Introduction
Truss Construction Shop faced a difficult situation when one of the employees was injured while testing new equipment. This factor genuinely had a significant impact on the organization, as it had to face several financial and ethical problems. Such troubles can cause reputational damage to the company, especially those who are engaged in the field of engineering and construction work. The safety of employees is one of the priorities, as occupational injuries can become the focus of public attention. Therefore, it is necessary to trace the causes of misunderstanding and lack of well-coordinated communication between the company’s various divisions. These two factors are the main reasons for what happened because due to misunderstandings between the departments, each of them has its position and interpretation.
Explanation of the Issue
The main problem is that the truss, which the company tested, could not withstand the load, which led to an employee of the company being injured. For Truss Construction Shop, this event can lead to significant reputational damage. The fact is that the company has invested significant financial investments in the development of this technology. In addition, the new equipment was advertised as an innovative solution in the field of construction technologies. Taking into account this factor, the breakdown of the truss and the damage to the employee demonstrate the unreliability of this design. However, it is worth noting that the safety officer, QA manager, and engineer signed statements that suggested testing the equipment, exceeding the established limits. However, this information did not correspond to reality, so the company’s employees did not receive the necessary information. Consequently, all this indicates that the management has neglected industrial safety. This is because they ignored the threshold values, and the tests themselves were conducted without prior verification.
Analysis of the Information
Analyzing the details of this situation, it is necessary to note how it is perceived between different company divisions. The fact is that the sales department is interested in ensuring that production continues since technical inspection can take time. This is important so that buyers do not abandon the truss, leading to serious financial losses. In addition to this, the public relations department tries to level the situation by using various tools to change attitudes towards the organization. On the other hand, it may be noticed that managers continue to lead employees to fulfill the production plan. On the other hand, an employee told the press various details about the tests, after which she was fired.
Consequently, it becomes noticeable that the company has little interest in the safety of both employees and customers. This is reflected in the fact that they are trying to hide information from the public. In addition, it is worth noting that such a development of events may also be affected by the lack of communication between departments. Each of them perceives this situation differently. It is noticeable that the lack of direct communication with management and the lack of a necessary department for industrial safety is reflected in how the company copes with the situation.
Consideration of Alternative Viewpoints, Conclusions, and Solutions
It is necessary to consider alternative points of view that could clarify the cause of what happened. One of the main issues may be the fact of how the injured employee performed his work duties. When testing a company’s equipment, many factors need to be taken into account that can affect its failure. In particular, employees must be familiar with the safety regulations, as well as observe them when working. When checking the truss, using additional security aids could help avoid trouble. Protective means of emergency prevention of the situation should be provided by the company itself and used by employees. Another alternative point of view may be identifying errors during the production of the equipment itself. Thus, even if the company’s management was confident in the characteristics, they could not correspond to reality since there was a failure in the chain.
However, despite this, Truss Construction Shop should be responsible for the safety of employees, as this may affect customers as well. It is necessary to rethink all the activities of the organization to avoid the most reputational damage. To solve this problem, the company must make several structural changes. Moreover, the first and fundamentally important action should be to stop production since defective equipment cannot be sent to customers. If this happens again during engineering and construction work on the client side, then Truss Construction Shop may face reputation problems and litigation.
Solution
A special commission consisting of at least three people is engaged in the investigation of an industrial accident. It must necessarily include:
- a specialist in occupational safety or responsible for this work;
- employer’s representative;
- a trade union representative.
It is worth noting that in this case, the Commission is headed by the employer; they also approve its composition. If the employer is a private entrepreneur, the following persons take part in the investigation:
- the employer (or his representative);
- the victim’s representative;
- occupational safety specialist (possibly on a contractual basis).
Due to a more detailed study of the situation, it will be possible to discover the actual causes of the incident. After that, based on the results, the company should make an official statement without hiding the details. Thus, it will calm the attention of the media and the public. In addition, it is necessary to contact each customer to guarantee the safety of the products after making the required changes. To prevent similar situations in the future, an important step is to create a separate department that will deal with industrial safety.
Conclusions and Recommendations
Summing up, it should be noted that the company needs to look for alternative solutions to get out of the situation because of what happened. The lack of competently constructed communication between various departments and senior management leads to misunderstanding and underestimating the situation. The right decision in favor of preserving the company is to take a step back and incur certain financial losses. However, due to this, it will be possible to preserve the reputation and prove that the company is genuinely working on correcting errors. Due to this, it will be possible to make the necessary equipment upgrade, which will strengthen the trust of interested parties. The desire to continue its narrative about the fact that the company seeks to produce low-quality products can lead to significant reputational losses. On the other hand, if the situation occurred through no fault of the organization, then an ethical step would be a comprehensive check of the activities of all stages of production. However, for her time, it is necessary to refuse deliveries, thereby guaranteeing the safety of customers.