There was a time when Circle K cared about its employees. Sadly, with the new multi-million dollar merger, Circle K, a division of the Tosco corporation, is now owned by global oil industry giant Phillips 66.
Phillips 66, in an effort to reduce employee injury claims, soon introduced weird 'safety' policies, which, while on the surface may appear to back up their claims that they care for their employees, actually only help to cover the corporation's financial assets in case an employee is injured on the job.
Take, for example, Phillips' policy concerning back belts: Employees must wear the back belts while doing ANY lifting, cleaning, or stocking. Although the medical profession continues to publish articles which say backbelts do more harm than good.
When Phillips representatives were confronted with this information at a regional 'safety' meeting, they had 'no comment'.
Another example is the poor employee who was injured on the job (while taking out the trash), had his medical claim denied, and was fired, when he was bitten by a dog in the parking lot. The reason? He wasn't wearing his orange safety vest at the time, and thus was "not working in a safe manner". As if the orange safety vest would have protected from a dog bite!
Another employee fell over a box full of cartons of cigarettes. Her medical claim was denied because she had several boxes spread out on the floor, trying to stock them. Phillips' new 'safety' policy is that only one box can be stocked at a time, and all boxes must be left in a single stack. Impossible, since Phillips also has a policy that states all cigarettes must be counted and checked in *before* being stocked on the shelf. An employee must truly be talented indeed, to check in every carton of cigarettes without moving a single box!
That employee's medical injury claim was denied, and she was also fired.
Let's not forget that each day, before work, the employees must sign not one, but TWO waivers, stating that they understand the penalty for not wearing backbelts (while cleaning, lifting, or stocking), reflective orange safety vests (when going outside during daylight or nighttime hours), protective goggles (when using any harmful cleaning agents), face masks, helmets (while changing signs), rubber gloves (while handling toxic materials), leather gloves (while taking out the trash), and cooler jacket (when stocking the cooler) can and will result in termination of the employee.
In addition to the two waivers, there is a third, monthly waiver (deceptively called an 'employee safety newsletter'), which the employee must sign and date, indicating that s/he has read and understood it), and occasional weekly 'safety' documents, which also must be signed and dated.
Few if any of Phillips' new 'safety' policies are practical: for example, Wearing leather gloves while taking out the trash may seem like a good safety policy. Of course, it's nearly impossible to TIE a garbage bag shut when wearing leather gloves, and twist ties are not provided by the company. It's fine to sit in a board room and make these sorts of policies, but in the real world, it doesn't work.
Which is what Phillips is banking on. See, their convenience stores are all equipped with survaillance cameras. If any employee is injured on the job, all the suits have to do is look through the old survaillance videos until they find any violation of corporation 'safety'. Then the employee's medical claim is denied, and the worker is terminated.
R
Tucson, Arizona
0 comments