The Rules That Must Be Revised- Hostile Work Environment funny stories

by Tamara
(Bedford, TX)

My prior company had the annual safety meeting to explain their changes in company rules. As an industrial and safety engineer, the rules they had created for worker safety were very relevant to my job. So I listened. And I tried very hard not to burst out laughing during the proceedings.

The supervisor at one point said "The punishment for attacking another employee is dismissal."

"What if that person attacks you first? Aren't you allowed to defend yourself?" Someone in the audience actually asked this.

"Yes, you can defend yourself."

"If they are unconscious, can you continue making certain that they won't get up and come after you?"

"No!" was the immediate management response.

It was a reasonable question. A month ago, two employees got into a fight. One came at the other with a baseball bat. The other one found a board with a nail in it. Yes, the second man was allowed to defend himself. But the company fired the man, because he had a weapon, too. The company then had to explicitly state in the rules that the moment you had a weapon equal to the one your attacker possessed you would both be fired.

The supervisor went on to dress code: "While working on equipment, you many not wear anything that can get caught in the equipment. This includes rings, ear rings, shoe laces, necklaces, etc."

Someone asked, “Are we not allowed to wear shoe laces on our work boots?”

The presenter replied, "We will not enforce the part about the shoe laces."

Equipment that is being worked on is shut down. The maintenance workers put on "lock-outs", literally locks that prevent switches and levers from being thrown. If you are working on an electrical system, you don't want someone else to turn the power on.

The supervisor: "Removal of a routine maintenance lock-out is punished by a 3 day suspension on the first offense, dismissal on the second offence. Removal of a supervisor's lockout is punished by dismissal on the first offence." Translation, "Supervisors are safer than everybody else."

The supervisor later brought up: "When operating forklifts or vehicles, all speed limits and traffic signs must be obeyed."

An audience member asked, "Does that also apply if you are walking?"

"No."

The supervisor: finally got to attendance. "Attendance points will be accrued when you are 15 minutes late for your shift, or if you are on the property 15 minutes after your shift is over. We do not allow loitering on company property."

Since the meeting included hourly, shift, and salaried personnel, one of the salaried staff asked, "How does this apply to someone who doesn't work on a shift?"

"If you are salaried, this rule doesn’t apply to you. If you are salaried, you can come in as early before office hours as you would like or leave as late as you want."

Brief pause. "In fact, this is encouraged."