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Old 03-13-2004, 09:02 AM   #1 (permalink)
Shokan
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Location: Canada
My boss lied to me about workplace safety, what should I do?

So here is the situation. I work at a Future Shop, which is basically the equivelent of Best Buy. I work in the warehouse, and part of my job is to get skids down from the upper shevling in the warehouse, using what is called a pallet stacker. See image.



So anyway, the other full time guy that I work with in the warehouse, Doug, was trying to get something down from the second level of shelving (there are 3) with the pallet stacker. He nudged the top level shelving with the top of the product, and it ended up that the whole top level of shelving fell down. Luckily, they all angled towards the wall, and didn't come crashing down on poor Doug.

Upon further inspection, we discovered that there was no safety bolts in the rear section of the shevles. These are basically to hold all the shelving in place so nothing like that ever happens. So we put in an immediate request for these pins to our boss, and given the nature of the request, we were expecting them to be over nighted to us the next day from headquarters.

So a week rolls by and we start getting concerned. We ask our boss, Chan, what is up with the bolts. He says he has called the person responsible for building supplies, and this person said to him that he sent them. Ok, we think, mailing delays or something. We wait in fear for the bolts.

2 more weeks roll by, and in this time one of the part time guys, DJ, quits. He tells us before he leaves that he will call the Labour Board about this and try to help us out. We didn't want to call ourselves out of fear of losing our jobs. We never heard from him again though, so I don't think he ever called.

2 days myself, Doug and Chan all got into a yelling match in the warehouse about these goddamn bolts. We were furious that these pins have not showed up, and basically revolted against him. We threatened to take down every single skid from the top shelf, and not put them again until we get them. This is bad news for them, because we have a small warehouse, with a truck coming that night. We would not have been able to fit all the skids from the top shelf, plus all the skids from the truck onto the warehouse floor.

Chan swore up and down that he has done everything he could possibly do to get these bolts. He says he looked through all the books at the store for a phone number, he searched the internet, he spoke to the building supply guy several times about this, etc etc etc etc. Everyone goes there seperate ways, and me and Doug decide to do some detective work.

We immediately find a phone number for the racking company that built the shelving, (a giant sticker clearly visible on the shelved if you just bothered to look up). This in the first indication of a lie. Why would he not bother to look on the actual shelving for a phone number??

We decide to go our new Store Manager (Dan) , who just transfered in last week, to see if he can help us. Dan is a really good guy, and he gets shit done. We tell him the situation, he basically says "Holy shit. I'll call my boss right away." A few hours later I get a call from headquarters about these bolts, asking what I needed and how many. We get it all setup, and we should be getting them Monday.

Chan also claimed that he was having a customer service rep track down these bolts, as Building Supply Guy said he sent them. Doug called my up today at home to tell me that the bolts were NEVER placed on order, as Building Supply Guy has been on vacation for past few weeks. Chan lied to us. He lied about something that he could have done, and gotten within 2-3 days. He lied to us about our safety.

Now the question is, what can I do? I am considering talking to Dan again, and asking why my boss is lying about something that could easily get me killed. I am also considering talking to the Labour Board, but seeing how I cant really prove any of this, as nothing is written down and its me against an evil multi billion dollar corporation, this option may be fruitless.

So I ask again, what should I do in this situation? I sure as hell dont want to work for this "man" again. I want him removed from his position. I want him to be punished for lying to me about something as serious as this. I should have to go work and fear for my life every time I step foot in the warehouse.
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