I know someone who's heading to federal prison because he stole a couple billion dollars from the US Government. How did his journey begin? Twenty years ago he was selling Christmas trees on a corner lot, and had slightly shady business practices with his employees. Everything grew from there.
Because corruption - especially when you get good at it - takes a lot of practice. If you know someone who has thoroughly cheated a company and you look into the person's past, you will find there's always a history of corruption from earlier years.
Now, when I was thinking of lesser degrees of corruption that I encountered, three examples came quickly to mind:
- At one workplace, one of the engineers would fall asleep regularly at his desk, sometimes for several hours. He was fully aware and not even embarrassed about it. That's stealing time from the employer.
- At another location, one of the chemists would often smoke weed on the job. That was another theft of time, since he was getting paid to "get high and not work".
- A third example was when I stopped a former employee from taking chemicals for personal use.
Consider these the beginning stages of corruption (as well as being potential reasons for being fired). They would not specifically fit the dictionary description of corruption but they are the first steps, and are all either theft and / or dishonest.
And when you don't address corruption at the very start, either in ourselves or in someone you know, it has a tendency to grow and grow.
Now keep that concept in mind, while you read this quote from the CSB (Consumer Safety Board) (emphasis mine):
"The investigation [of the tragic disaster at Nippon Dynawave] comes as the CSB manages nine active investigations nationwide, including Longview, amid what agency leaders describe as the deadliest streak of chemical incidents in the board's history.
'These investigations collectively involve 36 fatalities, dozens of serious injuries and hundreds of millions of dollars in property damage," Chairperson Stephen Owens said during Thursday's meeting. "The incidents resulting in 36 fatalities have incurred in just 10.5 months in our six most recent investigations. Altogether, the 36 deaths are the largest number of fatalities ever investigated by the CSB during a comparable time period.' " (1)
No, I am in no way, shape, or form saying that these horrific accidents were caused by corruption. Not at all. But this caught my attention because it's a very significant statement by the CSB.
We must be asking ourselves some questions.
Why the increase right now? Is it because of the way near misses are being reported? Is it the way management is handling or addressing accidents at mills and heavy industry, which have been discussed previously? Is it mill culture? What's going on? Because this should be sending off huge red flags.
Also how does corruption, whether small or medium or large, play a part with our safety culture because it absolutely can and does. (If no other way, it does so by affecting morale.)
These are questions that need to be asked at each and every mill.
No more making do. No more letting things slip.
Imagine if everyone was strictly, thoroughly, and 100% above board and honest, and the goal of zero corruption was met day after day, week after week, month after month, and year after year in every department in every mill.
- How much money would it save your company?
- What would the impact be on the morale in the mill? Figure it out for your situation. Reference the three examples above for inspiration.
- And how much safer would the mill become?
There are so many opportunities at a mill for varying degrees of corruption. But it's time to draw attention to it, call it out, and say goodbye to corruption because it's more important to have honesty which helps with safety and morale (and staying out of prison).
Stay safe this month, and we'll see you next month when we discuss the topic of Capital Projects.
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