How do you encourage people to use a safety system that benefits them if they keep coming up with excuses and reasons why they can't/won't?
As a company, we have a legal duty to require staff to carry out pre-use checks on machinery, but I swear that no matter how much I fettle the procedure to be as frictionless as possible, they always have some reason as to why they're not using it. It's aggravating as shit.
@shibashecurity Ultimately, I think you’re right here. Was just chatting to one of the department heads who’s instituted a rule that if people don’t do their checks 3 days in a row, they get a quiet word note on their record.
@DJDarren I'm thinking, path of least resistance... is there another way to get pre-use checks done, rather than that being the responsibility of people who resist and avoid doing it?
@eleanorrees Kinda, but not really. In theory, one person could be tasked with going around and doing them all, but in practice each machine should have its own check. So the end result is daily checks being the sole task of one person.
Thing is, operating a crane isn't something anyone is allowed to do. They have to have an up to date licence, which infers some level of critical ability.
When you say earlier, "EVERYONE on the floor knows what's broken, but NO ONE bothers telling anyone with the power to action a repair" - maybe if the Google form QR thing gave them the power themselves to notify the repair person directly?
@eleanorrees A good point. This is (kinda) what happens.
Their answers populate a spreadsheet, from which I've made a dashboard. Any Yes answers turn the cells green, and No answers red. So at a glance I can see if there are any issues and will go and find out what's up.
Unfortunately, I don't know how to automate that process any more than that, and can't convince them to actually come and let us know.
I've set up a simple system; you scan a QR code that's fixed to the machine, which opens a Google Form. You answer 7 or 8 Yes/No questions and go about your job. They don't need to provide an email address, they all have phones that can scan QR codes (or have access to one), but still there's always a reason why they're not doing it.
Or worse, a gotcha. As in "I didn't bother doing it because it would have failed on X or Y"
THAT'S THE FUCKING POINT, YOU SHITHOUSE. YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO REPORT FAULTS AND FAILURES OTHERWISE YOU MIGHT BE INJURED BY THE MACHINERY YOU'RE BEING PAID TO USE.
I'm slowly beginning to understand why management treat workshop staff like idiots.
But I genuinely don't understand the thought processes of the people who aren't using these systems.
They act like they're sticking it to us by not carrying out basic equipment checks, but, like, I'm not the one who'll get crushed by a falling crane hoist drum that got damaged and not reported. I couldn't give a fuck. I'm doing my bit of providing an easy way for you all to bitch about the state of the gear you're asked to use.
> to bitch about the state of the gear you're asked to use
And this is the key bit. I was on the shop floor two years ago, I know how it goes. EVERYONE on the floor knows what's broken, but NO ONE bothers telling anyone with the power to action a repair, because they seem to believe that it's not their job, that the management should be fucking psychic or some shit.
Actually, while I'm railing on this, it reminds me of something that happened last week.
One of the guys failed a crane because the remote controller kept cutting out. Turns out it had been doing it for months, and NO ONE SAID ANYTHING. Their team leaders knew about it, and didn't bother looking into it.
So I took the controller to our in-house electrical repair guy. He took it apart, cleaned it out, sprayed on some contact cleaner and put it back together. It's been perfect ever since.
A common response I get is "But if we report a fault and quarantine The Thing, then we can't do the work!"
Yeah? And? Don't do the fucking work then. And when the MD gets all pissy that things aren't being done, we can point out to him that if he spent the money to get shit repaired, then work would be getting done.
That's almost certainly cheaper than the compo we'd have to pay if someone died because of unsafe equipment.
@DJDarren my wife’s a former factory inspector. She always made the point that the compensation is often dwarfed by the cost of recruiting and training a replacement
@DJDarrenand H&S exec will quite happily nail people who knew and didn't report just as much as the CEO.
AND if someone knew and didn't report and still used and got hurt they get much less or zero compo. That info might sharpen attitudes...
I have used the phrase "it won't be me in the dock explaining to the nice judge what went wrong, it will be you" to line manglers ignoring policy. Faces were a picture
@kincaid Trouble is, that’s something of an abstract at that moment in time. They’ve never seen an accident at work, therefore no accidents will occur, y’know?
This kind of shit needs the department heads to be enforcing the rules, but it doesn’t happen because they take a similar attitude. They agree with me to my face, then go off and don’t bother.
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