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January, 2009
Health & Wellness Incentives
Companies offer workers incentives not only to work safely but to live more healthily. Here are some numbers that document the use of health and wellness incentives by U.S. employers:
71 The percentage of employers who offer workers incentives to promote health and wellness (up from 62% last year)
192 The average value of incentives per person [...]
Whistleblowing: A Union Perspective
I read your article on whistleblowing. From my experience as a local union president, whistleblowers always pay a dear price and their career suffers. The organization has a long memory and the whistleblower will most likely be the last one promoted or given good assignments.
To my surprise, a Labour Relations’ Officer from my union told [...]
A Prevention Strategy: Part 3 of 3, Responding to Aggression
Last week, we explained what organizations can do to anticipate threats of workplace violence before they burst into actual acts. If acts of violence do occur, it’s obviously bad. Just how bad may well depend on your next move. There may still be a ways to contain the problem before it escalates. Let’s wrap up [...]
Contractors Who Leave Behind Dangerous Messes
The question we put to you last week was this: What can you do to protect workers who are safety conscious and responsible but who often must work at other sites that are dangerously littered with all kinds of debris left behind by other contractors? Short of them having to clean up others’ messes, how [...]
Discipline without Retaliation, Part 3 of 3
You can’t fire employees in retaliation for whistleblowing or other forms of protected safety activity. That’s a good rule. But here’s the problem. An employee who engages in protected activity might deserve to be fired for some other act or omission. Thus, the employee who shows up for work drunk on Tuesday shouldn’t avoid discipline [...]
Who’s Going to Run OSHA?
As in any administration, President Obama will rely on political appointees to formulate and carry out his OSHA policies. Not all of the new President’s key people are currently in place. But one is or soon will be:
Hilda Solis, Secretary of Labor
The choice of Ms. Solis, a 41-year-old Democratic Congress person from California, to head [...]
CHECKLIST FOR ANALYZING & RESPONDING TO RETALIATION COMPLAINTS
PART A: VALIDITY OF CASE
DOES EMPLOYEE HAVE A VALID CASE? [Yes] [No]
Explanation: A whistleblower’s complaint must make four allegations in order to be valid under law. The purpose of this section of the checklist is to determine if the employee has properly made all four of these allegations.
1. Does the Employee Claim He/She Engaged in [...]
How to Use the Media as a Communication Device, Part 1 of 2
A big part of a safety professional’s job is to anticipate and prepare for the unexpected. Unfortunately, every organization in the world is susceptible to surprises that can spiral out of control. And in those instances, organizations assume a new challenge: handling the media that show up to report on the incident.
The Media Factor
It’s 2007. [...]
Safety Culture: It’s Not Just Tools but Whether They’re Used
While the concept of the self-assessment test (measuring whether organizations empower employees to build a safety culture) in Wednesday’s issue of SafetyXChange is a good one, I think it’s misstated. The organization that promotes all of these activities is creating an atmosphere for employees TO BE involved and TO HAVE a safety culture. However, this [...]
The Tragedy of Sebastian Hizey
Last Friday night, Jessie Hizey of Tacoma, WA, took his six-year-old son, Sebastian, to Monster Jam, a monster truck show that tours the nation. It was Sebastian’s first monster truck show and he was quite excited.
One of the trucks in the show was a silver and red behemoth called Natural High. As it was performing [...]
