I was asked to stand in for a man that had to take time off for a family emergency. I was told it would be about a month. I agreed. The position was third party safety rep. for new lay pipe from Beaumont to Baytown TX. I got a phone call from the project Chief to respond to a vehicle accident on the ROW in Anahuac. When I got on site the safety man for the General Contractor was already there taking pics and getting employee statements. I instructed the GC rep. to send his preliminary report to me prior to submission the client. I was due to meet with the Chief in Beaumont the next morning but called and told him I would not be there and was going back out onsite.
What I had observed that Friday afternoon seemed really out of order. Appr. 50 or more men walking around like zombies, expressionless beaten down. The next morning was no different. Same guys, same zombies. I started doing one on one interviews. Five different contract companies were there. I was told over and over that they were not being allowed time to rest. To verify, I called the onsite inspectors to the side as a group and asked them what their work hours were. One man piped up then the others chimed in and backed him up. They had been working 18 hour days 7 days a week since Thanksgiving because two deadlines had been missed. As you might imagine that did not go over well with me. I told the inspectors that my next course of action would probably cost me my job (and it did).
I called the Chief and had him meet me in Beaumont after lunch that Saturday. After I said what I had to say he let me know that he was fully aware of the problem but that the GC was not going to change the work hours. I told him that was a damn shame and left, went back to the motel and started the calls and emails. I was on the phone and computer till almost midnight with the client, my company and the GC safety rep.
On Sunday morning a memo had been issued by the GC, signed by two vice-presidents that any shift lasting more than 13 hours had to be pre-approved by the corporate office and that the men were to be released at lunch for the rest of the day. The next morning, Monday, the Chief called me and said that I could go ahead and de-mobe. The guy I replaced would be back.
The bottom line folks is this: If Safety is nothing but a priority, know for a surety that priorities change. Companies are in business to make money as they should be and employees will work like this for the paychecks. For me, safety is a VALUE, not a priority. It like being Pro-Life. That will never change. Believe it or not, I have worked for a few companies where safety was a value but they are few and far between. Thank you to any that take time to read this.
I can relate somewhat. I’ve worked a couple jobs of 12 hr days 7 days a week. When overseas, living on the job site it was easy. I did about six months of that in Houston, driving 45~60 minutes each way. The later half bumped up to 13 hrs to coordinate with the night shift.
I was a lead engineer and one of our designers had a commute that put her on the same section of feeder road off a highway driving the same direction due to a U-turn to get home quickest. One morning, she called me and said she had pulled over because she could not remember if she was going to work or from work. If I would just tell her which, she said she would be fine.
I wouldn’t tell, except that she had to go home and not return until the next day. If she showed up today (she was going to work) I would not sign her time sheet.
At first she was mad because I wouldn’t answer her question. It was winter and the nights were long enough even down here that we drove to and from work in the dark.
I cannot begin to imagine doing 18 hr days past a week or two. I’ve done turn-arounds and that happens then, but not any lasting work.
Most clients I know would take working such hours a sign of the contractor was bad enough they couldn’t get people to work for them. Sadly, not enough would view it that way.
That pretty well sums up what most of us had in mind when we spoke up.