I’m an electrician for a big tech company in an industrial setting. I was monitoring contractors today and saw them step on a 480V busway wearing a harness strapped to a metal structure that was not fit to hold him safely about 25ft in the air. My supervisors said it was not okay. My coworkers said it was not okay. I called my supervisor twice, and when I finally got ahold of him and told him the situation he told me to get them down. Do not let them work like this because ‘safety is not first, it is always’
After the initial ‘you’re not in trouble’ talk, my coworkers all berated me for ‘slowing business down’ and saying our management team was ‘pissed’ and I likely had signed my termination papers by not allowing contractors to put their lives in jeopardy.
I was trained to always think of safety and policy. I wasn’t aware of the unsaid rule that is ‘move fast, break things and people’ in the name of profit.
fantastic
edit: It IS in my job description to enforce safe practices Because I work for the company not a contractor. but I believe my coworkers were genuine when they said we have to ‘get it done no matter what it takes’ and now my name was on a short list of people who will be let go of when there’s no longer a suspicion it’s related to this incident. Management said I did the right thing, but really they want me to look the other way and act like I don’t see anything! If I never call my supervisor, they don’t have to do anything. If someone were to be injured or killed? That’s their problem and I would definitely lose my job. Everyone was complaining about the conditions these guys had to work in. Photos were circulating management and everyone was playing ‘hot potato’ with the responsibility of allowing them to do what they were. I decided to do something and I’m suffering for it.