For the exclusive use of L. Umwizerwa, 2024. FIVEY | Publishing SAFETY AT LEAGUE PLASTICS INC. Karen MacMillan wrote this exercise solely to provide material for class discussion. The author does not intend to illustrate either effective or ineffective handling of a managerial situation. The author may have disguised certain names and other identifying information to protect confidentiality. This publication may not be transmitted, photocopied, digitized, or otherwise reproduced in any form or by any means without the permission of the copyright holder. Reproduction of this material is not covered under authorization by any reproduction rights organization. To order copies or request permission to reproduce materials, contact Ivey Publishing, lvey Business School, Western University, London, Ontario, Canada, N6G ON1; (1) 519.661.3208; (e) cases@ivey.ca; www.iveypublishing.ca. Our goal is to publish materials of the highest quality; submit any errata to publishcases@ivey.ca. Copyright 2023, Ivey Business School Foundation Version: 2023-12-19 Natalie Wilson shook her head as she looked at the latest workers' compensation report. Things looked grim. Looking at the numbers, she was pretty sure that the company's claim rates were going to go up in a big way. Her boss was going to freak out when she told him. League Plastics (League), a supplier of specialty parts for the recreational vehicle industry, had been in business for almost 20 years, but things had become hard about five years ago, when an aggressive new competitor had arrived and started undercutting everyone. League had lost so much business that, for a while, it seemed as though it might even go under. To get lean, the owner, Jack Martino, had frozen everyone's pay, let go of about 20 per cent of the work force, increased productivity standards, and cut every expense he could. The strategy had paid off, and things had slowly improved financially over the past four years. The company had even hired about a dozen new employees in the previous six months. Wilson was one of these new hires. The employee population was currently at just under 200 employees:15 in the front office and the rest out in the plant office or on the factory floor, Martino had semi-retired the year before. He still owned the company, but he had put Ricardo Haman in place in the president's position. Wilson didn't know Haman very well, but he had a reputation for being hard on people. Safety was supposed to be a minor part of her human resources (HR) administrative position, and when she had taken it, Wilson thought it wouldn't be hard to figure things out. She had quickly learned how to submit worker's compensation claims and had been thinking that this was all she had to do. But now, she was feeling like she was in over her head. Her boss, Ramesh Gupta, had made a comment the week before, when she had mentioned in passing that she had to do another claim form: Gupta's eyebrows went up, and he said, \"Don't forget it's your job to keep claims to a minimum.\" That was news to her. What could she do to keep claims down? She regretted that she had not attended more of the health and safety committee meetings. She had meant to go, but something had always come up. Anyway, it had seemed pointless to go to a safety meeting when she knew nothing about safety or the plant. With a sigh, she put down the worker's compensation report, stood up, and left her office. Wilson absentmindedly followed the narrow hallway to the front reception area. She smiled at Laurie Chan, the receptionist, as she approached. Chan was normally very cheerful, but today her smile seemed a little forced. Concerned, Wilson said, \"What's the matter, Laurie? You don't look very happy.\" Chan's hand This document s authorized for use only by Lida Umwizerwa in Gourse Pack for BUSI 210 taught by Jody Merrit, Yorkville University from Apr 2024 to Sep 2024, For the exclusive use of L. Umwizerwa, 2024. Page 2 W34416 went to her neck, and she started to rub it vigorously as she replied. \"Good morning, Natalie. And don't worry about me. I''m fine. I think I just wrenched my neck a little bit. The new paper order came in and I had to lug all those boxes to the storeroom and then hoist each one up to a shelf.\" Wilson's stomach dropped. Was this going to be another comp claim? She replied, \"Ohno! Why didn't you get Derek to do that for you? I thought, since he's the floater, he was the guy to call in when there was heavy lifting to do.\" Chan smiled as she shook her head: \"'I can't wait two days for Derek to get around to it. Do you know how much grief I get from Ramesh when there is any mess up here?