We have at Alcan our newly constructed area in a semi-production mode now and up until a month or so ago it was a restricted area with hard hats, special safety boots, and only authorized people allowed. There were a lot of hazards around as the new slitter and cleaning line were being commissioned and safety brought up to the normal standards.

Then in comes the Alcan President's Safety Award (PSA) auditors on November 27 th , to do a comprehensive look at safety by experts from across Alcan and as fast as you can say “charade” the area suddenly and mysteriously becomes a red tag, restricted “keep out area”. All of a sudden it was business NOT AS USUAL. The restricted area suddenly appeared to coincide with the auditors visit and quickly disappeared a few days later when the audit was over. The auditors did not do a comprehensive check in this area as it was exempted from a full audit. There was only a small corner still in construction in the waste treatment area, however the rest was open to all to work and travel through for a month previous.

Why was the new area “tagged out”? Well it seems that someone in the company figured that it was better to gamble on winning the “glass trophy” than letting the experts in to check the area for hazards.

Just another example of the systemic safety problems we have in the plant. Here they are cheating to win a piece of glass while cheating their employees out of a chance to find and fix safety hazards. Why was this done? It is a clear indication that somebody in the company knew hazards existed that would negatively affect the outcome of the audit totals in our plant. So they hid the area from the auditors. What a sham! What a lost chance to have new and expert eyes detect any hazards.