Hi all,
My company and I are quite new to official HR practices so I'm looking for a bit of advice on a certain issue.
A field engineer recently requested a second man to assist him on a job for H&S reasons, this request was refused by his head of department because there was no one available. The engineer was instructed to complete the job on his own. Apparently this isn't the first time this has happened and it is felt by management that H&S is not being held as a priority, when it should be.
We had a meeting between the department head and the engineer where the DH agreed that in future he will defer to the engineer's recommendations re one/two man working, but management feels that he should receive an official sanction of some kind.
Should this be of the 'informal chat' variety, with a record kept on his file for, say, six months, or should it be a proper performance review, with investigation and possible first improvement notice (written warning) as the outcome?
Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated- thank you!
Kind regards,
Chrissy
Replies
Hi Sarah, thank you for your reply. We have gone down the informal chat route and kept a record on his file. He responded fairly well to that and appears to be on board with the procedure going forward.
Thanks again for your advice.
Best wishes,
Chrissy
Thanks for posting. I guess I would want to understand why the DH refused the request and what your guidelines are for lone working and dealing with such requests is it a case of he didn't recognise the importance of the request or he just ignored the company guidelines?
If it's capability It sounds to me like an initial informal chat and reeducation on the arrangements for working, rebrief policies and provide support does he have tools resources needed. If he knew the ramifications and chose to ignore Company guidelines I would place an informal record on his file making it clear any further repeat behaviour would lead to disciplinary action.
I hope this helps
Sarah