Hello,

We recently had a high near miss, this was actually reported by the person who carried out the task unsafely and we have decided to discipline him.

What I want is to try and use this as an example to the other staff to show that if they do something which is not safe and violate procedures etc they will be disciplined or even sacked.

However as this was a near miss and was reported by the actual person carrying out the task I do not want to send out a message to say if you report near misses you may be disciplined.

Any advice??

Thanks

Katie

I recently attended a site and reported the Fire Risk Assessment had not been done.

The next time I visited a site managed by the same site Foreman he told me he had received a written warning 'cos of the fra and that he will aways do everything he should do in future.

He then received a glowing report as everything had been carried out.

The result of harsh discipline ?

To coin a well-known phrase, "I agree with" ... Frankc on this one.

He should be praised for reporting it - especially if he's not done something he ought to have done. If you penalise him then your accident reporting will plummet. It's one thing to have a word in his shell about not repeating his action/inaction but I think you'd lose out in the long term by disciplining him.

What you can do though is reinforce the need for safe systems of work and encourage your people to speak up if they're not sure - was the person in question fully aware he'd done wrong? Max is quite right to ask whether or not your systems are up to scratch - if there's a flaw in the system then why penalise an employee?

Dear,
Punishment shall be last resort to manage any situation. A human errs mostly because of system errors. So, your investigation shall dig out system failures. Normally, a person will not commit mistakes knowingly/intentionally.
Thx
Sanjeev

It seems very harsh to discipline someone for reporting an incident. That said, it does depend on the nature of the incident and the cause, for example, a dangerous and wilful rule violation may warrant such action.

Disciplining people for reporting near misses of their own volition will discourage reporting - that there is no doubt. Second, a person involved with safety should not be the 'judge and jury' and the decision to discipline or not should have been taken by another manager within the company if h&s is to have any credibility in your organisation.

It appears a near miss occurred due to someone's disregard for safety procedures, Bob unless i've misread the OP's comments.

I was recently on a site where an operative reported a near miss, this was in turn reported to the main contractor, within an hour of the near miss being reported to the main contractor & before any report had being completed they had issued a red card to the operative and wanted him removed permanently. It was pointed out that if the operative was removed from site for reporting a near miss, then there would be no more near misses reported. The main contractor refused to withdraw the red card until the client got involved, however the damage was done at this stage.

I agree with firestar967 "make a positive out of this negative".

As well as the toolbox talk on the ssow, it could be followed up with an internal safety alert - outlining the near miss, the possible outcome & corrective actions to prevent a reoccurance.

Surely the main point here is not about the disiplinary procedure being involked but one of training. If you do discipline someone who reports himself you wont get the next guy to report it. Give the guy the benefit of the doubt but make him realise he has done wrong, not by reporting it but doing it in the first place. Then undertake a check that he is aware of the correct method of work and encouirage others to take notice or if needed undertake a training/briefing on the topic. Result the reporting system remains intact and staff see you are responsive to correct any faults in the system. But dont for heaven sake kick the poor guy when he is at least being honest.

The ability to take punitive action (discipline?) is an important part of any management system. However, equanimity, equitability and equality in the use of corrective discipline is fundamental if you wish to obtain a culture which is disciplined. (professional, company and individually together).

Other forms of discipline such as positive recognition of conformity, supportive correction of behaviour, improving ability, learning from mistakes are often not what people mean when they talk of "disciplinary action", they mean punitive action and only punitive action. That is why it usually fails to provide any positive outputs.
The best use of discipline is only found alongside, or as part of, robust mature management where this single form of discipline is recognised as just that. A simple tool. Used in isolation, it is useless and negative; used as part of a robust culture tough decisions can be made and respected. It is that respect that negates the negativity.

We all make mistakes. If we get away with the mistake but then share it why should we expect to have punitive action taken against us? Surely we should be thanked not punished. On the other hand, if we make a mistake and there is a cost to others or the company then we might expect some proportionate corrective action if we are found wanting in some respect. Proportionate is the key word as it defines the personal consequences of failure and systems should be flexible enough to recognise that.

We all violate rules and regs. Sometimes by choice, sometimes because we feel there is no choice, sometimes because we think we know better or that the rules don't apply to me or the situation and sometimes because we don't know the rules or regs. Punitive action sometimes and sometimes not? Did you really do everything according to the book (ssow/swp) today?
If you reported your significant errors or failures how would it be viewed? Positively and you are on track, if you are saying get a life then why would anybody report anything except that which they could not hide or ignore; especially if they expect to be punished as a result of their failure.
Punitive discipline merely produces employees who fear failure and thus they will hide any failure for as long and frequently as they can. Executive, Manager, Supervisor and Employee alike.