a little bit of everybody, but definitely attracts members of any trade,” Brook said when asked about the members of the group. “Due to the nature of the content, I believe this also added to the group's popularity, as much of the content is relevant and/or approachable by a wide audience,” he concluded.
“While perhaps one can say they are 'lucky' nothing has happened, that sort of behavior - the minor breaches - can lead to much bigger ones, or be indicative of general malaise or slipshod behavior, which can mount up and eventually cause huge problems,” Dr. Audrey Tang, a chartered psychologist, media spokesperson and author of multiple books, including "Be A Great Manager Now", "The Leader's Guide to Mindfulness," and "The Leader's Guide to Resilience,” told Bored Panda in a previous interview.
Dr. Tang explained that “with regards to the impact on employees - we only have a finite amount of energy we can devote to productive work within a day.”
She continued: “We know when we are ill, for example, that ability to focus diminishes and performance suffers - if a workplace is making someone sick, you have already reduced productivity (not to mention breached the trust of the employee), but also, even if an employee is worried about something they have noticed that is awry, their own mind will be distracted and in turn affect performance.”
Dr. Tang explained that the research into wellbeing at work previously looked more at the "hygiene factors” because they affected the satisfaction of employees if they weren't present (“a bit like if one didn't wash their hands, they could become ill”). “These include things like working conditions, behavior of immediate management, and the physical workspace.”
“However, more recently, people’s attention and the body of research have shifted more towards the organizational health speaks of 'psychological safety' as another element of health - at least emotional and mental health(!) - in the workplace.”
If a worker doesn't feel psychologically safe, “i.e. they don't feel heard, or perhaps they are criticized all the time, perhaps they don't feel they can ask if they need support,” it can be hugely detrimental to motivation, retention and performance. It also has a tremendous negative impact on the employee's mental and emotional wellbeing.
#17
