Immediate termination for safety violation?
aliciac
88 Posts
Employee 1 is adjusting the blade on a radial arm saw, and has not followed proper lock out/tag out procedure.
Employee 2 decides, as a joke, to turn on the saw while 1's hand is inside and very very close to the blade.
No injury occurs, but 1 could have easily lost a finger, or entire hand.
I suggested that we write 1 up for failure to adhere to lock out/tag out, and terminate 2 for blatant disregard for safety regardless of the outcome of the incident.
My outdie HR consultant agrees with me 100% but I'm getting resistance from the foreman and manager because it's 2's first safety violation. I don't beleive that progressive discipline is at all appropriate in this case.
Could you help me with some ammo against their arguements? Perhaps case law involving employees suing for inactivity on the company's part after serious safety violations?
Also, 2 left for a 3 week vacation outside of the country only days after the incident. Can we just mail him a termination letter or do we need to actually contact him either in person or over the phone should we decide to go ahead with the termination?
Thanks!
Employee 2 decides, as a joke, to turn on the saw while 1's hand is inside and very very close to the blade.
No injury occurs, but 1 could have easily lost a finger, or entire hand.
I suggested that we write 1 up for failure to adhere to lock out/tag out, and terminate 2 for blatant disregard for safety regardless of the outcome of the incident.
My outdie HR consultant agrees with me 100% but I'm getting resistance from the foreman and manager because it's 2's first safety violation. I don't beleive that progressive discipline is at all appropriate in this case.
Could you help me with some ammo against their arguements? Perhaps case law involving employees suing for inactivity on the company's part after serious safety violations?
Also, 2 left for a 3 week vacation outside of the country only days after the incident. Can we just mail him a termination letter or do we need to actually contact him either in person or over the phone should we decide to go ahead with the termination?
Thanks!
Comments
Personally I would suspend the employee without pay, let him know that the next occurance of any sort and he will be terminated immediately. However it probably has already hurt morale knowing that he got in an accident, violated company policy and then immediately following took three weeks paid vacation.
This is not a good situation for anyone there except employee #2. Let us know how it all worked out...thanks.
1. Your original post indicates there were "days" between the incident and when #2 went on vacation. Was there an interview conducted with him about this incident prior to his leave? If NOT my opinion is you really should conduct one as soon as he returns before making a final decision.
2. Your other posts indicate that #2 is a "problem" employee with some managers/co-workers, is this documented in his reviews? If not these admissions, in my opinion, should NOT enter into your decision to terminate. Your decision should be based solely on documented facts and your policy.
3. PLEASE don't terminate during vacation. Wait until you are face-to-face to review the incident and possible termination. If you haven't spoken to #2 about this incident, there could be facts you are unaware of. Also there are HUGE risks with any termination and being terminated after probably spending lots of bucks on a vacation will add even more stress to an already emotional situation.
I wish you the best of luck with this one....
2. This is not documented because the foreman likes him, and is the one who does reviews. I know this shouldn't enter into the final decision but it's proven difficult to seperate that from his actions.
3. We don't plan to terminate during the vacation. We will certainly have a face to face if that's the route that we end up taking.
Other professionals, however, clearly feel this is too harsh. I'm a bit confused as to why anyone would allow a person like this to stay. I'm also very concerned that the employee who had the 'joke' played on him would have a case for some employment practices liability suit or something.
Anyone hear of such a case being brought for improper handling of a safety issue?
Good luck and I will be watching to see what you actually do.
If that, however, isn't enough justification for terminating #2; what about terminating him for violating your "Violence in the Workplace" policy. If one of our employees attacked a fellow employee with much less possible serious ramifications, we would term that employee. We termininated an employee two years ago for THREATENING to bring a gun to work to hurt another employee. It was just a threat. No actual gun was involved and the threatening employee said he was just joking, but we still terminated the employee. In the investigation the threatened employee didn't think it was a joke. In your case #2 actually did something that could have maimed another employee for life and possible even killed him (could have bled to death if arm or hand had been severed).
Bottom line get rid of #2 before someone is seriously hurt. You have more than enough justification.
In the case of #1, this warrants a warning at the minimum, assuming your company has kept up with your lockout/tagout authorized level training. If he has violated your policy before, it may warrant a final warning or termination. If you haven't done documented annual authorized-level lockout/tagout training, you need to do this ASAP.
You have to have a no tolerance policy for safety violations, or you are condoning an unsafe work environment and setting yourself up for trouble.