Employee situations, what will you do?
Posted by Jeff ShiverJul 29
Recently, I have been outside of the United States facilitating a “Skills for Maintenance Leadership and Supervision” course. One of the things that I enjoy doing in these supervision courses is to provoke the group with situational scenarios and ask them how they would respond. Fortunately or not, these scenarios are based on real life experiences that typical organizations fail to prepare Supervisors to handle. Truthfully in many cases, little if any training is given to Supervisors, especially those transitioning from hourly roles to leadership and supervision positions. With that said, I thought I might share a true scenario with you to help illustrate my point and solicit your thoughts. So here goes …
You are the only supervisor on duty at the site (no other managers are here), and are actually filling in for the normal supervisor who took vacation. The site is very large, employing nearly 1000 people. It happens that only one manufacturing line is running across the weekend, so only about 40 people are present on Sunday’s day shift. You happen to be in your office near the plant floor doing one of many administrative tasks that burden shift supervision. One of the Operators (Robert) runs up to you and gives you a torn sheet of paper that he found at Michael’s work area when he noticed Michael walked away and disappeared.
The torn yellow note reads:
I am tired of taking this medicine. This life is not worth living anymore when you have to take medicine to be normal. I just want to be like everyone else and be normal. I am going to kill myself. Do not let anyone try to stop me or I will take them out with me.
Through the grapevine, you know Michael is bipolar and has had issues taking his medicine before. Needless to say, the previous issues were never to this extent. Robert says he saw Michael heading toward the Equipment Mezzanine area which has a number of larger pieces of equipment (plenty of places to hide). Michael carries a 4” folding knife in his pocket like most of the other operators in that production area.
There are two security workers onsite, one patrolling the exterior areas of the site property. The other functions as a receptionist, answering calls and handling people coming through the front door. Like most organizations, the security is handled by a contract security firm that hires people with no real security experience, provides little training, and pays slightly above minimum wage. No real help there for your situation. Before you can contemplate your options on how to respond, you find out that a two other Operators (male and female co-workers of Michael) have left their work areas to locate and talk with Michael as they are concerned for his well-being. At this point, you really don’t know where any of the three people are.
As the Supervisor, what are YOU going to do?
On receiving some of your thoughts on actions required, I’ll share more on how this scenario played out and provide additional insights that you may want to consider.
Speak soon, Jeff
4 comments
Comment by Ron Bitely on July 29, 2010 at 2:05 pm
Jeff, thanks for the posting. I have just promoted my Team Leader to the maintenance Supervisor position. Timing is perfect, I agree that we do not do a good job with the behavioral and soft skills side that is vital to their success. I have forwarded this posting to him and I will review with him in a few days.
Thanks
Ron
Comment by Ed Vinchinski on July 29, 2010 at 9:52 pm
Hi Jeff, step 1 is to call your Security desk person and tell them to call 911 and explain the situation. The proper professional response people would be sent to handle the situation. Second, I would attempt to find the two friends who went walkabout to find Michael and tell them to return to their duty stations immediately. Third, I would ensure that any remaining employees were not in any immediate danger and encourage them not to leave their work area until you give them notice. I would not tell them, for confidentiality reasons, what the extent of the situation is unless they were in imminent danger. In that case I would evacuate the employees until the professional authority arrives on site.
Comment by Patrick Boyd on July 30, 2010 at 2:18 pm
Hi Jeff, how about having security sound a fire alarm and get everyone out of the building? Once everyone is in their assigned reporting area and attendance is verified, the threat to other employees will be neutralized. Of course I’m assuming that Michael has also evacuated the building. As everyone re-enters the building, pull Michael to a private office with a witness and ask him about the note. Explain the work rules that govern against this type of threatening language and ask him how he would like to proceed. If he is really sick, he will want to go home. Depending on the work rules, he may need to serve a suspension or other disciplinary action. Whatever the case, get him out of the building and call human resources to get advise and guidance on handling the situation legally.
Comment by Jeff Dickey on July 30, 2010 at 11:20 pm
Hi Jeff, this question/problem is becoming far too common in the workplace. First, as a supervisor in any capacity, due diligence is for the safety of all employees. You already know about Michael’s medical issue, as well as other co-workers on the floor. The supervisor needs to be the one that places the call to 911. The few seconds that this will take will ensure that the proper people are in place. Trying to relay information to a security guard would only in my opinion confuse an already possible violent situation.
This first phone call will also give you some possible information from the dispatcher on what the next steps should be.
After completing the call, the supervisor should then IF suggested by the dispatcher (may advise to evacuate the floor), calmly seek out the whereabouts’ of Michael, the co-workers who followed, and ensure that Michael is not trying to hurt himself on one of the larger machines where he could hide or with his knife. At this point of finding Michael, removal of the co-workers would be suggested. Along with personal safety, employee safety is the most important at this time. A shut down of equipment may be in order at this time.
At no time should anyone try to approach or disarm Michael as he stated that if this were to occur, he would also hurt or kill that person.
Even when this situation is resolved, there may be requirements from the company that offer investigation to the event, debriefing of employees involved, and possible treatment for issue resulting in the event. Contacting upper management or risk management would be advisable at the completion of the issue.