How to protect yourself from a hazardous job

Dear WW: I work in a warehouse and my coworkers and I all think that conditions here are unsafe. The company won’t listen to our complaints. What can we do? A MATTER OF TIME

Dear TIME,

At least you know unsafe when you see it. Check this out. A guy named Luke Dow volunteered to assist the magician at a magic show. For his first trick, the magician tried to snatch a paper out of Dow’s hand with a whip. Well, he missed-and raised a welt on the side of Dow’s head. So did Dow say “thanks, but no thanks”? Nope. He agreed to help with another stunt! This time he held a balloon while the magician turned his back, looked in a mirror and shot at the balloon with a pistol. You can guess what happened. Dow missed the rest of the magic show: he was in the hospital having the bullet removed from his hand.

So, duh! The guy shoulda known better, right? Well, that’s what people will say about you and your coworkers if you continue working in unsafe conditions. If you’re convinced your jobsite’s unsafe, there are a number of things you can do to get those conditions changed (and remember, blue collar workers don’t have a monopoly on dangerous working conditions). Doing them may not be easy-but it’ll be a lot easier than living with your injuries-or your conscience-if you do nothing. The questions below will help you. Also check out “The Rights of Employees and Union Members” by Wayne Outten (Southern Illinois University Press, 1994).

Did you express your concerns to your employer rationally? There’s nothing like a toxic explosion from an employee to turn an employer off. So talk to your employers again-as coolly and logically as possible.

Are there others who agree with you? The larger your group of complainants, the better. Look beyond

the warehouse to other areas of the company to recruit support.

Can you document your concerns? What concrete evidence can you supply to document the dangers? Documentation could include: reports of accidents that have occurred in similar situations, studies of similar worksites that have been deemed unsafe, records of injuries that have occurred at your worksite in the past. Your union, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, Environmental Protection Agency, etc. should be able to help. Also search the Internet.

Are there safer ways to accomplish your job? If you can show that you can achieve the same results with a safer set-up, you’ll go a long way to convincing the company to make a change.

Did you contact OSHA? If after the steps above, your company still doesn’t listen, contact your local OSHA office. They’re charged by the federal government with ensuring that workplaces are safe.

Luke Dow, by the way, is considering suing the magician. But it seems like he would have been better off doing the ultimate magic trick-disappearing before the second act.

Working Wounded poll:

Which movie title best sums up your company’s approach to hazardous assignments at work?

• Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, 47.2%
• Do The Right Thing, 44.4%
• Little Shop of Horrors, 8.3

Working Wounded strategy:

Our winning strategy for dealing with a dangerous work assignment comes from Bob L. in Hollis, OK. “The worker should contact the company’s workers compensation carrier. They perform safety studies as a part of their service. It is a ‘win-win’ situation. The company saves on future premiums through lower claims, in addition to less lost man-hours. The Comp carrier benefits from less risk or exposure. The employees/workers benefit from a safer more productive work place. I would try this before OSHA because the government can be ridiculous and would probably not fix the employee’s concerns.”

Bob Rosner is a best-selling author, speaker and internationally syndicated columnist. Sherrie Campbell is a relationship and business professional, having applied her counseling background in a variety of challenging organizational settings. They’d love to hear your thoughts on this topic, especially if you have better ideas than they do. Also check out their complete column archive at workmash.org, “The Boss’s Survival Guide” and “Gray Matters: The workplace survival guide.” Send your questions or comments to bob@workmash.org.

How to decide if you should blow the whistle on your company

Dear WW: My company refuses to pay us the overtime we’re owed. I’ve complained to my boss but he says that it’s this way or the highway. It stinks and I’m thinking of calling the local paper to blow the whistle. CALL ME SERPICO

Dear SERPICO,

Recently Pat Rusin blew the whistle on another smelly situation. She’s a scientist at the University of Arizona who studies bacteria levels in the home that I read about in the News of the Weird. Do you know what’s breeding on the dishtowels in your kitchen? Never mind. Ironically, the place that has the fewest bacteria is-you won’t believe this-your toilet seat. Apparently, the seat’s non-porous surface is so dry that bacteria have a hard time surviving. Now, who’d’a thought?

I’d be careful before you blow the whistle, though. In a perfect world your integrity and guts would be valued. But in most companies, like those toilet seat bacteria, you’ll have a tough time surviving. The questions below should help you sort out your options. You’ll find more tips in the ACLU’s “The Rights of Employees and Union Members” (Southern Illinois University Press, 1994).

Do you have a smoking gun? Any fight with your company is not a fair fight: they’ve got deeper pockets and more lawyers. So be sure you have hard evidence of wrongdoing before you proceed.

Have you pursued all internal avenues of redress? Your boss said there was nothing you can do, but have you talked to your HR department? Your boss’s boss? The company ombudsman? The head of another department? It’s usually best to check out your internal options first, before airing your grievance in public.

Can you pursue redress anonymously? Companies have been known to hold grudges against employees who make waves. Read your employee handbook for rules on submitting grievances to see if there are anonymous channels you can use.

Will this be of interest to outsiders? Issues that have implications for large numbers of people like not giving time-and-a-half should trigger an investigation by the Department of Labor (‘cause when they don’t pay you they also aren’t paying taxes on the income you aren’t earning). There is also your state attorney general and the media.

