HR questions: wife calling about safety issue

[PetMom]

Anyone work or has worked in Human Resources and might know about this or has had experience with this situation.

My DH works for govt. (not inherently dangerous as maybe a police officer's job would be) but it still has lots of safety rules, procedures, codes to follow, etc.

Having concern about a safety issue regarding my husband, I was not allowed to talk to the Risk Managment person (the person who evaluates risks)-that is only available after a situation.

I called the HR dept. and asked about the safety issue and they referred me to a special liason.

This person did discuss the issues with me very thoroughly.

My DH now Mad DH comes home and told me they said I was not supposed to call them and had no right to ask about his safety situation. They gave the message I could not call again. I could only call involving issues regarding my benefits. I wondered if he decided that but he even asked this liason person why did they even talk to me at all if that was the case.

I was quite incredulous that a spouse had never called with any concerns regarding the employed spouse.

More disturbing they recorded portions of me talking and tried to play them back for my husband to hear. He refused to listen. Apparently this was turning into some offical complaint circus.

Ironically, the whole issue was immediately resolved with the nonsafe situation being fixed
immediately.

I am not at all concerned about this affecting his work record (I asked if he was written up or disciplined - or should have asked was I?). And you have to wonder if some people are intimidated to not ask questions - I won't be calling them again.

Also, this type of structure in govt. work has very limited immunity by law for any claims.

Can spouses call HR when they feel the job has some safety issues that have not been addressed?

[jIM_Ohio]

Spouses can probably not call.

My wife works in HR as a consultant, and most of her job is helping clients deal with legal issues, terminations, hiring, discipline and workers comp claims.

There are two issues at force here, and they are really not related (at all).

1) is a person's privacy. for my spouse to call on benefits for me (I carry the benefits for us) I usually need to initiate the call, then conference in my wife and others when we need to discuss something. My wife administers most of the benefits for my family, she knows which kid went to doctor on what date, etc... for privacy reasons she cannot actually call and inquire about specific benefits on my plan without my authorization. She could not get access to my performance reviews or similar- those items are privacy controlled.

2) is safety- as you pointed out, once a safety issue was pointed out, it was fixed immediately. If you want to report a safety issue, do NOT use your name or your husband's name. Just report the issue.

I would be offended if my wife called my HR department without telling me. Your DH has a right (IMO) to be upset. You could have handled the problem 2-3 other ways, being more discreet or anonymous, and caused him less problems.

[disneysteve]

2) is safety- as you pointed out, once a safety issue was pointed out, it was fixed immediately. If you want to report a safety issue, do NOT use your name or your husband's name. Just report the issue.

This is just what I was going to say. I would have called and anonymously reported the safety issue.

I think for privacy reasons, the HR person should not be speaking with anyone other than the employee unless the employee has given permission to do so.

[PetMom]

Interesting feedback and certainly appreciated.

This was a situation that was 'imminent danger' if not addressed within that very day,
would have been very difficult to remain anonymous with what I was reporting because
it dealt with a specific situation only involving my DH.

Plus caller id is everywhere and don't feel I should have to (but have learned otherwise now)
sneak around to report a potential dangerous situation.

The not talking to someone that is a spouse about benefits would make sense in case this was about to be a divorce situation.

But safety. To me that is very important. I lost a close family member to lax govt. safety issues so am probably a little more sensitive to how that is handled and quickly.

When you sue an entity that has their own attorneys and ins. co. come in and have limited liability - that is one tough years long ordeal (after several years was finally settled).

How much better to try to make sure things don't happen in the first place.

I am aware of OSHA (sp) but thought that might not apply, take longer and appear to be making a big deal out of reporting to them.

Out of 18 years of employment was my only call (other than a benefit call), and won't be doing it again or will get one of those voice disguisers if I do.

[disneysteve]

This was a situation that was 'imminent danger' if not addressed within that very day,
would have been very difficult to remain anonymous with what I was reporting because
it dealt with a specific situation only involving my DH.

Why did you need to call? If your husband was in imminent danger, shouldn't he have been addressing the situation himself?

[buzz]

If references to yourself, your husband, and work were replaced with "mom", "child", and "fifth grade class", the post would make more sense. Do you see your DH as a little boy who needs Mom's help to cope with his daily life? I think your sense of boundaries is a bit skewed.

[PetMom]

The situation had been building for a few weeks and I had urged him to complain and do something. He thought he would just risk it and did not want to quite obviously stir up
a stew.

Sorry, cannot reveal any more details (unless he quits) at this time, especially when finding
out what a touchy issue safety protocols are. Should reword that intimidating protocols.

It has been made more of a big deal of why I reported a dangerous situation than the fact that he was put in a dangerous situation!

I put a loved one far above appearing too aggressive or butting in at a work situation. His job was not in jeapardy at any time.

When something ends up going wrong everyone always points fingers or asks why didn't anyone say anything? Wow, that is quite obvious why they don't.

Working in different jobs and general experience:

Some people won't report, some people are afraid to report, some people have reported and nothing is not done, some reports go ignored, some make the reporter appear to be the problem more so than the situation, some are too proud to report, some could care less.

Thats it, thanks. I refuse to have this continued to be nitpicked and me being held to blame.

He did not lose his job and he is safe now - thank you.

Buzz: that being his Mom comment was uncalled for. I am sure the widows of the BP disaster wished they had
made some safety question calls.

Gosh even getting insulted for questioning about safety.

I did not come on here to get flamed.

[HouseHopeful]

I have to say that although I understand your frustration with wanting your husband to be safe, going about it the way you did may have caused of a problem for your husband.

It sounds to me (and I am not trying to judge) is that your issue is really with your husband. You and he talked about the problem, you voiced your concerns and he still chose to 'chance it' as you said instead of reporting it. You didn't like that decision (understandable) and went over his head to the HR dept.

I totally understand why you wanted the situation immediately resolved for his safety. But it sounds like there were reactions to how it was handled by both him and his workplace.

[Seeker]

PetMom -- you did the right thing. Be secured in the knowledge that a potential safety issue was addressed immediately.

The steps to get there may not have been the best (whatever the "protocol/procedure" is), but had you done nothing and had an accident occured, you would have remained to deal with the events both before and after. You did what you had to do; I probably would have done the same.

Welcome

[nmboone]

Also it sounds as if the higher ups might have had something to hide here in being so angry. Maybe they could have just explained why spouses could not call in the first place? Sounds odd that they were helpful and then decided to create such a big deal about it in front of your husband. Then the problem was fixed! Some workplaces are so rigid about such stupid things.