How not to change a light bulb

[markspark7]

Sorry for the poor quality of the photo but I was in shock when i saw this happening.

This is one of my "highly skilled & competent " engineers at work.
He's stood on a beer crate on top of a girder crane . The crane is the old foundry kind that used to be controlled by an operator sat in the cab below but has now been adapted so that it's controlled by a hanging pendent.
The engineer got on top of the crane gantry , stood on the beer crate and the procedured to pull up the pendent an ddrive the crane down the factory to the light fitting in question.
He then started changing light fittings with the power still on!!

This is a clearer picture of what was below him.
Needless to say he had no permit to work, fall restraint,SSOW etc and when I saw what he was doing I had to wait for him to finish and return to the crane docking station for fear that if I shouted at him that this could make him fall.

I held an enquiry has I wanted the employee terminated for gross negligence however I was over ruled by the company directors as "that is what we've always done"! To say I was displeased would be an understatement.
This happened before I was in charge of H&S however as the maintenance /facilities manager I would have been prosecuted regardless even though I was unaware this sort of thing was common place.
I'd only been in the job a few weeks when it happened.

[bernicarey]

I held an enquiry has I wanted the employee terminated for gross negligence however I was over ruled by the company directors as "that is what we've always done"!

I think that you need to brief your directors on the requirements for manslaughter, both Corporate and Gross Negligence.
In addition, it would be worth advising them of the 2016 changes to H&S penalties, where they could be prosecuted on the potential outcome of an offence, not the actual.
Since the potential outcome this action could clearly be death, then they might want to consider how prison lifestyle might affect them.

Seems to me that their attitude could well indicate to the Authorities that they have encouraged such actions and are therefore worthy of feeling the full force of the Law.

[markspark7]

I held an enquiry has I wanted the employee terminated for gross negligence however I was over ruled by the company directors as "that is what we've always done"!

I think that you need to brief your directors on the requirements for manslaughter, both Corporate and Gross Negligence.
In addition, it would be worth advising them of the 2016 changes to H&S penalties, where they could be prosecuted on the potential outcome of an offence, not the actual.
Since the potential outcome this action could clearly be death, then they might want to consider how prison lifestyle might affect them.

Seems to me that their attitude could well indicate to the Authorities that they have encouraged such actions and are therefore worthy of feeling the full force of the Law.

I have done that already to be honest but it's the couture that's the biggest problem.
They have since appointed me as SHE manager on top of my other duties but they've also given me full control to fix the problems we have starting with putting 20+ managers and supervisors on the managing safely course.
The directors are also sitting in on the course and they've all been issued with copies of the 2016 sentencing guidelines for a bit of light reading.
Everytime i see an incident like the one above I go through the sentencing guidelines and send them and the relevent managers a nice email of the potential outcome to the business and themselves as well..
It's a really good tool for focusing their minds.

[grim72]

Blimey, where to start with that one? Sounds like they know they have issues - good to hear they are willing to back you up in making those changes happen. I've sent you a PM with some info which might prove of interest.

[bernicarey]

Just to make the point about responsibility, see this report from April this year:
http://www.ioshmagazine.com/article/con ... -six-years" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Principal Contractor

C Smith and Sons was found guilty of offences under Section 2 of the Health and Safety at Work Act and for breaching both the CDM (Construction Design and Management) and Work at Height regulations. Michael Smith has been jailed for eight months, fined £90,000 and ordered to pay £45,000 court costs.

and Subcontractor

BDC was found guilty of offences under Section 2 of the Health and Safety at Work Act and of breaching regulations 4 and 7 of the Work at Height Regulations, which require employers to properly plan and supervise work at height and ensure it is carried out in a safe manner. The company’s owner, Allan Thomson, has been jailed for six years, fined £400,000 and ordered to pay £55,000 court costs.

[Essex]

A bit strong trying to sack the geezer.

[jonsi]

A bit strong trying to sack the geezer.

so...he placed himself in danger with an act that was clearly unsafe to the least trained eyes and, in doing so, put the company at risk of prosecution, unlimited fine or worse.

what would you have done? Give him a bonus, a medal, promotion?

[PaddyT]

A bit strong trying to sack the geezer.

so...he placed himself in danger with an act that was clearly unsafe to the least trained eyes and, in doing so, put the company at risk of prosecution, unlimited fine or worse.

what would you have done? Give him a bonus, a medal, promotion?

I'm in full agreement. Anyone should be able to identify that this is a completely unacceptable practice and whilst I don't like to see anyone being fired there are times when it becomes necessary.

