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Ever wondered what the most common failure in the workshop
is that leads to dismissal?
If
you didn’t guess it by now, it is the failure to fasten
or torque wheel nuts, sump plugs, bolts and the like.
Why ignore the torque wrench?
A torque wrench is defined as a tool used where the tightness
of screws and bolts is crucial as it permits proper tension
and loading of all parts by measuring torque as a proxy
for bolt tension. It is therefore quite clear that it is crucial to use this tool when prescribed.
Yet so many of our members circumvent or abandon the necessity
of tightening with a torque wrench. In so doing the specifications
prescribed for particular applications are not matched and with the result that sump plugs and wheel nuts can fall out.
The possibility of harm
According to Dr. John C Glennon on the site
www.crashforensics.com, wheel system failures are primarily
caused by the improper installation of a wheel that causes
it to be loose or become loose. The reason being that a
loose wheel causes the wheel’s studs to break and the wheel
and tyre to separate from the vehicle. The root cause is
associated with either over-torquing or under-torquing
of the wheel nuts.
The
Roadkill Website confirms the most common result
of improperly torqued lug nut and lug bolts are that the
wheels come off, brakes are damaged, lug nuts, bolts and
studs are either broken or stripped.
Wheels come off, brakes damaged!
Imagine being behind the wheel of your car (or worse, on
your motorcycle!) and the wheels come off or the brakes
fail. Would you live to tell the tale? Would your family
and loved ones live to tell their story?
Negligence and/or Gross Negligence
John Grogan in Workplace Law (Edition 11) confirms that
“In labour law, negligence bears the same meaning as
it does in other areas of law: the culpable failure
to exercise the degree of care expected of
a reasonable person.”
This principle was successfully applied and confirmed by
Commissioner Ferreira in inter alia Moema and Zanzu
[(2011) 32 ILJ 484 (CCMA) (GATW 1193-10) 2011 ILJ p484].
The real test was confirmed to be whether a
reasonable employee in the position of an accused
employee would have foreseen the possibility of harm and
taken steps to avoid that harm.
Willfulness or intent
Our members, mostly qualified journeymen, apprentices or
assistants, charged with this misconduct retaliate with
a defence of “I did not intend for this to happen”
or “I was too busy and had too much work”.
These reasons fail to convince that “a reasonable
employee in the same position would have foreseen
the possibility of harm and taken steps to avoid that harm”.
Gross negligence is stripped of willfulness or intent, even
more so as it can be deemed as conscious risk-taking to abandon
the importance to torque when required to.
Even a once-off incident may lead to disastrous end results
and will render a dismissal fair.
It is important that employees who are employed in a
position of trust, such as a journeyman,
apprentice, or workshop assistant, take reasonable care
and do foresee the potential harm when failing to torque
the torque!
In the words of Commissioner Ferreira “...employees
owe a duty of caring for their employers and colleagues...”
Be pro-active and remember that MISA is just a phone call
away.
Article by Tiekie Mocke, MISA’s National Labour Advisor
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