Big assumption. No.
These really are good family oriented people to work for. Many of them are vets and understand, including some of the management that is being flamed here and elsewhere. I know them personally and they are not bad people. Communication was lacking here. Crane can't make it up for it after the fact, and neither can the employee. And no, I am not management trying to defend myself.
I read the article and the company's PA Officer didn't back down but stated policy. Most people who work in a place in the same shop or area know if a person has a kid or spouse in the service. They also usually know if they have kids at home etc. I don't think that policy is as much a safety policy as most likely a production control policy. Easier to call it safety.
There are too many jobs out there in many fields as hazardous as that place would be and people use phones. In today's both parents must work world many school closing notices come via cell phone notification. Many people use their cell phones or loved ones for in case of emergency contact this number. Calling corporate switchboards in an emergency just doesn't cut it. By the time he was on hold maybe played punch 1,2,3,4,5,67,8, or 9 roulette and waited for that section etc his time would be up. My guess is they have very, very, limited time per use on the sat phone. He called a number most likely to reach her.
What about Bluetooths then? Hands free and no distraction. Or can workers even talk to each other there? I've done one of the most multi-tasking demanding things a person can do for extended periods of time and that was drive a rig. Most drivers these days use cells there too usually bluetooth. i sure wish they had the cell grid when I was driving.
Now under the more reasonable circumstance the phone call could have been like this. Phone answered and she told the line boss hey I need to take a break for a few minutes in this situation and left the line. In others where someone calls it's easy enough too. Cells have caller ID. If I had a cell at work and it said Ying Yang Hospital I'd answer it and so would you or a boss. If it was home or school calling I'd get very fast the heart of the matter and hang up till break or if needed clock out. The point is not everyone can have Crane's contact policy but most people can have a persons private cell number.
Before Cells there was pagers. They got a message to you usually or a number to call but that still meant finding a phone. So would someone get three days for recieving a text and looking at it too? Just curious?
BTW some of the most hard nosed about cutting slack for military families can be Vets themself like a few on this very thread.