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A Safety Culture at Border Transportation

There is perpetual pressure for every company to focus on a sustainable and accountable performance beyond financial issues. As a new warehouse manager at Border Transportation, I have to ensure a sustainable warehouse performance to ensure its growth. A few issues, including safety at the warehouse, absenteeism, company losses in compensation claims, and employees with AIDS, have to be addressed. This paper elaborates on ways to address these issues amicably.

Safety in the warehouse is becoming a real issue, and the accident rate has tripled since last year. More stringent safety measures need to be implemented to address this issue, and following these measures will be mandatory. Absenteeism has increased, especially on Fridays and Mondays. Any worker who is absent without a valid reason will be subjected to a compulsory unpaid leave to mitigate this. The company is spending 25% of its payroll costs on workers’ compensation claims related to cumulative trauma disorders. A wellness program will be introduced to emphasize preventive care and discourage unhealthy behaviour that could be detrimental to the employee’s health. Employees with AIDS will be gotten rid of if they are not capable of carrying out their duties.

Safety at the workplace is paramount for both the firm and the employees. Workplace accidents account for 960,000 injured workers and approximately 5,330 fatalities each day (Hofstra et al., 2018).  A culture of safety is essential in every company to reduce accidents and hazards. To instill a culture of safety at Border transportation, several steps must be undertaken. First, I will ensure safety equipment is always used. Given that the company deals with transportation, there is a lot of loading of goods on trucks safety equipment such as forklifts to raise bulky products to prevent major back injuries. Vehicle safety will also be necessary given the nature of our work. To avoid vehicle crash injuries, every employee operating a truck or a forklift must be licensed and receive proper practical training from the company.

Wellness programs at workplaces cover over 50 million US workers. These programs are intended to increase productivity, improve wellbeing and increase productivity (Jones et al., 2019).  I believe that a wellness program would make sense for this company. Most of the company employees are above 45 years, making them vulnerable to health risks. In the case of health complications, the company faces significant losses in compensation claims. With a wellness program, safety and health issues of employees can be addressed.

As the world evolves, so do the modern warehouse safety problems. There is a new era of health and safety risk for warehouse workers. With the logistics technology race, warehouse jobs are more repetitive, fast-paced, and physically stressful (Paoletta, 2019). The biggest challenges in increasing safety and health will be ergonomics and worker training. Most of the employees are old and may fail to keep up with the fast-paced packing, sorting, standing, and continuous and repetitive motion might cause physical distress on them. Most employees also lack a formal education; therefore, more worker hands-on training on safety awareness must be conducted periodically. Balancing between the fast-paced activities and setting time for safety awareness will also be a challenge.

Workplace care and support ensure that employees with HIV/AIDS remain healthy and productive at their workplace. The National HIV/AIDS Strategy calls for comprehensive care for people living with HIV (PLWH), including equal and supportive employment (Maulsby et al., 2020). Moreover, PLWH who have a timely diagnosis, access to medical care, and medication adherence are expected to live a normal life. As a warehouse manager, I will retain an employee despite his HIV status and only dismiss one based on his or her performance. I will introduce a care and support program that will ensure a supportive work environment where discrimination will not be tolerated. Working conditions for workers with AIDS will be flexible and friendly to ensure they remain productive. I will also emphasize the need for referral clinics to provide voluntary, confidential counselling and testing for our employees.

With the company’s work in Mexico, many employees have English as their second language. This is a significant concern in the creation and implementation of a new safety program. Employees who do not speak the dominant language are at a higher risk of occupational injuries (Moyce & Schenker, 2018).  Moreover, workers with lower education levels and lower language skills incur more occupational injuries than those with higher language and education skills. Safety training can help address this; however, it may not be offered in the employee’s native language leading to a linguistic variation. Posted safety information and warning signs may fail to protect workers if they cannot understand them. Therefore, safety training should include pictograms, illustrations, and hands-on drills that cut across cultural, linguistic, and educational differences.

Being a new worker at the company, I will expect some resentment from employees who have been in the company for a long and feel that some things should be done in a certain way and are not open to new safety procedures. Nevertheless, I will stay positive and thoroughly explain new safety rules and their importance. I will work towards creating a work culture that values safety. Having a high rank for safety will make employees accept safety improvement changes (Maat, 2019). As a manager, I will try my best and communicate upcoming changes as soon as possible to allow every employee to gear and adapt at their pace. Every employee has a right to air their concerns, and as a manager, I will take time to listen to their concerns.

In conclusion, every employee’s safety is paramount, and every employee must understand that safety rules will not be negotiable. As a manager, I will work towards the wellbeing of every employee despite their HIV status. Training that cuts across cultural, educational, and linguistic barriers will be conducted to ensure all employees’ safety.

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