Safety Ethics
Has anyone had experience where their direct supervisor asked them to do something where it put employees at risk or OSHA violation for the sake of profit??
If yes, how did you handle that?
Comments (6)
Yes to save production time. Talked to supervisor how it would feel to call that persons family if something went wrong. It would be on you and I. Then supervisor did what I asked. Believe it or not in today's world this still happens. It sucks being that guy.
At a previous job one of our employees submitted a complaint to OSHA as a direct attack on their supervisor. We had to post the complaint on our production bulletin board, and fortunately OSHA never came out to perform an inspection. It was a pretty stressful time for me, but the end result was positive as the issues were corrected and the supervisor changed his management style.
I have faced this issues more than I care to admit coming from the construction industry and still fight this today in my manufacturing facility with some of the older leadership and wanting to put production first.
Just the other day I shut 2 stand up fork lifts down and took the keys till the were repaired because they wanted me to over look it.
I have also shut down and locked out a blender because it wasn't safe the was they were attempting to use fall protection.
If it cost me my job then so be it. I will not compromise my workers safety in order to complete the job.
Yes, as a Health and Safety Consultant, I have had certain client contacts ask me to look the other way, or make an exception. I have told them NO! I have a responsibility to act ethically and not play with worker's livelihoods. I ask them to consider doing the right thing. I decline the request, document the event, and put my boss on notice. This is easy for me to do as a Consultant, but I am sure others may find it much more challenging.
Haven't experienced that issue. Maybe have a discussion about how injury leads to medical costs, compensation, legal fees, and higher insurance rates that will offset those profits?
Fortunately I have not. Maybe contact an OSHA compliance officer to directly document the ramifications of the potential violation? You could show this to someone above that supervisor. That is unfortunate that a supervisor has that type of mindset.