\" As the door to the front entrance opened, Chan stopped talking and smiled to greet the visitor who had just come in. Wilson gave up and turned to go back to her office. As she walked back to her desk, Wilson realized that she would not have predicted that Chan could be at risk of a workplace injury since, she usually just sat there talking to visitors. Wilson realized she didn't have a clear understanding of how people could get hurt. Back at her desk, she pulled out the worker's compensation files and put together a spreadsheet that showed all the claims over the previous five years (see Exhibit 1). Some claims had cost more than others, so she devised a quick system to differentiate them. She categorized them as low impact (minor health care and/or two or fewer days off), medium impact (between three and 15 days off) and high impact (more than 15 days off work). It wasn't perfect, but the table gave her some idea of the injury patterns. For instance, the injury rate had been steadily rising. Not only were more people getting hurt, but some people were also staying off for longer periods of time; in the previous six months, two employees had been written off entirelythey were never coming back. That would have a huge negative effect on League's workers\" compensation insurance rate. Over the next few days, Wilson looked closer at the types of injuries that were happening. She also went out to look at the different areas of the building and started asking Heole uestions and taking notes. 1115 GUGUIMENT 1S AUINGTIZED 107 USE DMy DY LIGa UMWIZENWE 1N LOUTSE FEcK 107 DUDI &1 U3 1augnt by Jody MEFTIN, TOrKVilie UTIVETSIty TOm AP U& W0 D8P 2Ut. For the exclusive use of L. Umwizerwa, 2024. Page 2 went to her neck, and she started to rub it vigorously as she replied, \"Good morning, Natalie. And don't worry about me. I'm fine. I think I just wrenched my neck a little bit. The new paper order came in and I had to lug all those boxes to the storeroom and then hoist each one up to a shelf.\" Wilson's stomach dropped. Was this going to be another comp claim? She replied, \"Ohno! Why didn't you get Derek to do that for you? I thought, since he's the floater, he was the guy to call in when there was heavy lifting to do.\" Chan smiled as she shook her head: \"'I can't wait two days for Derek to get around to it. Do you know how much grief I get from Ramesh when there is any mess up here?\" As the door to the front entrance opened, Chan stopped talking and smiled to greet the visitor who had just come in. Wilson gave up and turned to go back to her office. As she walked back to her desk, Wilson realized that she would not have predicted that Chan could be at risk of a workplace injury since, she usually just sat there talking to visitors. Wilson realized she didn't have a clear understanding of how people could get hurt. Back at her desk, she pulled out the worker's compensation files and put together a spreadsheet that showed all the claims over the previous five years (see Exhibit 1). Some claims had cost more than others, so she devised a quick system to differentiate them. She categorized them as low impact (minor health care and/or two or fewer days off), medium impact (between three and 15 days off) and high impact (more than 15 days off work). It wasn't perfect, but the table gave her some idea of the injury patterns. For instance, the injury rate had been steadily rising. Not only were more people getting hurt, but some people were also staying off for longer periods of time; in the previous six months, two employees had been written off entirelythey were never coming back. That would have a huge negative effect on League's workers\" compensation insurance rate. Over the next few days, Wilson looked closer at the types of injuries that were happening. She also went out to look at the different areas of the building and started asking people questions and taking notes. TRAINING One of the first things Wilson noted was that new employees at League Plastics had no safety orientation. She found out that, in the old days, all new employees had been given a full day of orientation, including a little speech by owner Jack Martino. One employee, who had been with the company about seven years, remembered that Martino's talk had included a bit about the importance of safety. The employee said, \"Jack cared about employees more. Who knows what Ricardo Haman thinks? He never has anything to do with us.\" Wilson thought back to her first days at the company. Gupta had told her that she had to do some online toxic substance training that was required by law, but then told her to do it whenever she found the time. No one had ever checked to see if she had done it, and other new employees shared similar experiences. Once they were on the job, regular employees got minimal health and safety training. At least one training session had been done while people were having their lunch. The supervisor had unexpectedly gone into the break room and spoken for ten minutes about lockout procedures. People didn't realize what was happening and barely listened. Then the supervisor passed around a sheet for employees to sign, showing that they had attended a training session. There were only one or two people certified to provide first aid on each shift. Wilson asked the supervisor who was the first aid person for the afternoon shift so she could ask them some questions. The supervisor just shrugged and said, \"Alexis isn't here right now. She has three little kids and sometimes has to stay home with them when they're sick.