We all know by now that stress can be a huge issue for those in 911 dispatch. But, what if you could eliminate some stress with a few helpful suggestions, would you? Well, what about something as simple as improving your work area? Yes, the place where you spend a significant amount of time at during your work day. Think it’s worth a try to reduce stress and dissatisfaction? I do. So here are my tips for improving your work area:

I am lucky. Every day I step into my office, and there is my laptop. Nobody has touched it. I do not need to worry about if someone using my desk before me ate dinner, or if they are sick, or if they washed their hands after…. Ok, you get the picture. What can you do about a keyboard a mouse in a shared workspace?

As a Communications Supervisor, I often wonder how we can better protect ourselves from the germs, common cold and flu type symptoms, we all bring into the comm center on a daily basis. In my own center and in many of the centers I visit, I notice air purifiers, hand wipes and hand sanitizers sitting throughout the workplace.

I was listening to a Podcast interview with Robert Downey Jr. the other day, and the interviewer asked him how he goes about choosing his roles and knowing he’s going the right direction with what he does choose to do. Downey responded by saying that people who have 30 choices when choosing a fabric, for example, will never be 100 percent confident in their choice and will always think they could have done better. When given only three choices, people tend to be completely confident in what they chose, why they chose it and at the end of the day, feeling like they got the best bang for their buck. He’s picky! Downey’s response is so applicable in many arenas, but for the topic of this blog, I thought it was especially poignant — and not just because he looks awesome in that Iron Man suit.

When you start thinking about your 911 Comm Center and those little things you'd really like, you might start to come up with a wish list. Let's face it, everyone has a wish list! The focus is usually on the basics: height adjustable workstations, monitor mounting, cable management, and CPU storage. You've been good all year, right? So ask yourself - what about those little extras on your wish list? What do you really 'want for Christmas?'

We all have Moms and some of us are even Moms ourselves. After some time (and I'll admit, after my teenage years) it struck me, that maybe we should listen to our Moms a bit more often. So, I want you to close your eyes and think of a time when your Mom has told you to do something or maybe NOT to do something. There! Got it…? Now, with that in mind, read these helpful tips on how you can extend the life of your dispatch workstations.

Dustmites. Influenza. Common cold. Montezuma’s Revenge (OK, maybe that one’s a little dramatic). If you’ve ever been inside a dispatch center or spoken with dispatchers, you know one of their biggest complaints is that they work in a "petri dish". And in some ways, they do. The reality is that anywhere you find groups of humans working, eating and sneezing, you’ll find extra supplies of germs, viruses and more.

So how can Comm Center Managers combat the swarm of bacteria that constantly invade office environments? Believe it or not, outfitting your dispatch center with certain workstation materials can play an essential role in keeping these pesky goobers at bay.

Did you know that people spend approximately 90% of their time indoors? Did you know the air inside your 911 Comm Center can be 2 to 5 times more polluted than the air outside? YIKES! Indoor air quality(IAQ) affects your health and that is why improving the air quality in your facility is so important.  

What is a VOC?

There is more than one definition of the term “VOC”. The first, less commonly known acronym is referred to as the “Voice Of the Customer” and the second, more familiar “Volatile Organic Compounds”, which refers to the toxic gases that we can encounter in some indoor office environments. The former is demanding action on the latter.

The Importance

The EPA has estimated that indoor air pollution kills 11,400 people each year. Estimates vary on the amount of sickness and lost productivity this creates, but it is almost certainly significant. As would be expected, every year, more attention is being placed on long term worker safety and indoor air quality. It is in everyone’s interest to be mindful of the choices we make as it may affect our health, welfare, and productivity.

With so many cleaning products available for cleaning your dispatch workstation and consoles, a question we are commonly asked is "what cleaning product(s) will kill the most germs and help to prevent sickness in our 911 Comm Center?"

This can be a rather loaded question and can answer it in a few different ways. Assuming that most, if not all of you, want to clean your shared workstation to prevent against the common cold, flu, and various other bacteria and viruses that can make you sick. I’ll be discussing cleaners that are disinfectants/sanitizers. I find it best to mention the United States Environmental Protection Agency or EPA’s website as a good reference. Here you can find many products that have been evaluated for efficacy to make sure the public health label claims are accurate. (As with all cleaning products, be sure to read the label for proper usage and safety instructions.) I in no way promote these products and the purpose of this blog post was to explore what options are available for use in cleaning a your workstation and the pro’s and con’s of each.