Progressive Disciplinary For Being Unsafe

Cindy Hanna

Hi Everyone,
I was wondering if any one has a progressive disciplinary policy in place for being unsafe? I have two employees that always hurt themselves. We do not have any thing in place at this point but would like to. Actually we need to get some thing in place. If any one has this type of policy would you be willing to share it with me?

I appreciate your help. Thank you in advance

Have a great day!!! x:-)

Cindy

ray a

When they hurt themselves, are they deviating from procedure, are they guilty of unsafe work habits, or are they just accident prone?

In our company, anyone guilty of unacceptable behavior is also subject to our progressive disciplinary process. Unacceptable activities include, "Willful violation of security or safety rules or failure to observe safety rules or our company safety practices - failure to wear required safety equipment..." Anyone guilty of violating safety rules is treated the same as someone who is disciplined for poor attendance or performance or any other violation.

Our disciplinary policy is:

Verbal
Written
Unpaid Suspension
Termination

Don D

[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON 10-29-03 AT 10:21AM (CST)[/font][p]Cindy: Everywhere I've worked, safety violations are treated just as any other performance/behavior issue, utilizing the progressive discipline format. Your company should have some written statements as to what is considered unsafe. Any violation of those witnessed by a member of management should trigger your normal discipline policy. Some egregious safety violations may even warrant termination. Treat it just like you would somebody punching in late, leaving early, being away from the work area or not following work instructions. Until safety is ingrained into the culture of the workforce, it won't be taken seriously.

Cindy Hanna

Thank you Ray and Don for your response. I must of had a brain fart.

I hope you don't mind me asking you another question, but what would you do in this situation: I have an employee who injured himself last year around April. The employee was out all summer which is our busy time. He injured his left shoulder by falling off his truck. He injured is shoulder bad enough that he needed surgery. This employee is very over weight and knows how to play the system. He healed and came back to work a 5 months later. This year same employee claims he fell off his truck again re-injuring same shoulder. This happend in July. Out all summer came back October 27th fully released. Both times employee injured himself there were no witnesses. How would you handle this? If this employee happens to fall off his truck next year can I term him for not being able to do his job with out hurting himself? I am kind of desperate here with this employee. Can you tell?

Thank you once again. I really appreciate your insight. I am starting to get a little angry with this particular employee. I know I should'nt but I can't help it. He's a snake. Oh I did have workers comp put a survellance on him not enough evidence for any thing.

Have a great day!!! x:-)

Cindy

Whatever

There are safety violations that require progressive discipline (i.e. forgetting to wear safety equipment) and there are violations that require either an immediate suspension (unauthorized person removing a guard from a machine) to termination (driving a fork lift in a way that could endanger other employees as well as the driver).
Safety has to be taken very seriously and leadership has to come from management. Everyone is well aware that management has a low tolerance for the violation of safety rules. One place to start could be your workers' compensation carrier. Ours is a fountain of information and good advice.

POPEYE

I E-mailed you a sketch of our verbage on Safety disciplinary process.

Cindy Hanna

Thank you Popeye. I received your email.

Cindy

Don D

What in the world do you mean by 'fell off his truck'? Are you talking fork-truck or truck-truck? Both have seat belts!!!

Cindy Hanna

[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON 10-29-03 AT 10:46AM (CST)[/font][p]We are a ready mix company. Chutes are put on the truck for the concrete to go down onto the place where the concrete needs to be placed. The chutes weight approximately 50-60lbs.

The first time he fell: He fell while putting a chute on his truck. He lost his balance and fell.
The second time he fell: Fell off of semi while cleaning mirrors. He lost his balance and fell.

I hope this helps.

Cindy

ray a

Who is diagnosing his injuries, his own doctor? Consider having him go to a doctor of your choosing for a 2nd opinion. We have a lady who has all kinds of digestive tract problems in the summer and gets excused from work by her doctor - it is non-work related. Funny, my assistant drives by her house on the way home and has noticed their camper is often missing the days she is unable to work. I feel your pain.

Balloonman

Remember we discipline behaviors, not outcome. So the unsafe act is what is disciplined. Something we all must remember, is that the outcome of an accident is chance. It could just be a lacerated finger, or a severed tendon in the finger requiring extensive surgery.
As for your guy with the shoulder, do you have a wc doctor who will identify less than legit claims? Also it sounds like he is looking for the time off, a restricted duty program that makes him come in and do anything, keeps him from getting what he wants..............a paid vacation. Something to think about.
My $0.02 worth.
DJ The Balloonman

Cindy Hanna

Yes we brought him in on restricted duty. He had a fifty lb. weight limit. We talked to our wc carrier and put him to work for 471/2 hours per week. the reason why we had him work 47 1/2 hours is so wc would not have to pay any wages to him. when we bring employees in for light duty work we pay them 80% of there wages. WC picks the rest up. But in this case wc told us to bring him back at 47 1/2 hours so they would'nt have to pay him any thing. The next thing ya know he is fully released from his Dr. This could have went on and on. We only have 2 employees that know how to play the system and he happens to be one of them.

Have a great day!!! x:-)

Cindy