Re: Safety By Committment/Not by Choice-Injuries and Accidents By Chance/ Not By Choi
I'm sure you realize OSHA requires employers to take disciplinary action against unsafe actions and behaviors in the work place.
There's no discipline for getting injured. There is discipline for unsafe actions and behavior, including those which result in an injury.
Safety can't be enforced without disciplinary action. OSHA wants to see formal training and discipline to curb unsafe work behaviors and conditions. Without it they view the employer as apathetic and unwilling to enforce safe work practices.
FracusBrown,
I have not researched it, but I believe that OSHA believes in management enforcement of safe work practices, up to and including discipinary action.
I do know that reporting a workplace injury is an OSHA protected act.
The
truth is that your statement is corporate jargon. The purpose of this jargon is to try to rationalize and justify administering discipline, for example warning letters, for reporting a workplace injury.
The false claim that the discipline is for the unsafe act and behavior and not for the workplace injury report is as much of an insult to the injury (no pun intended) as is the actual discipline and reason for it.
The reason for it is to attempt to coherce, intimidate and bully the workforce so that this intimidation and harassment will put downward pressure on reported injury numbers.
The low level management people are being cohercde, intimidated and bullied into thinking this is the way to go. Remember when things go wrong the upper level management will cut bait and the low level management will be the bait.
If a company's culture is such that it usually only disciplines an employee for unsafe acts and behaviors when there is a workplace injury then you can do the math.
This is generally what happens at UPS
Sincerely,
I
