Re: Responding To Hogger
Author: Jan van Eck
Date: 03-08-2009 - 17:38
I would amplify further your astute observations by noting that the behavior of the "Ricky Gates" engineers of the world are criminal in nature. I suspect that the breakdown in oversight and control is that the workmates of these irresponsible fellows simply choose not to view this as criminal behavior. I also suspect a good number of people either saw, or knew about, these football-game parties going on in the cab - and most likely this was one of a whole series of such get-togethers. Yet those people said and did nothing. Why is that? I can only conclude that the other viewers are not looking at this as criminality.
Transport is not an industry where slacking off is an option. Whether an aircraft driver, an engineer, or a bus operator, personal discipline has to be the order of the day. Breaking this behavioral chain of demonstrated recklessness is not feasible by supervisors alone, nor by cameras in the cab, nor by random drug tests - it is, I suspect, only broken when everyone - every single employee - recognizes that such breaches are just as criminal as breaking into a house or doing a mugging on the street.