Heeding the Clever Employee
- By Linda Johnson Sherrard, MS, CSP
- Feb 01, 2007
They wanted plugs to provide comfort as they hid in offices with closed doors or other locations and ignored the evacuation order.
"I
need ear plugs--what've you got handy? Can I have these?" This request
startled me, coming as it did from a senior-citizen-age office worker
whose regular work environment was one of the most tomblike in the
building. So I began to quiz her on what she needed and how she planned
to use the hearing protection, thinking maybe a music concert with
grandchildren, some target practice, or leaf blower/lawn work was
causing her concern. Unfortunately, this was not the case. "Your fire
alarms hurt my ears, so I want the ear plugs to help," she explained.
"It's about time for another drill, right?"
All safety professionals have acute radar for trouble, and my
antenna began to rise quickly and send up flares, knowing that trouble
had just surfaced. The bottom line was, this was one of several
employees in a multistory building who did not like the audible fire
alarms, had lost the battle to "tone them down," and now were plotting
ways to work around the issue. Specifically, the ear plugs were to
provide comfort as they hid in offices with closed doors or other
locations and ignored the evacuation order. Instead of seeing this as a
potentially lifesaving drill, these clever employees posed a new age
hide-and-seek, possibly endangering not only themselves, but also those
who must expend extra effort to search in a fire event--from floor
monitor to firefighter.
Clever employees keep safety folks on the edge of our seats. If
there is a way to circumvent a safety feature, they'll find it. It must
be a time problem; often, these employees (in my opinion) need more
work to keep idle minds busy. I hesitate to believe these folks would
want actual harm to occur to anyone. They just like bending the rules
to the breaking point or even breaking the rules as much as possible
without fully understanding the dangerous consequences of the game.
Others like the power to disrupt. Clever employees take many forms in a
work environment--ranging from the loud, belligerent, non-compliant
"expert without a clue" to the professional victim. Argumentative
employees are another clever type. They nitpick codes and dissect what
each word means and often twist the meaning to their advantage. Each
personality type can cause disinformation, controversy, disbelief, and
other less-than-sterling team-building feelings.
Consider your workforce for the presence of a clever employee. Most
safety professionals can call them by name and pet peeve. Some make us
long for retirement (ours or theirs).
Training and Awareness
Fire safety is a tough topic to keep fresh and moving forward for
employees. Burnout is a reality for safety professionals trying to keep
this message fresh, and the program demands on time are plentiful.
Any great safety program has fire safety in the front line, knowing
as we do that no other program has as much potential to save lives or
to cause utter destruction when it fails. No other program is more
essential than repeating basic fire protection at your facility until
each employee can respond in a timely and accepted manner without
overloading or boring them to tears. Fire safety is a rocky path to
tread; training must guarantee that safe behavior is second nature. The paper documentation serves as backup to the successful program, not as the program.
Basic fire safety training includes awareness, ably effected
evacuation, policy, and (in my opinion) a well-thought-out back-up plan
for when things go awry. For example, if your policy is for employees
to fight incipient-stage fires, the back-up plan should include enough
training to ascertain when the fire is out of control and to leave.
Policy and awareness must be consistent. The official written word
must be presented often and to everyone, before the workplace gossip
gets out of control concerning what is allowed. An example was a
section leader who talked often of using windows to escape down the
building façade instead of using the quickly accessible fire stair
escape. Make sure every employee receives the same information on
correct evacuation. One method is to send out "snippets" of policy or
protection features regularly. Put out an informational handout,
reference your workplace intranet with appropriate policies, and get
the correct information to everyone fast and often.
Few employees will read several pages of policy. Almost everyone will read three to five lines of bulleted safety tips. Also, tell them when something goes right. It builds confidence that your program is working in a positive way.
For all of the headaches, high blood pressure, and fits of temper
they cause, clever employees serve an astonishingly positive purpose:
They prevent safety professionals from forgetting or overlooking
important issues. Each clever employee serves as a barometer of how the
program is progressing. Silence is not golden in the safety field--it
usually means critical issues have fallen by the wayside.
This article originally appeared in the February 2007 issue of Occupational Health & Safety.