ignoring of safety rules

Whatever

Yesterday, we had a very serious accident. The ee lost parts of two fingers, one on each hand. The ee had previously been warned and even had a suspension for ignoring safety rules. Yesterday's accident resulted from the ee removing the guard from the machine. The company rules state that only a mechanic may remove the guards and this after doing lockout-tagout. This is the reason the ee had previously been suspended. If he had not been injured, he would have been fired. However, I am concerned that this would look like retribution. Any suggestions

LindaS

Talk to your attorney!!! This is a tough situation but I'm assuming you have documentation regarding the employee's failure to follow these rules in the past so if you decide to terminate it would be for the failure to follow these rules and not due to the subsequent injury although I'm not sure how the courts would view this.

Good luck!!

Balloonman

I have been there done that. If your documentation is in order, FIRE him! Remember the outcome of the incident should not guide your actions. The fact that you said you would have fired him if he was not hurt says it all! I would not worry so much about talking to the lawyer, touch base with your work comp. carrier, explain the situation to them. See if they can deny the claim, or reduce the permanent award since he took off the guards.

The one thing I would do is make it clear, he is being terminated for violating your safety policy, end of discussion. But for his removing of the guard(s) he would be working for you. Also if you have a restricted duty policy I would discuss with your WC claim manager about stopping any TTD benefits once he would have been back on restricted duty. His violating the safety policy got him canned, if not for that he would be back on restricted duty. Often you can stop paying TTD if this is the case depending on state law. It is similar to those injured workers who get canned for attendance. If terminated for rules violations and not for getting injured, you can stop payment.

Review your past disciplinary actions related to similar offenses. Surely you have termed someone before who did something similar, but did not get hurt. This will go a long way towards supporting your case.

Don't be shy, it is also a good time to re-educate your employees about guarding issues and your policy. Don't specifically mention the employment action with this guy, focus on wanting to make sure this does not happen to anyone else!

My $0.02 worth.
DJ The Balloonman

Balloonman

Whatever, what did you end up doing?
I am curious.
DJ The Balloonman

Whatever

Life is never as simple as it seems. The supervisor was terminated. The supervisor was aware that the guard was off and ignored it so that he could terminate the employee for ignoring the rules.(sometimes I feel as if the situation wasn't real). After lengthy talks with union, employee got a final warning. Of course, the employee probably won't return to work in the very near future.

Balloonman

Wow, well that will send a very strong message to the employees about machine guarding though. And the employee paid a significant price too. I would still check into WC rules, you may be able to reduce the amount of a settlement he gets for removing the guards.
He would have been better off just getting fired and not injured.
My $0.02 worth.
DJ The Balloonman