There recently were a string of tornados in the Midwest
Today’s blog is by Margaret Stewart, Director of HR, and Administration at SafeSourcing
There recently were a string of tornados in the Midwest that proved to be deadly. While not entirely unheard of, these are a bit late in the season. With it being this late in the season, people may not initially think winter storms will bring such wind and disaster and so we rely heavily on early warning systems to notify people of approaching hazardous weather. This was the case in this situation with one big difference. Warehouse employees who were on the job during these tornados did not know anything about them because they were not allowed to have their phones or other technology on them while they work.
This approach of limiting employee’s access to technology has been in place in many different companies and was likely implemented to keep employees focused on their job instead of receiving messages, calls, or browsing phone applications. In this case, those employees were at a disadvantage because they were not notified of the tornados and were unable to find shelter of safety. This situation has begun the serious conversations of whether an employer can mandate no phones while on the job if having them could potentially save lives. Allowing phones on the job, while may risk productivity, could save lives in the future, not only by alerting them to severe weather, but also as a lifeline if someone is injured on the job.
While everyone will likely not agree on whether phones and other personal technology should be allowed on the job, everyone will likely agree that this incident has overall been tragic. Conversations on this topic will likely continue and we may even see it in legislation. If there are new laws passed about technology in the workplace or on additional safety measure required by employers, then you can count on SafeSourcing to help you get the products or gear you need to keep your workers safe. For now, you can still rely on SafeSourcing helping your company obtain the tools it needs to keep running smoothly ad safely.
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