Occupational Safety and Health Administration on Personal Alarms

I had a very interesting conversation this afternoon with a director from OSHA from one of our largest States.  There's a growing awareness of the benefits of "arming" mental health staff with personal alarms.  As he and I talked about the strategy behind the use of carrying a personal alarm, I thought it might be valuable information to share with you and preserve here on the blog.

• Carrying this alarm should make you more vigilant.  Get in the habit of practicing increased situational awareness
• Pull the plastic tab and discard it.  Test the alarm for 1 second by pulling the pin and quickly replacing it so that you understand what it sounds like.

·      Carrying this Vigilant alarm has two intended benefits in the event of an emergency:

1. Obviously, it gets the attention of anyone in the immediate vicinity
2. More importantly, it disrupts the thought process of the potential assailant.  They don’t know what it is, and they don’t know how to stop it.  All they know is something unexpected just happened, introducing the element of surprise to your side and buying you a critical 10-15 seconds for you to act

Never feel apologetic if you are ever in a situation that causes you to pull the pin.  You may never know what the results might have been had you not taken action.  

Thanks To You - Vigilant PPS8G is #1 Best Seller on Amazon

Thank you all for helping to make the Vigilant PPS8G Alarm the #1 best selling product in the entire category of Security Sensors and Alarms at Amazon.com!

(Well, not all of you.  Just those of you who bought one!  :-) )

http://www.amazon.com/gp/bestsellers/electronics/14241131/ref=sr_bs_1

Introducing the Lorex brand to VigilantPPS

We are now an authorized retailer for Lorex branded security and surveillance systems. Here's a link to the first new product from VigilantPPS featuring Lorex :

http://www.vigilantpps.com/lorex-lnc116/

A Tough Calling - Being a Correctional Officer

Being a corrections officer would be a tough calling.

• Correctional Officers (CO’s) have the second highest mortality rate of any occupation.
• 33.5% of all assaults in prisons and jails are committed by inmates against staff.
• A CO’s 58th birthday, on average, is their last.
• A CO will be seriously assaulted at least twice in a 20 year career.
• On average a CO will live only 18 months after retirement.
• CO’s have a 39% higher suicide rate than any other occupation,
• And have a higher divorce and substance abuse rates then the general population.

Sources: “Stress Management for the Professional Correctional Officer”, Donald Steele, Ph.D., Steele Publishing 2001 “Corrections Yearbook 2000, 2002”, Criminal Justice Institute, Middletown, CT “Sourcebook of Criminal Justice Statistics 2003”, Bureau of Justice Statistics, 31st edition, NCJ 208756 “Suicide Risk Among Correctional Officers”, Archives of Suicide Research, Stack, S.J., & Tsoudis, O. 1997 Metropolitan Life Actuarial Statistics, 1998 Society of Actuaries, 1994 

We at VigilantPPS.com are thankful for our second order of alarm products from the State of Colorado Department of Corrections.  Our thoughts travel with each alarm to your corrections officers.  We are honored that our alarms will be part of your comprehensive plan of safeguarding the people who safeguard us.  Thank you Colorado Department of Corrections!  

It Failed Our Test, So We Won't Sell It

One of the promises that our company founders make and keep is that they will never sell you a product they wouldn't recommend to a friend or relative.  One of the best parts about being a small company is that we get to make decisions for the right reasons.

We recently received a shipment of pepper spray from a new supplier that we intended to market for "back to school."  Rachel (our VP of operations) put it to the test.  As pepper spray can be used as a weapon against the carrier, we are particular about how the product should perform.  This shipment failed our expectations.  

As a side note for you, if you ever do consider buying pepper spray, make sure you get one that shoots out in a stream (so you can direct it) vs. a mist/cloud.  Rachel is not a huge fan of pepper spray anyway, but we believe that some of the best in class products from manufacturers like Mace is what you should consider if you do decide to carry a weapon like pepper spray.  If we ever come across a product that meets or exceeds our expectations, we will make it available. 

So... back to the drawing board on the product we imported.  We likely will donate it or destroy it, but if we won't recommend it to our friends or relatives, we're not going to sell it to you.  Promise kept.  

Disturbing Story of American Child Kidnapped and Sold Into Sex Slavery

THE REALITY OF HUMAN TRAFFICKING IN THE AMERICAS: DISTURBING STORY OF A 9-YEAR-OLD ABDUCTED AND APPARENTLY SOLD INTO SEX SLAVERY

Sigh.

We will continue to fight until we breathe our last breath.  Hold your kids a bit closer tonight - Dave

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/05/09/the-reality-of-human-trafficking-in-the-americas-disturbing-story-of-a-9-year-old-abducted-and-apparently-sold-into-sex-slavery/

Act (The Last Phase of the OODA Loop)

On November 13th, 2012 and November 19, 2012, I blogged about the first step in the OODA loop, which is to observe.  On March 9, 2013 the blog covered the second step of the loop, which is to orient.  On April 8 2013 we covered the third phase of the process, which is to decide.  And now, we finish the loop by taking action.  

We're talking about an action strategy developed by USAF Colonel John Boyd.
Observe ---->  Orient ---->  Decide ----> Act

We're going to rapidly jump in on our decision with swift action.  No hesitation.  Nothing but 100% committed deliberate execution of the decision to act.  Simultaneously, we jump back to observing what circumstances are changing.  Measuring reaction.  Back to the beginning of the loop.  

Action needs to be a reflex.  The thinking is done and the action comes swiftly.  Decisively.  We act more quickly than our opponent can react.  Our action should be completed while they are still jarred back to their own observation step.  Our action is unexpected.  We have just broken their OODA loop, forcing them back on to our plan.

Observe ---->  Orient ---->  Decide ----> Act
Observe ---->  Orient ---->  Decide ----> Act
Observe ---->  Orient ---->  Decide ----> Act
Observe ---->  Orient ---->  Decide ----> Act

Safety doesn't happen by accident.  This is a life skill that you can practice, tune, and call on reflexively when needed.


Observe ---->  Orient ---->  Decide ----> Act
Observe ---->  Orient ---->  Decide ----> Act
Observe ---->  Orient ---->  Decide ----> Act
Observe ---->  Orient ---->  Decide ----> Act

Take outcomes into your hands.  Don't be a victim.  Teach yourself survival skills.  Practice the OODA loop.

Please email to dave (at) vigilantpps.com if you have any questions, suggestions, or observations about the OODA Loop.