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Posted By Paul
I am sure there are a number of you who have come across this situation before and I would be interested to hear what you did to resolve it.
We have an adult employee who has been involved in a number of accidents, whether it be caused by her or someone else. She always seems to be in the "wrong place at the wrong time" She has been involved in a total 8 'recorded' accidents that have all resulted in a minor injury over the last 25 months; 2 were as a result of others peoples actions, the remainder in someway caused (as found in the investigation) by her. She has been retrained in all safe systems of work relating to her job, and constantly recieves reinforcement briefs from her supervisor on the need for her to work safely and to maintain awareness of colleagues activities when working in close proximity, particularly when involving MHE.
Taking into consideration the efforts we have made to date regarding retraining and reinforcement, I believe we would be fully justified in counseling her with a view to disciplinary action the next time she is involved in an accident where it is proved she has been in someway to blame.
My question is this: without going down the disciplinary route, what else do you suggest could be done to improve her safety performance?
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Posted By Peter John Scott
Well I would suggest that a review of the incidents might guide you to consider whether there might be any form of common denominator e.g slipped and trips? And if so have you considered the employees state of health.
I once had a guy who was falling over practically every week , we decided to get him checked out and the medical showed he had inner ear fluid causing him to momentarily lose his balance when he turned his head quickly.
Just a thought.
Peter
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Posted By Richard Lunn
Paul,
Could you give her a different job out of harms way?
Richard
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Posted By Merv Newman
Paul,
has anyone taken the time to observe this person at work ? Can you pinpoint any of her behaviours which could be unsafe ? If you can, then you might be able to identify some specific areas (2 or 3) which could be improved. This method, when dealing with individuals is much more efficient and effective than generalised safety retraining and reinforcement.
In addition to giving feedback when she is getting it wrong (and be very specific here), it is important to recognise and reinforce when she gets it right.
Criticising and punishing people when they are not doing what you want them to will lead to them giving the minimum effort required to avoid being punished. No more.
Positively recognising and reinforcing safe behaviours, especially the first time you see them happening, will encourage them to try to do even better in the future. They may give you much more than the minimum you required.
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Posted By Merv Newman
Further to the above : last year I audited a very large car plant (6 000 + employees)
One of the people presented to me for interview was "the most dangerous employee" - he had been injured more times than any of his colleagues. His emphatic opinion was that he "had never had an accident" He had been "involved in a number of incidents, but never an accident".
At the conclusion of the interview he ran across the main alleyway, dodging a fork lift truck and bumping into one of his colleagues. No injuries but a couple of "near misses" within the 10 seconds it took him to get back to his work post.
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Posted By Laurie
Agree withn all the comments so far, but I do incline to the view that some are just accident prone, and you have to be very careful when categorising people.
I have come across two individuals like this, and quite literally they seemed to attract accidents. If a chair collapsed in the canteen it would be the one they were sitting on; if the handle came off a cup they would be the ones carrying it; it would be their car, quite properly and legitimately parked, which a delivery truck would reverse into and so on.
I am sure many of us know accident prone but mainly blameless people like this. Just between ourselves I have to admit to occasionally actually taking this tendency into account when doing a risk assessment, all the while feeling as though I was dabbling in the occult!
Rational explanations there may be, but I am convinced that some people are just plain accident prone!
Laurie
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Posted By Jack
James Tye will be turning in his grave Laurie!!
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Posted By Jim Walker
Jack,
I agree there!
Laurie (and others),
What about root causes:
Cup/ Chair - equipment maintenance & inspection.
Car- poorly planned car park & insufficient control of vehicles.
Whenever I see an accident /incident report saying "the operative should take more care" I can always find an underlying management failure.
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Posted By Neil Pearson
Let's start from 2 positions.
One is that the employee shows the kind of behaviour mentioned by others in this thread, and is wilfully behaving badly. In this case, the disciplinary route you are following seems sensible.
The other position is that the employee cannot help themselves. In this case, consider (in a formal risk assessment) whether others are being put at risk. Since you've taken steps to manage the employee's behaviour already, it is then your duty to protect the others by finding another role for the employee or even dismissing him/her ultimately.
If you're not sure which of the 2 scenarios is true, you have to make a judgment call as best you can. At all times make sure you have legal advice from someone specialising in employment law. Also be careful to record every conversation, meeting, riak assessment etc.
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Posted By Victor Meldrew
Similarly Peter we had a specific individual within a team who was regualrly involved in accidents, incidents and near misses. Despite constant review of his job, eg job task analysis, risk assessing and reviewing, counselling, increased managment and supervision etc, etc, we couldn't reduce these occurrences - 12 in three years amounting to 27 lost time days - so........... his annual performance review. If successful workers get a bonus, 4% of annual salary, we thought ah!!! following years objectives no accidents, incidents in your area of work as a result of poor work standards, behaviour, attitude and so on.
Result!!! four years on and not even a near miss and this is not fudging the figures. Initially we felt he might be involved in incidents and just not reporting. But no. After the second successfuil performance review I asked him what was the problem? He replied that he always wanted to 'get the job done' instead of thinking about himself and his team members - funny though hitting him in the pocket was the only way that focused the mind.
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Posted By Kieran Duignan
'Victor Meldrew' has indicated one way of identifying a motivational path for controlling proneness to accidents.
A systematic method of doing so is to conduct a structured interview to identify the employee's motives, as described in her own words, using the technique of the repertory grid. Statistical analysis of her ratings on this grid, using the free online program WEBGRID, enables you to provide feedback about the underlying patterns of thinking about motives. It may indicate the financial incentive highlighted above but it could also indicate other motives that nobody has yet noticed.
As a H R professsional and chartered psychologist, as well as a RSP, I would see motivational interviewing as an appropriate step prior to any disciplinary action. It would also be likely to stand up well to scrutiny if the issue ever became a legal dispute.
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