Signing a declaration at work
Discussion
Where I work, as employees we are duty bound to adhere to our rule book and all the safety rules it entails. Fair enough so far. One of our 'blue sky thinking' managers has come up with the idea that each employee should write and sign a personal pledge to behave safely at all times, which will then be scanned and sent to a dedicated email inbox. Apart from it being a load of airy-fairy s
te can they actually make us do this?
te can they actually make us do this?Asking you to sign to say yes you will adhere to company rules and regs; very few employers wouldn't ask this, and I'd question why any employee would refuse.
Chances are your contract or employee handbook says something similar and I'd imagine you signed to say you'd received and understood those.
Chances are your contract or employee handbook says something similar and I'd imagine you signed to say you'd received and understood those.
Yes we have to sign when we recieve our rule book and also have to sit a test every year or so, depending on how many things we are trained to do.
The declaration itself is very vague as we basically have to write it ourselves, something vague along the lines of 'I am committed to safety' or suchlike.
The declaration itself is very vague as we basically have to write it ourselves, something vague along the lines of 'I am committed to safety' or suchlike.
The manager has been told by his boss to make sure that H&S is in order. The manager has a choice of doing something useful like assessing and improving processes, or getting people to sign a bit of paper. Either will get him a payrise, but only one involves him needing skill and doing real work. Guess which option he's chosen.
spikeyhead said:
The manager has been told by his boss to make sure that H&S is in order. The manager has a choice of doing something useful like assessing and improving processes, or getting people to sign a bit of paper. Either will get him a payrise, but only one involves him needing skill and doing real work. Guess which option he's chosen.
Naughty 
Our depot manager is a pretty straightforward kind of chap, having worked on the coal face himself, so to speak. So it must be frustrating for him to have to look enthusiastic about stuff like this.
There has been a lot of this recently. The biggest risk we face every day is tripping over or injuring our ankles on miles and miles of uneven ground, scrap, overgrowth and rabbit-damaged walkways. It would cost millions to put it right!
Edited by 5-Oh on Friday 11th September 17:56
Somebody has probably thought along the lines of: our health and safety stats are good, we do a lot of assessment, training and reinforcement. We have an EHS committee, lots of management led initiatives and even some shop floor led initiatives. How can we keep improving? ... Rather than continual top down edict, let's maintain that but work on bottom up too and put more onus on the individual to be safe. Let's give them the responsibility to be responsible for themself rather than just blindly following process.
The statement is probably just the first part of a wider programme.
This approach is similar to the concept of different approaches to learning. It is not all about instruction and reading.
The statement is probably just the first part of a wider programme.
This approach is similar to the concept of different approaches to learning. It is not all about instruction and reading.
So you have two choices:
1. declare that "I have read the safety manual and agree to adhere to it"
2. do nothing and see what happens
Personally, in this instance I would do nothing - as you're already contractually bound to adherence anyway - and wait to see if there are any repercussions when the new manager is desperate to get 100% signed-up to get his bonus!
1. declare that "I have read the safety manual and agree to adhere to it"
2. do nothing and see what happens
Personally, in this instance I would do nothing - as you're already contractually bound to adherence anyway - and wait to see if there are any repercussions when the new manager is desperate to get 100% signed-up to get his bonus!
Do you actually plan on trying to progress at this company & further your career, or is it a dead end job that you don't want to go anywhere?
If it's the latter, then crack on and make waves, if you fancy a promotion at some point I don't see why you'd be difficult over something so trivial.
If it's the latter, then crack on and make waves, if you fancy a promotion at some point I don't see why you'd be difficult over something so trivial.
5-Oh said:
Where I work, as employees we are duty bound to adhere to our rule book and all the safety rules it entails. Fair enough so far. One of our 'blue sky thinking' managers has come up with the idea that each employee should write and sign a personal pledge to behave safely at all times, which will then be scanned and sent to a dedicated email inbox. Apart from it being a load of airy-fairy ste can they actually make us do this?
Railways by any chance? te can they actually make us do this?5-Oh said:
Yes we have to sign when we recieve our rule book and also have to sit a test every year or so, depending on how many things we are trained to do.
The declaration itself is very vague as we basically have to write it ourselves, something vague along the lines of 'I am committed to safety' or suchlike.
Yet you took the time to write that statement on here.The declaration itself is very vague as we basically have to write it ourselves, something vague along the lines of 'I am committed to safety' or suchlike.
Why not just do it. My boss often asks me to write things, fill in things etc. Some are sensible, some are pointless (IMO) however he is in change, and its not an unreasonable thing to ask.
Asking if they can "make you do it" is like asking if they can "make you" fill in a line in a spreadsheet.
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