I was invited to be on an audit team assessing a contractor's jobsite safety program for an out-of-state safety awards process. The contractor's application indicated the project team had a few minor injuries, but it also stated that all required programs were in place. The contractor touted the fact that they hadn't had a losttime injury in years and were performing great as far as safety was concerned. I commented, "We haven't called them 'lost-time' injuries since 2003. They are now classified as DART injuries, meaning Days Away from Work, Restricted Duty and Transfer to another location." During the audit process, several auditors and I were allowed to interview field craft workers to determine if the safety program was as stated and whether or not the company lived up to its talk of safety excellence. Wow, did our team get an earful of disconnect and discontent!
We have a right...yeah, right!
I was perturbed after listening to the workers' plight about wanting a safe jobsite. Workers were told not to report job injuries and, if they needed to see a doctor, to go to their own personal physicians. What we heard was ridiculous. Next, during the audit process, I interviewed the project manager and asked about workers' statements regarding injury. The leader informed me that he had a right to run his job as he saw fit. If claims were not reported to their insurance carrier and the injured workers went to their personal physicians, he believed the company and the project could save money. He was 100-percent correct. They could save money, but doing so was an injustice to the workforce. It also violated that state's workers' compensation laws. No company has a right to harm a worker or to allow a worker to be harmed at the workplace. A company has every right to protect workers and prevent injury, whether it was caused by a worker or a leader.
You might guess what my scores were for this contractor. They ended up where they belonged: at the very bottom.
Acceptable injuries
In my dictionary, there is no such thing as an acceptable injury since every injury is caused by something that could be averted. The safety awards audit process brings out the good and, in some cases, the bad. During the interviews, employees were asked if the company had a target goal for injury. The majority replied "yes." We were told the company strived to have a 2.0 total recordable incidence rate. After hearing that, I turned on my internal calculator. For a 2.0 incidence rate, the company would have two out of every 100 workers become victims of a recordable injury. So, in safety meetings, the workers were told that, "We want a 2.0 record, and let's all work together to get it." It sounded like they believed two injuries for each 100 workers would be acceptable, but if three of each 100 were injured that would not be OK.
For an injury to be acceptable to management means a disregard for workers' lives and limbs as well as for the families of the injured. It is my opinion a leader is inhumane if he or she puts production, money or anything else before an employee's welfare.
As a longtime safety professional and consultant, I've seen the highs and lows from the best in the industry to the worst. When asked what is the biggest difference between best to worst, I always say, "The best companies care for workers and will do anything to end at-risk decisions that could lead to injury."
December data
This is the time of year each contractor begins calculating its incidence rates, preparing its OSHA logs for posting and guessing what went wrong or trying to recover from unexpected and undesired losses. It's also the time of year when gifts are given to those on the "nice" list. Here's a hardy "thank you" to contractors who show great care and the desire to prevent hurts. For those on the naughty list, you get a resounding "better luck next year" along with these words of wisdom: Care enough for your employees to be willing to change by seeking to preserve workers and their families. You may then get yourselves back on the nice list.
For more information, contact HASC by visiting www.hasc.com.