| Your role in damage control |
Serious lost-time injuries are costly, and the
fallout can involve human and financial costs on many fronts
Those who have not had the misfortune to experience a serious
lost-time injury or workplace death in their facility, are unlikely
to appreciate both
- the full impact it can have in human terms
for co-workers, and
- all the financial implications for the organization.
These hidden costs can seriously affect
the company’s
profitability in the short and medium term. There have been instances
of plants closing, or companies going out of business, following
a major tragedy.
For workers nearby, the experience of a serious lost time injury
or death is a major tragedy. They may feel guilt (I could have prevented
it), remorse (the injury or death of a close friend, and concern
for the victim or his or her family), blame (we shouldn’t
have been doing the task like that,) anger (management should have
provided better protection), fear (it could have been me), or uncertainty
(how is this going to affect my job?)
Unless the organization is very sensitive to these feelings and
works hard to put things right with employees, morale will decline.
Management is focused on the immediate fallout from the occurrence,
and “touchy feely” issues involved in damage control
may take a back seat This can be a costly oversight. While damage
control may consume precious management resources that are urgently
needed to deal with the consequences of the injury, the costs of
not undertaking damage control are far more insidious.
Whatever management does in the face of a workplace tragedy, here
are some things you can do to alleviate the immediate pressures
within your department:
* Ask management for guidance
You may not get any at this time, or you may get a lot of help.
If you have polices and procedures to follow, follow them!
Otherwise
* Recognize that the rumor-mill will
be working overtime
You can be sure employees are discussing the occurrence and its
possible ramifications among themselves. They will be making judgments
based on faulty information, or no information, and their discussions
and suppositions are probably wide-ranging.
* The best policy is open discussion
and full information
Your actions and management’s actions may be misinterpreted.
Silence from upper management may be interpreted as callous indifference
to human suffering. If there is pressure to get on with the job,
team members may see this as management’s concern for profits
and nothing else.
* Call a meeting
Begin by expressing your regrets and empathy in response to what
has occurred and commiseration with those directly affected.
Empathize. “You may be feeling all sorts of emotions
today: a sense of deep loss, remorse, uncertainty, even anger. I
can sense how you feel and I share your feelings. Our manager is
grieving too. He asks me to express his regrets not to be here with
us today, but he is coping with the direct consequences of the tragedy.”
Give team members an opportunity to vent their feelings. Some may
wish to express their shock and discomfort. Give everyone a chance
to speak.
Promise to keep all informed. Once team members have gotten over
their initial feelings of shock, they may be thinking of how it
will affect each of them personally.
Explain to everyone what is known and not known about the incident.
If you have heard any rumors, do not repeat them. Only give factual
information. If your team members repeat rumors, do not try to conjecture
as to their validity. “I haven’t heard anything like
that. It’s just a rumor people are passing around.”
Point out that nothing can have been decided, as management has
not had an opportunity to give thought to what to do next. “Please
understand that management has its hands full, and it may be some
little time before they can give us their full attention. If you
have any questions, please fire away. If I don’t have the
information, I will try to find answers, and get back to you as
soon as I hear from management.”
Everyone’s first responsibility is to get on with the job.
Close your meeting by reminding everyone that they are there because
they have a job to do. Appeal to their sense of responsibility.
“Hard as it is to concentrate today, we need to realize that
customers are waiting on us, shipments have to go out, and the company
will be in even greater trouble if we do not maintain our professionalism.
Thank you one and all for your support in this difficult time.”
* Keep lines of communication open
After the meeting, and especially if there are unresolved issues,
talk about the occurrence every few days. Pass on anything relevant
that you learn, and promise team members that you will keep them
informed of all management decisions.
* Do what you can to help those affected
by the tragedy
For those in leadership positions, the job seldom ends when the
whistle blows. Charlie Morecraft was severely burned in a refinery
fire. He endured the terrible pain of debriding, and endured some
fifty operations over a period of five years along the path to recovery.
He has since made it his vocation to speak at company safety meetings
about his experience and the issues which led to his injury.
One of the things that stands out in his memory, Charlie reports,
is the close and active concern of his supervisor. “This man,”
he says, “was at the hospital every day. He kept in touch
with my family. He helped my wife find a babysitter when she wanted
to come in and see me; he interposed to see that my family was helped
financially while we were waiting for compensation.”
Surely that concern was not lost on the other members of the crew.
To earn and retain the respect and loyalty of all members of your
team, some of the most important ingredients in damage control are
an unwritten part of your job description.
|
|  
|