\" When Wilson asked if there was a back-up person for first aid, the supervisor said, \"Yeah, I had the training a while back, but I really don't have time to put band-aids on people. If they're really hurt, I'd rather they go to the emergency room.\" document is authorized for use only by Lida Umwizerwa in Course Pack for BUSI 2103 taught by Jody Merritt, Yorkville University from Apr 2024 to Sep 2024. For the exclusive use of L. Umwizerwa, 2024. Page 3 W34416 ASSEMBLY DEPARTMENT Wilson also spent one morning in the assembly area, where there had been a number of repetitive strain injuries. All six main assembly lines were high volume. Employees had to stand in a row of six or seven people at a long table and fit parts together, over and over. When Wilson asked if she could step in and try one station, it took only a few minutes before she became a serious bottleneck. The worker who had let her take her spot quickly stepped back in, and Wilson gave up with relief. The employees explained that if they didn't make their production targets, they would get in trouble from the supervisor, who was known to transfer people to other lines whenever targets were missedeven if it had been just one bad day. No one wanted to be transferred with no say about where they might go. Even within the assembly lines, there were \"'good stations and \"bad stations.\" The better stations were at the end and the beginning, where employees had the power to affect the pace of the line. For example, if employees at the loading station wanted to, they could work really fast for a while to \"\"fill the line\" and then sit back and relax for a few moments. It was the same with the packers at the end. Higher seniority employees got to work the good stations because they were seen to have \"paid their dues.\" As she was leaving the assembly area, Wilson was surprised to see a few respirators (gas masks) sitting on a table. She asked the closest employee what they were for and was told that, a couple of times a month, they had to use a really stinky chemical to connect two parts. Whoever got stuck with the job would use one of the gas mask respirators, Wilson thought she remembered a claim where an assembly employee had become sick from smelling something. She went back to her office and found the claims report. The claim hadn't been made by the operators working with the caustic chemical but by a nearby employee who had been affected by the chemical. PAINT DEPARTMENT The majority of the production employees worked in the painting area. These employees had to load the plastic parts onto hooks on a conveyor that moved the parts into painting booths. The hooks hung about five feet from the ground to accommodate large parts. Robots did most of the painting, but for small, customized batches, employees would don full protective gear, enter the paint booths, and paint the parts by hand. Once the parts were painted, the conveyor would bring them out of the booths to where employees waited. As the employees took the parts down from the hooks, they date stamped each part and inspected it. If the paint finish was urEEEE 1. ( back to the loading area so it could eo back into the paint booth for another coat of paint. Emnlovees were meant to nut on dust r, who was known to transfer people to other lines whenever targets were missedeven if it had been just one bad day. No one wanted to be transferred with no say about where they might go. Even within the assembly lines, there were \"'good stations and \"bad stations.\" The better stations were at the end and the beginning, where employees had the power to affect the pace of the line. For example, if employees at the loading station wanted to, they could work really fast for a while to \"\"fill the line\" and then sit back and relax for a few moments, It was the same with the packers at the end. Higher seniority employees got to work the good stations because they were seen to have \"paid their dues.