Safety for the Health of it – Safety Speaker John Drebinger

Today, the health portion of health and safety came to mind. As with safety, health can be approached from the perspective of what can we do to protect our own health and secondly, what can we do to help insure the health of others.

On a recent flight, the passenger next to me had a cold. It would have been beneficial for my health if he had stayed home, yet I know that isn’t always practical. The disturbing issue was his persistent cough. If you fly very often, you know how dry the air on an airplane can be. If you have any tickle in your throat or chest it will increase the likelihood that you will cough a lot. The disturbing part of this scenario was the person didn’t choose to cover their mouth when they coughed.

To protect myself, I put a cocktail napkin over my drink so it wouldn’t sustain a shower of cough debris. I also realized I needed to do what I could to improve the effectiveness of my immune system That night, I would make it a point to get to bed on time to avoid being overtired. Also, I will make sure I am eating foods today that won’t make me sluggish. As a professional safety speaker I am always doing what it takes to protect my voice.

What could you and I do if we found ourselves in the situation of this passenger?

We could cover our mouth with each cough. Purchasing cough drops or cough medicine would have helped, also.