Do you have legal protections? Before you blow the whistle externally, research your company policy as well as state and federal law concerning protections for whistleblowers. A librarian can help you.

Are you prepared for retaliation? One study shows that 99 out of 100 whistleblowers faced some form of retaliation, including lost jobs, homes, marriages, and more. So before you act, talk to people close to you. Make sure they’ll stick with you if things turn nasty.

Don’t get me wrong. I blew the whistle once and it remains a highlight of my career. I just want to be sure that you’re prepared for what your actions could unleash. After all, the last thing you want to do is throw your career down the toilet, even if the seat is as clean as a whistle.

Working Wounded poll:

If you found your company was breaking the law, what would you do?

• Forget I ever saw any wrongdoing, 14.9%
• Blow the whistle, 41.3%
• Get out, 43.7%

Working Wounded strategy:

Our winning strategy for whistleblowing comes from Pat S. in Oakland, CA. “Don’t try to be a martyr, saint or savior. Keep your feet solidly on the ground. This will stir up powerful emotions so try to arrange for emotional support. Spouses and children will need support also. Don’t take retaliation personally, remember how unwilling you may be to have your own faults or failings exposed. Don’t expect anyone who has any stake on keeping his or her job to stand up for you. Find a good lawyer before you take any action to determine whether or not you should blow a whistle and how to document your case. But in spite of the difficulties, every whistleblower I have talked to said they would do it again.”

Bob Rosner is a best-selling author, speaker and internationally syndicated columnist. Sherrie Campbell is a relationship and business professional, having applied her counseling background in a variety of challenging organizational settings. They’d love to hear your thoughts on this topic, especially if you have better ideas than they do. Also check out their complete column archive at workmash.org, “The Boss’s Survival Guide” and “Gray Matters: The workplace survival guide.” Send your questions or comments to bob@workmash.org.

How to know if you should disobey your boss

Dear WW: I’ve had some ethically-challenged bosses before but this guy takes the prize. Recently he told me to lie to another manager. I don’t want to do it, but I’m afraid if I don’t my job is toast. What should I do? JUST SAY NO?

Dear No,

Speaking of toast, did you know that toasting someone with a drink goes all the way back to the ancient Romans as a way of proving to the person that you had no intention of making HIM “toast”? By drinking first you assured him that the drink you were offering wasn’t poisoned. Of course, these days you might not want to offer that particular assurance to your boss . . .

But before you take a drastic action, take a look at Ira Chaleff’s book, “The Courageous Follower: Standing Up, To and For Our Leaders” (Berrett Kohler, 1998). With bookstore shelves bulging with books about leadership, this one’s a welcome treatise on “followership.” Among its points: a follower doesn’t orbit the boss; together boss and follower should orbit the company’s goals. I’ve adapted the following questions from Chaleff’s book. Use them to help you decide whether to join your boss in raising a glass, or whether to raise a flag to say that things are amiss in your department.

Are you being asked to break the law? Breaking the law for material gain or just for expediency shouldn’t be a requirement of any job. Before blindly following your boss’s orders, consider how employable you’ll be with a felony on your resume.

Will someone be harmed by what you’re being asked to do? Loyalty is good, but all bets are off if human life or health are being unnecessarily risked by what you’re being asked to do.

Is a special interest being served at the expense of the common good? Usually a boss’s interests and the organization’s interests point in the same direction. But occasionally a leader and his organization come to a fork in the road. When that happens you need to consider who will benefit. Is your boss ordering this action for the good of the company-or for his own personal gain?

Are the rules of common decency being violated? There’s only one true thing about common decency: it’s not common to everyone. What’s unacceptable to you may, in fact, be acceptable to others. So talk to people you trust inside and outside of your company to get their take on the request.

Is there more to the story than you realize? Ask your boss-respectfully!-why he’s asked you to lie to this other manager. Perhaps there’s a reason, history, politics or piece of information that will make his request more acceptable.

Hopefully you’ll find that your boss’s request is not as ethically challenged as it appears. But if your research suggests it is, it’s time to take action. Give up your seat at the table before he poisons the rest of your career.

Working Wounded poll:

What song would you sing if your boss asked you to do something unethical? (1,236 responses)

• “Sounds of Silence,” 22.4%
• “Sound of Your Goodbye,” 26.7%
• “Sound Off,” 50.8%

Working Wounded strategy:

Our winning strategy on what to do when a boss asks you to do something unethical comes from G.C. in cyberspace. “I’ve been on both sides of this. I’ve been the boss and have had employees tell people I wasn’t in and other little white lies, but, I never asked anyone to do something illegal. As an employee, however, I did things that I knew were not the truth to cover-up and lie for my boss. Now he is gone, quit, his secretary who also really covered-up and lied beyond the call of duty is gone, and I’m in the hot seat with a felony charge against me. Everyone else involved covered his or her tracks very well. My advice, do what you KNOW is right regardless of whether you become toast or not, because one way or another you’ll be roasted not toasted!”

Bob Rosner is a best-selling author, speaker and internationally syndicated columnist. Sherrie Campbell is a relationship and business professional, having applied her counseling background in a variety of challenging organizational settings. They’d love to hear your thoughts on this topic, especially if you have better ideas than they do. Also check out their complete column archive at workmash.org, “The Boss’s Survival Guide” and “Gray Matters: The workplace survival guide.” Send your questions or comments to bob@workmash.org.