Can't ANYONE take charge?

The BBQ Pit
21

Some years back while at work one day I accidentally dropped a mercury thermometer on the floor of the lab. Oops. I did the required thing and notifed the inhouse hazard guy. He was kind of pissed at me for having to cordon off the area and get out all this equipment for such a small spill. Excuse me, I’ll try for a bigger disaster next time.

Anyway, after that we no longer had mercury thermometers anywhere in the lab. They weren’t replaced earlier because administration couldn’t see spending money when the original equipment was still perfectly functional albeit a bit hazardous to the health. Only after an accident and its attendant reams of paperwork was a change made. This mindset is, as far as I can see, the predominant one in the workplace.

In mine anyway.

22

Ahhh, mercury won’t hurt you. Why, I found some in a science lab back in the eighth grade. Poured it on the table, pushed it around, held it in my hands. Never caused me any problemefsnhng fds darkside Limbaugh alleghenymountains fsdsdf :rolleyes: :rolleyes: economics vietnamfire polymeracidophilus buggestions, carlsatanic ffsed twosheds. Keyword digimon propulsoid? Porkloin cum interscience!

Argle, slllippery

Why is there no such thing as baked eggs? Pop-Tarts are just big cookies!!

~`

23

Well, it’s one week later, I’m back in the stress lab, and administration hasn’t approached me directly, but they did address my staff the day after the event, telling them the hazmat team shouldn’t have been called and that I overreacted, and it shouldn’t have been done because it cost money, and could have made the news. (This is second-hand info I’m getting, I’ll admit, but it’s from people I trust, like Nuclear Girl and Beta Babe). Supposedly the supervisor said she has special knowledge about the hazards of mercury because her husband works for the Dept. of Natural Resources, and she knew for a fact that no mercury was spilled on the carpet, even though it spilled both where the BP machine started from, and where it was set down after being dragged (both linoleum surfaces).

Well, my fellow lab workers have given admin tons of paper from the net stating that such a spill was a hazard, and needed special measures, and is insisting they be shown reliable documentation that it wasn’t hazardous if that’s going to be admin’s line (which did at one point state people woudn’t be paid for that afternoon).

By the way, they didn’t replace the carpet either.

Supposedly the physician who is head of the stress lab has been assigned to tell me I “over-reacted”, but I’ve not heard from her, and she has said to Nuclear Girl “I don’t know what I’m supposed to tell him, he’s never over-reacted in the 10 years I’ve worked with him”.

Since I’ve not heard anything officially, I’ve not done anything else upon hearing this, except inform the head of our medical group about the event, and my thought processes, and I told him that the entire event was my responsibility, and not that of anyone else here at the lab. Fortunately I’ve known and trusted this doc for over 13 years. And I still stand by what I did.

BTW, the actual people I work with here are having a lunch for me to celebrate my “over-reaction”.

And, since this is the pit, FUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKSHITPISSFUCKCOCKCUNTCOCKSUCKERMOTHERFUCKERTITS
I need a new job, my co-workers are great, but the administration is to staff what King Herod was to the Bethlehem Playgroup Association

Thank you all for bearing with me.

24

I know you don’t need me to tell you this again, but I have a very strong need to say it again – you absolutely did the right thing. According to my emergency response training (just did my 8-hour refresher today), it’s an emergency release of a hazardous material as soon as you can’t control the spill and clean it up without outside help.

It cost money? It could have made the news? CANNOT COMPREHEND … BRAIN EXPLOSION IMMINENT … what fucking idiots! Which would play worse in the news
A. “We had a mercury spill, but we called the hazmat team, the spill was contained and cleaned up, and no patients or staff were harmed.”
B. “Well, um, we had a mercury spill, but it would have been expensive to clean it up correctly so we didn’t. Gee, we sure hope no one has any resulting long term problems from mercury exposure.”

And which is more expensive – cleaning up a limited area the right way at the time the spill happens, or decontaminating the whole facility after it gets tracked everywhere?

I just don’t understand this type of thinking. What is more important: money and possible bad press, or human health and safety? If you are thinking something other than human health and safety, SEEK PROFESSIONAL HELP!

25

Gee, you might want to call the HazMat team and ask if they thought it was an overreaction. If they had to show up in “work clothes,” there is probably a record of their service on file with the EPA that would include their evaluation of the situation (and should be public record).

If you can secure that, any suggestion that you overreacted would be fairly clearly spelled out as to the degree of “overreaction” you displayed.

Management didn’t happen to put any of their “concerns” over the “overreaction” or the money into memoes or e-mails, did they? It would be a shame if there was documentation of those concerns and someone followed their suggestion and went to the media with it.

Not that you or anyone with whom you associate would do anything like that, but if management chose a path of recriminations, it might be surprising what sort of things a good reporter might uncover on his or her own.

26

I’m a manager in an office. If there were a mercury spill of any size in my office and I DIDN’T take steps to secure the area and call in the Hazmat team, I would be immediately fired. If I’m lucky they might give me some severance, but make no mistake about it: I’d be history. Adios, Rick.

But I work for a safety-conscious organization, and it’s frankly a very good atmosphere to work in. Since you know you will always be commended when you say “Hold the phone here, this isn’t safe, we need to stop this right away,” you’re never afraid to take action.

It’s fine to say people don’t take responsibility, but the problem is not the people in your office; it is very obviously the administration. The people in your office are being told to NOT take responsibility. If management does not support people taking initiative in safety, they won’t. Management needs to show they WANT people to take responsibility for safety, and that inconvenience and cost are okay if it means avoiding injuries.

You unquestionably did the right thing. People just aren’t attentive enough to workplace safety.

27

I spoke with a friend of mine last night, also in my profession, but not in my organization, and his response was “I would never have expected your administration to react any other way”. I had to admit that is really true. Before we got gobbled up by this organization, it was always looked at with fear and loathing by those of us who interacted with it. And my reaction to the takeover, frankly, had to be rationalized that “dyspareunia is better than no pareunia at all” (medspeak for painful sex is better than no sex). Now I wonder.

28

[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by Qadgop the Mercotan *
**

<----checking local protocols. They say,

Jaaaah baby :smiley: :smiley: :smiley:

Originally Posted With Style and Elan by Qadgop the Mercotan

VERY fucking funny. Time to job search, Doc :wink:

Cartooniverse

29

Mercotan - I think you answered your own question. Any boob can be placed in charge. Very few people, however, will actually TAKE charge in the absence of a defined authority.

It’s the diference between being a manager and being a leader.

30

They were worried it might get in the news? Correct me if i am wrong, but it is my understanding that o of the chief hazards of Mercury is horrible, horrible birth defects, esp. if exposure occurs in the early weeks of pregnancy. A picture of a horribly deformed baby born to some woman in hte office 9 months from now would sure as hell look god in the paper.