\" As she was leaving the assembly area, Wilson was surprised to see a few respirators (gas masks) sitting on a table. She asked the closest employee what they were for and was told that, a couple of times a month, they had to use a really stinky chemical to connect two parts. Whoever got stuck with the job would use one of the gas mask respirators. Wilson thought she remembered a claim where an embly employee had become sick from smelling something. She went back to her office and found the claims report. The claim hadn't been made by the operators working with the caustic chemical but by a nearby employee who had been affected by the chemical. PAINT DEPARTMENT The majority of the production employees worked in the painting area. These employees had to load the plastic parts onto hooks on a conveyor that moved the parts into painting booths. The hooks hung about five feet from the ground to accommodate large parts. Robots did most of the painting, but for small, customized batches, employees would don full protective gear, enter the paint booths, and paint the parts by hand. Once the parts were painted, the conveyor would bring them out of the booths to where employees waited. As the employees took the parts down from the hooks, they date stamped each part and inspected it. If the paint finish was unsatisfactory, the part would need to be sanded and sent back to the loading area s0 it could go back into the paint booth for another coat of paint. Employees were meant to put on dust masks every time they sanded down a bad part, but Wilson noticed that they didn't always do so. As she watched the employees work, she noticed one guy who rarely wore his mask while sanding, and she asked him about it. He said, \"If there are a bunch of bad parts coming through, I'll put my mask on to sand them down. But, hey, when it's just one or two, I'm not always going to bother. I know what I'm doing, and [ can do the sanding in under 15 seconds. Breathing this dust for that short a time is not going to kill me.\" FRONT OFFICE The claims connected to the front office were mostly neck strain and carpal tunnel injuries. Wilson asked Shanelle Smith, an accounting clerk, about a neck and back injury she had experienced a few months before. Smith explained, \"About six months ago, my neck started bugging me, and then it moved into my back. I don't like to complain, so I waited as long as I could to make a claim,\" When Wilson remarked that maybe there was some way they could have adjusted her workstation for her, Smith laughed and said, This document is authorized for use only by Lida Umwizerwa in Course Pack for BUSI 2103 taught by Jody Merritt, Yorkville University from Apr 2024 to Sep 2024. For the exclusive use of L. Umwizerwa, 2024. Page 4 W34416 Well, I had heard about this ergonomic keyboard that might have helped, but there was no way I was going to ask for that. When my friend Mitali worked here, she made the mistake of asking for a wrist rest for her desk. You would have thought she asked for a diamond encrusted tiara by the reaction she got. They acted like she was being some kind of diva. I didn't want people to think I was looking to be treated like a queen or anything. MANAGEMENT Wilson talked to an employee from the health and safety committee. According to him, the committee met fairly regularly, but nothing much ever got done. He told her, \"Things have gone downhill since Angela left about two years ago. She was a supervisor in the assembly area and was the manager representative on the safety committee. She had a lot of safety training and knew her stuff. She was let go cause her production numbers weren't great.\" Ironically, a couple of times during her investigation, Wilson had almost become an injury statistic herself. Three times, she tripped while she was exploring the different departments. It was not uncommon for there to be boxes in aisleways, cords extended between tables, and small spills that didn't get cleaned up. She noticed that an employee was wearing shoes that didn't seem to have steel toes, even though that was the rule everywhere on the floor, and she asked him about that. He laughed, and said, Good eye! Safety shoes are needed in some places, but not here. I've been wearing regular shoes for almost two years now and you're the first person to even notice. And not wearing them has not hurt me one bit. You know what does hurt me? Safety shoesthey always seem to give me blistersand they're expensive. The company pays for half, but it is still a lot to pay for shoes that can only be 'worn at work. I need lightweight shoes that move easily. I am on my feet all day, you know! WHAT TO DO As she reviewed all the information she had accumulated, Wilson concluded that she had two choices. She could start looking for another job and hopefully find one before the workers' comp renewal came up. While that would be the easy way out in the short term, it would probably mean she could kiss a good reference goodbye. Anyway, she didn't like the idea of running from a problem. That left only one option: putting together a plan that would start reducing the injuries for the rest of the year. They couldn't go back in time and fix what had already happened, but maybe she could reduce the injuries for the rest of the year. She needed to figure out a plan to present to her boss. Thic dnetimant ie aithnrizar far 1iea ani b | ida | lmizansa in Cairea Pack far R1ISE2107 taunht b Indy Marritt Yarkilla | Inhareity fram Anr 2024 ta San 2024