Another touchy topic, but hey I have never been accused of shying away from a good debate. I recently aquired a new client who had a serious accident at his/her facility. They hated the fact that one of their workers was killed; however their attitude towards lost-time accidents and OSHA recordables was very lax ("part of doing business"). The client is the parent company and I have been hired to do a "cultural investigation" the this plant and the company as a whole. What I am finding is very interesting; some quotes from interviews with all levels of the organization:
"Accidents are unfortunate events that are part of doing business in our line of work"
"Son I have been in this business, how old are you??? [my answer] longer than you have been alive and this type of work is impossible not to get hurt" (by the way, this veterna worker spent 15 minutes telling me about how he lost four fingers on his hand and was sort of proud of his dedication to his profession)
Does your company strive for an injury free workplace or just government compliance?
