Reversal of Fortunes

Fatalities in the scrap industry may be statistically rare, but the unfortunate fact is they do happen. Despite technological advances in equipment and heightened safety awareness, scrap recycling can still be a hazardous business, says Sunday Wagner, a vice president with CNA Commercial Insurance (Chicago), the scrap industry’s largest workers’ compensation carrier.
   According to Wagner, CNA typically pays benefits in half a dozen fatal accident cases a year involving recycling companies. In 1999, the Bureau of Labor Statistics recorded a total of 30 fatalities in the scrap industry.
   Surprisingly, “most accidents in the scrap industry involve experienced workers,” Wagner notes. “The most serious ones that result in a fatality involve equipment maintenance, usually an experienced worker who takes a shortcut or otherwise doesn’t follow procedures.” 
   To most people, news of a death at a recycling plant is only another unfortunate story. But for the company that suffers the accident and the coworkers of the deceased, a workplace fatality can be devastating.
   “Workplace fatalities, even in hazardous industries, don’t occur that often, and most people aren’t going to die that way,” says James Campbell Quick, a professor at the University of Texas and editor of the Handbook of Occupational Health Psychology. “But when a fatality does happen, it can have far-ranging negative effects throughout the entire organization if it isn’t handled properly.”
   That’s why planning for the possibility of a fatal accident is so important, he says. In short, scrap companies that prepare a plan to deal with fatalities will have fewer negative effects if one does occur.

Planning for a Crisis
Larry Brock, president of Brock Steel, a family-owned metal recycler in Cumberland, Md., can’t forget the night three years ago when one of his company’s drivers was killed while hauling a load of steel across Pennsylvania.
   With only 25 employees in the company, Brock personally assumed many of the responsibilities surrounding the death. After being notified by the State Highway Patrol of the fatality early in the morning, he gathered the first-shift employees together and broke the news to them. He then visited the deceased’s home to tell his wife and son. “Talk about a set of eyes I’ll never forget,” says Brock. “It was heartbreaking telling that five-year-old that his daddy wasn’t coming home.”
   Back at the company, Brock circulated the news articles from the Pittsburgh papers so all employees would know the facts being reported. Keeping the flow of accurate information going was a top priority, he says. “We made a point of keeping employees well-informed. We had two or three company meetings, posted articles from the papers that we got off the Internet, and made the accident report available in the paycheck delivery area for employees to read.”
   Brock also helped the family with funeral arrangements and counseled the widow on life insurance and workers’ compensation benefits for her and her son.
   Though Brock Steel didn’t have a formal policy for dealing with an employee’s death, Larry Brock instinctively did the right things.
   Not everyone, however, has such instincts under stress, so it’s wise to have a crisis management plan that covers employee fatalities, suggests Debra Levin, director of environmental and safety affairs for Metal Management Inc. (Chicago). “The aftermath of an employee fatality is essentially crisis management, and as in any crisis your goal is to minimize the negative effects.” 
   A crisis management plan should include guidelines for shutting down operations following a fatality. The degree to which operations are suspended will depend partially on the size of the company, as well as the number of witnesses and overall climate at the plant after the accident.
   At the very least, the accident area must be shut down and left undisturbed, as required by OSHA. This creates the need to assign workers from that area to other jobs.
   When planning how to reassign employees, managers need to judge each individual’s reactions and respond accordingly, Levin says. Some employees may not be in any shape to continue working, even in another area of the plant.
   “You may need to send them home on compassionate leave if they’re that upset, particularly eyewitnesses,” she says. “You might also have people who are feeling queasy or are unable to focus because they’re thinking of what happened. In that case, you want them to be away from heavy equipment for safety considerations, and the best course may be to send them home.”
   For management, the challenge in creating an effective crisis management plan is to balance the business side of a workplace fatality with the human side. For instance, while a manager, owner, or officer is preparing for an OSHA investigation, he also must be arranging employee meetings and ordering flowers for the funeral.
   Companies that promote a corporate culture that values workers have a head start on managing the personal side of the situation. “That kind of corporate culture will have a cushioning effect if a fatality occurs,” says Quick, who has been a consultant for minimill TXI Chaparral Steel (Midlothian, Texas) for 10 years. “When employees feel the company really cares about them and their safety, the negative effects are likely to be less.”
   But a supportive, caring culture can’t be created overnight and especially not in response to a workplace death. Either a 
company already has such a culture, or it doesn’t.

Relaying Information, Gauging Reactions
   After making the initial decisions about suspending operations and reassigning employees—or sending them home—management needs to focus on disseminating accurate information about the incident.
   Relaying such facts to employees is one of the key steps in helping them cope. “When management is providing the reports, it ensures that everyone has the same information,” notes Quick. These reports help squelch speculation that could be damaging to the company and employee morale and demonstrate that the company has nothing to hide.
   Holding such informational meetings as soon as possible after the accident can help employees stay calm when the accident investigation process gets under way, Levin adds. In fact, she recommends that management use the first employee meeting to inform everyone that an investigation will be conducted. 
   “Employees who were directly involved in or witnessed the incident need to be prepared for the fact that they’ll be questioned, possibly several times,” she says. “Management should encourage them to stay calm and provide any information that will help the investigation.”
   At this point, management should be able to gauge the effect of the fatality on the work force. By listening to and observing employees, it should be obvious how upset they are, whether the prevailing reaction is shock, anger, or grief, and what types of support may be needed.
   It’s important to realize that the effect on individuals will vary, Quick observes.
   “How involved other workers were with the deceased individual and how much they identify with him or her—the it-could-have-been-me syndrome—are two important factors,” he says.
   Individuals who had a closer relationship with the deceased or feel they had unfinished business with the person usually have a more intense reaction than those who didn’t—but not always. Eyewitnesses, regardless of their relationship with the deceased, often have a stronger reaction than employees who heard about the incident secondhand.
   At OmniSource Corp.’s Fort Wayne, Ind., processing plant, corporate safety director Ben Eisbart earlier this year witnessed the full gamut of reactions employees express after a workplace fatality.
   A contractor working at the plant bypassed the safety-guard system on a portable cement mixer and reached into the barrel while it was operating. The man’s glove caught in the auger, and he was pulled into the equipment. Contract workers at the site ran for assistance, and OmniSource employees ran to the scene, but no one could have saved the man.
   OmniSource management responded to the crisis with a meeting to inform everyone of the incident. Though the death occurred on the first shift, the company held meetings on all shifts and included the contractor’s employees, Eisbart says. “It was tragic and very rough for our employees to deal with, even though it wasn’t one of them and they weren’t there when it happened,” he says. Many of the employees who raced to the site expressed feelings of helplessness and disbelief.