Judging by the other statements made by the original poster firing this individual may well have been the wake up call that the rest of the shop floor needs.

Aside from the fact he could very easily have killed himself and the company could have been prosecuted what if any of the tools and equipment he was using were dropped and hit another worker. The potential impact of unsafe work at height goes way beyond the person or persons who are doing the job but very often doesn't get properly taken into consideration.

[markspark7]

A bit strong trying to sack the geezer.

so...he placed himself in danger with an act that was clearly unsafe to the least trained eyes and, in doing so, put the company at risk of prosecution, unlimited fine or worse.

what would you have done? Give him a bonus, a medal, promotion?

I'm in full agreement. Anyone should be able to identify that this is a completely unacceptable practice and whilst I don't like to see anyone being fired there are times when it becomes necessary.

Judging by the other statements made by the original poster firing this individual may well have been the wake up call that the rest of the shop floor needs.

Aside from the fact he could very easily have killed himself and the company could have been prosecuted what if any of the tools and equipment he was using were dropped and hit another worker. The potential impact of unsafe work at height goes way beyond the person or persons who are doing the job but very often doesn't get properly taken into consideration.

Just as a bit of background infomation regarding the said individual, he has an HR file the size of a yellow pages, he's been late 20 times this year alone and his Bradford factor score is in the 1000s.
In my honest opinion I'll be glad to see the back of him and others like him as in my experience its not him but others around him that tend to get injured.

[markspark7]

Just to make the point about responsibility, see this report from April this year:
http://www.ioshmagazine.com/article/con ... -six-years" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Principal Contractor

C Smith and Sons was found guilty of offences under Section 2 of the Health and Safety at Work Act and for breaching both the CDM (Construction Design and Management) and Work at Height regulations. Michael Smith has been jailed for eight months, fined £90,000 and ordered to pay £45,000 court costs.

and Subcontractor

BDC was found guilty of offences under Section 2 of the Health and Safety at Work Act and of breaching regulations 4 and 7 of the Work at Height Regulations, which require employers to properly plan and supervise work at height and ensure it is carried out in a safe manner. The company’s owner, Allan Thomson, has been jailed for six years, fined £400,000 and ordered to pay £55,000 court costs.

This is my chosen method of making the directors realise the seriousness of the situation. Everytime a new copy of the IOSH mag lands on my door step I flick through it to find the relevent cases to back up my actions.
I find it really focuses the mind (and the wallet).

[slippy floor]

Surely the incident should have been taken as a lessoned learned for both parties, instead of asking for the guys head on a plate.
Luckily nobody was injured, and yes if there had been, this would be a different story.

The OP learned a lesson in that he has identified 1 poor procedure, also ask how many other poor procedure actions are going on as "we've always done it this way".
The engineer learned a lesson as well and should receive the necessary training / hazard perception to eliminate this type of behaviour.

Throwing the book at people for doing a task that "its always been done this way" to me is not the answer, education is. Now if the guy had been caught previously,re-trained with a SSoW and continued to carry out this action then yes disciplinary action is needed.

Health and Safety gets a bad enough name without using Thors hammer to drive in a drawing pin
.
Its better to get the work force on our side by working with them and helping to educate them. If a H&S Dept can work for / with employees rather than dictating, this can help to promote a better culture, instead of employees having a dislike / distrust of the H&S bods.

Yes you can always look at the worst case WHAT IF scenario, but as has been said a million times we should all stay in bed.
MMM now that's a though, nice comfy warm bed, like floating in a warm cloud.

[Mat]

Surely the incident should have been taken as a lessoned learned for both parties, instead of asking for the guys head on a plate.
Luckily nobody was injured, and yes if there had been, this would be a different story.

The OP learned a lesson in that he has identified 1 poor procedure, also ask how many other poor procedure actions are going on as "we've always done it this way".
The engineer learned a lesson as well and should receive the necessary training / hazard perception to eliminate this type of behaviour.

Throwing the book at people for doing a task that "its always been done this way" to me is not the answer, education is. Now if the guy had been caught previously,re-trained with a SSoW and continued to carry out this action then yes disciplinary action is needed.

Health and Safety gets a bad enough name without using Thors hammer to drive in a drawing pin
.
Its better to get the work force on our side by working with them and helping to educate them. If a H&S Dept can work for / with employees rather than dictating, this can help to promote a better culture, instead of employees having a dislike / distrust of the H&S bods.

Yes you can always look at the worst case WHAT IF scenario, but as has been said a million times we should all stay in bed.
MMM now that's a though, nice comfy warm bed, like floating in a warm cloud.

+1