Safety officers in Sabah should be appalled at the news today, July 22, 2016, of a worker who died from electrocution. He was fixing electrical cables on a high voltage pole. It was stated that he had worked for nine years for the electricity company.
A Senior Officer of the company said that a thorough investigation would be carried out. He did not want members of the public to make any speculation as a sign of respect to the victim's family.
Let's hope that the promised investigation would be carried out properly and the deceased worker's family compensated well.
Dr. David Michaels, Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health, USA had said:
"Making a living shouldn't have to cost you your life.
Workplace fatalities, injuries, and illnesses are preventable. Safe jobs
happen because employers make the choice to fulfill their
responsibilities and protect their workers."
Ensuring safe jobs and safe working environment actually saves costs for companies. Think of the amount of compensation payable, the loss of skills, lost man-hours, expenses in finding replacements and cost of training, not mentioning the possible criminal charges and compensation claims through the court.
Insurance can take care of some or most of the expenses. But there will be irreparable damage to the image of the employing organisation. Some big organizations had gone down because of the failure to take care of the safety and health of their people.
Companies particularly those involved in high risk activities should employ safety officers. Safe working systems and rules should be in place. Employees need to be told that they must follow safety rules. There are laws compelling employers to do all these. If and when they fail to do so, they might face shutdown if some serious accidents occur.
Safety is not something that can be negotiated or ignored. Either there is safe and healthy work place or there isn't.
Friday, July 22, 2016
Wednesday, June 22, 2016
When an Employee Fails to Perform on the Job
What do you do when an employee fails to perform or performs poorly?
Even if your recruitment system is almost perfect, there will still be occasions when the non-performer or poor performer will get into your payroll. At this stage, it is easier because that employee will undergo a period of probation to determine whether he or she can perform on the job or not. The probationary period is provided for in the employment contract or letter of appointment. The duration varies from six to nine months. In the past, some countries give a lengthy probationary period for government employees, even stretching into three years. It is shorter in the private sector.
An employee under probation who does not perform can be terminated which means that he or she will never become a permanent member of the workforce. But decisions by the law courts had made it harder to terminate the employment of a probationary employee. There must be reason or reasons why the employee's service is being terminated.
Confirmed employee fails to perform
Once an employee is confirmed in his or her position, it is quite hard to terminate his or her service without reasons and without doing certain things to help the employee perform better in his or her job. You need to give counseling on at least three occasions and provide the employee with the necessary training.
If the employee fails to perform after all these are done, then disciplinary action has to be taken with the intention of dismissing the employee.
Ensure that you follow your rules and procedures when dealing with employees who fail to perform. In addition, check out the applicable legislation. If not, your organization may face problems before the law court if such a case is brought before it.
Even if your recruitment system is almost perfect, there will still be occasions when the non-performer or poor performer will get into your payroll. At this stage, it is easier because that employee will undergo a period of probation to determine whether he or she can perform on the job or not. The probationary period is provided for in the employment contract or letter of appointment. The duration varies from six to nine months. In the past, some countries give a lengthy probationary period for government employees, even stretching into three years. It is shorter in the private sector.
An employee under probation who does not perform can be terminated which means that he or she will never become a permanent member of the workforce. But decisions by the law courts had made it harder to terminate the employment of a probationary employee. There must be reason or reasons why the employee's service is being terminated.
Confirmed employee fails to perform
Once an employee is confirmed in his or her position, it is quite hard to terminate his or her service without reasons and without doing certain things to help the employee perform better in his or her job. You need to give counseling on at least three occasions and provide the employee with the necessary training.
If the employee fails to perform after all these are done, then disciplinary action has to be taken with the intention of dismissing the employee.
Ensure that you follow your rules and procedures when dealing with employees who fail to perform. In addition, check out the applicable legislation. If not, your organization may face problems before the law court if such a case is brought before it.
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