Providing Counseling
One of Eisbart’s first calls after the fatal accident was to OmniSource’s employee assistance program (EAP) provider. 
   OmniSource has a long-standing relationship with its EAP provider and had used counselors in the past for on-site services such as stress management.
   “We announced at the first employee meeting after the death that we would have EAP available on-site for those who might want to talk about it,” he says. “The provider had counselors here less than an hour after I called them.”
   An EAP can be an invaluable resource during the stressful time following a fatality. Use such programs and don’t shy away from bringing in counselors, Quick advises. “You’re going to have some people who are hit more deeply than others by the death of a coworker and need to talk about it, discuss it, share their feelings, and review what happened,” he says. “As a manager, you don’t want your people feeling overwhelmed by their emotions or let the incident interfere with their ability to go on with their lives—personal as well as work.”
   Helping people cope with their feelings is definitely a job for a professional, either through an EAP or company chaplain. TXI Chaparral Steel, for example, has a company chaplain trained in counseling who steps in to help in times of crisis. Supervisors, managers, and coworkers—well-intentioned though they may be—lack the necessary training, so call the experts.
   The ideal time to announce the availability of counseling is at the initial employee meeting, as soon as possible after the death. At that stage, some employees won’t know that they’ll need help processing the incident. The announcement can be repeated at other meetings or posted on employee bulletin boards to keep the word out that help is available.
   Ironically, the contracting company whose employee died at OmniSource’s plant didn’t have an EAP, so OmniSource arranged for the contractor’s employees to participate in its EAP counseling, Eisbart notes.
   Employee reactions to the offer for counseling were as varied as their responses to the accident itself, with some ready to go and others extremely hesitant, he notes. That’s not unusual, particularly in an industrial setting where most of the work force is male. As Quick explains, “There’s a certain stigma attached to ‘going to a shrink.’ People may see it as a sign of weakness or worse.”
   In his experience, there are many strategies for encouraging people to get the counseling they need following a death or other trauma. One technique is for supervisors to be on the lookout for changes in employees’ behavior—for example, a usually social employee who starts eating lunch alone or a punctual worker who starts showing up late. Such behavior could be a signal that the employee needs help.
   In some cases, however, even if a supervisor identifies an employee who could benefit from counseling, the supervisor may not be the best person to suggest it. “Often the best person to approach someone about counseling is an individual who is close to the person, even a coworker at the same level,” Quick says.
   Eisbart took the more direct approach. “We actually suggested to some people that they should go to EAP,” he recalls. “It was casual—sort of ‘Hey, we’re having a meeting over here. Why don’t you go? It might help you.’”
   In several cases, he called employees into his office and personally asked them to attend the EAP sessions. “I said, ‘Humor me. I think it would be worth your while to talk to these people, even if you only stay five minutes,’” he says.
   As it turned out, even the most hesitant employees who agreed to attend a session for five or 10 minutes ended up staying for several hours. “It was like they needed someone’s approval to go, someone telling them it was OK,” Eisbart says.

Learning Safety Lessons
At some point after a workplace death, the corporate safety officer or other appropriate staffer needs to conduct a debriefing on the incident with employees. This should be separate from the employee informational meetings, EAP announcements, and other similar meetings.
   Says Levin, “It’s important to make sure that OSHA regulations were being followed, that the employee had been trained in safety on that particular piece of equipment or for that situation, and that appropriate personal protective equipment was in use. It’s also important to look at what you can learn from the accident by reviewing the circumstances that led up to it.”
   To be sure, a fatal accident can be an opportunity to review safety procedures with employees and modify bad habits as part of an ongoing, comprehensive safety program.
   Larry Brock used his driver’s death to reinforce the importance of safety. The accident report was available to all employees to read, but drivers were required to read it and sign a statement attesting that they had. “The purpose was awareness,” says Brock. “It was a terrible incident in the short term, but in the long term we were able to use it to good because it increased driver awareness.”
   In fact, Brock says he still refers to the accident in safety training. “I tell the guys, ‘C’mon, be safe. I’ve told one five-year-old that his daddy isn’t coming home. I don’t want to tell any more.’ It brings home the point.”
The bottom line is that planning for how to deal with the personal as well as the business side of a fatality will go a long way toward reducing the negative effects on employees and management. 
   “You do everything possible to prevent an accident or fatality from happening,” says Eisbart. “But if it happens, you want to be able to deal with it reasonably, quickly, and effectively.” •