Victims of Subcontractors
This is a story from a plant where I used to work as a full-time safety officer.
One day, an unbelievable incident occurred in which a worker was fired from the job site after just one day.
Background of the Incident
The subcontractors at that site often met the workers who had been sent there for the first time when they arrived at the site office, and in most cases, they didn’t even know their names.
As a result, we often had virtually no prior information about the workers, and in many cases, we couldn’t determine what each person was capable of until they actually started working.
Isn't it a problem that the first-tier subcontractor has absolutely no idea about the workers' skill levels?
One day, while I was pondering that very question, an incident occurred.
A worker who got fired from the job site on his first day
It all started when I informed the branch manager about that worker’s health condition and work experience.
In the blink of an eye, word got from the director to the deputy chief, and, unbelievably, he blurted out, “This person is hopeless—let’s have them quit!”
As you might expect, the worker hadn't falsified any part of his work history or qualifications; everything was stated honestly.
When I asked him, he said that up until now he had been working as a plumber for a general contractor, and his only experience with electrical work was briefly helping out with low-voltage wiring. He also said this was his first time working at a plant site, and he had absolutely no experience with tasks like laying cables in racks—which he was scheduled to do—and that this was the first time he had ever worn a full-body harness.
Furthermore, he was 64 years old (at the time), had diabetes and heart disease, was taking medication, and had been advised by his doctor to avoid working at heights. His medical examination report stated that he should exercise caution when working at heights, and he had disclosed this information in advance.
Normally, if the company had been fully aware of this, it would have decided not to send workers to this site. However, the fact that workers were sent there can only be attributed to the subcontractor’s negligence.
There must be someone in charge of finding contractors and negotiating with them to determine who to send to the job site, but that person was probably only concerned with the headcount—paying almost no attention to the workers’ ages or backgrounds—and simply finalized the contract with the demand, “Just send people over!”
Seriously... that's just rude!!!
I realized that if something isn’t going to work out, you should tell the person involved or their company right from the start—and this incident made me painfully aware that subcontractors don’t give the slightest thought to other people’s feelings.
Do you actually enjoy doing that kind of work?
Naturally, word of this quickly spread among the other workers. Although no one said anything, they surely didn’t have a very favorable impression of the subcontractor who treated them that way.
The subcontractor may have its own side of the story. There must be something I don’t know. But if they’re just going through the motions without any desire to improve, things are never going to get better.
To begin with, if you keep working like this, won’t you end up feeling neither satisfaction nor a sense of accomplishment?
Both employers and subcontractors should reflect on what happened this time and go back to basics. I hope they’ll adopt the mindset of trying to improve even the smallest of issues—even if it’s just one thing—to address the current problems!
