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Observe health and safety rules
By Lauren | August 6, 2010
Continuing my Friday series on keeping your business out of court, let’s look at a high-profile story that’s back in the news. Four months ago, an explosion at the Big Branch mine killed over two dozen workers. According to news reports, the mine had been repeatedly cited by inspectors for safety violations, but the mine owners claim they were always concerned with the safety of their employees.
Ri-i-i-i-i-i-i-ght …
It’s taken investigators this long to dig up methane gas monitors from the site of the mine explosion. Those monitors were intended to keep track of the level of methane gas build-up in the mines, to permit miners to stop working before equipment sparked a major explosion. NPR claims to have documented proof that the monitors were intentionally tampered with. They’ll be inspected tomorrow, and we’ll find out Tuesday (after families of the victims have been briefed) whether, in fact, someone prevented the monitors from functioning.
While I don’t know what the investigation will reveal, I’m ready to bet a sizeable amount of money that NPR is right. If it turns out that the monitoring devices had been tampered with, the next question will be whether it was done with the knowledge and consent of management. We’ll probably be told “no,” but that won’t entirely address the question. If miners believed that their bosses considered safety concerns less important than daily output, they might well have tampered with the devices themselves in order to make their quotas. If the management at Big Branch failed to require the miners to keep an eye on methane levels and stop work when they became unsafe, they’re at serious legal risk as well as deserving of every rotten thing than can possibly be said about them.
Here’s the thing. It’s entirely too commonplace for employers to pay lip service to safety regulations, then create a culture where any employee who doesn’t tough it out and stay on the job despite hazardous conditions is scorned as a coward or at risk of getting fired. Even if workers are willing to take chances, it’s up to employers to keep them from risking their lives. Yes, it may cost your company a little more to ensure that your premises are safe and healthy for your employees, clients and customers, but the increased costs dwindle when you compare them to the potential costs of a lawsuit. Maintaining safe and healthy premises will not only help keep your company out of court, it’s just the right thing to do.
Topics: Business Ethics, Risk Management, corporate responsibility, customer relations, ethics |
August 7th, 2010 at 9:33 pm
[...] Bloom has the second in her series of avoiding workplace law suits. Today’s entry talks about health and safety [...]
August 10th, 2010 at 4:36 pm
Certainly sounds like some dodgey goings on, but thats a hell of an accusation to make about the management rigging the devices.
March 8th, 2011 at 12:09 pm
I am also on the look out for Health & Safety blogs.It’s entirely too commonplace for employers to pay lip service to safety regulations, then create a culture where any employee who doesn’t tough it out and stay on the job despite hazardous conditions is scorned as a coward or at risk of getting fired. If it turns out that the monitoring devices had been tampered with, the next question will be whether it was done with the knowledge and consent of management. Your blog has been very useful for me and it provides very good content and too informative, Thank you.