Safety man comes: organizational culture and workplace protection

Safety Man

Labor Safety as an Economic Principle

Describe the safety conditions that existed before the company was sold to the new owner:

The 'Safety Man' who provides us with the firsthand perspective offered in the present article describes the roofing company that employs him prior to a change in ownership. Here, he describes a somewhat large-scale organization but one which was missing significant opportunities for profitability. According to Mundy (2003), his roofing company had made a habit of only conducting the bare minimum in terms of safety precautions and requirements with the intention only of avoiding fines from the Occupational Safety and Health Agency (OSHA).

To this extent, the firm actively avoided audits and safety inspections, instead willingly sustaining the risks and consequences of a shoddy safety program. According to Mundy, this would produce a situation in which, by the 1990s, the roofing company had no formal safety training policy and adhered to OSHA standards only to the end that it kept a running log of all injuries sustained on the job. Though it never experienced the kind of catastrophe or fatality that might have drawn the scrutiny of OSHA, the company did create a negative operational environment from which to draw the most optimal profitability.

According to Mundy, "for years, the company suffered as a result of worker injuries and the insurance woes that accompany high injury statistics. Injuries ranged from cuts and bruises to burns, broken bones and sprains. According to OSHA injury logs, between 1975 and 2000, the company experienced an average of 14.5 recordable injuries per year. One year, the company experienced 27 injuries. In another year, the company had only nine injuries, but three of them tallied a total of 275 lost days for the year." (p. 1) This environment was not only unsuitable for worker health and safety but it was also impacting the bottom line for the roofing company.

Mundy described the period of time after the company's purchase by a new owner as a 'new era'. Describe the safety initiatives introduced following the change in ownership:

Though Mundy does not explicitly state this, it is conceivable that a change of ownership was at least partially made inevitable by these shoddy business practices. In 2000, the 'new era' that Mundy describes would be marked by an explicit prioritization of strong and meaningful safety standards. High insurance costs had diminished the opportunity for organizational success. New ownership was dedicated to undoing this condition. Therefore, two key priorities became the instating of an internal 'safety man' and the creation of a company-wide culture embracing safety.