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The gas pumps used for maintenance and other company vehicles were on the back side of the central maintenance shop, not in sight of any other part of the mill (over the fence in that area was woods). In the first month, the trial month, gasoline consumption through the pumps went from 6,000 gallons per month to 3,000 gallons per month. Do I need to mention that we never parked inside the fence again?

I started my career in an urban setting, in the technical center of a large consumer products company. We passed through a guarded gate going to and from the building each day. It was well known that the guards had the right to check briefcases at any time, although it had not been done in a long time. Finally, one Friday evening, they did it. Out came rolls of toilet paper, kitchen roll towels, bars of soap and more. By the time I came through, they had a stack of consumer products that could have made a nice display at a supermarket anywhere.

Back when I was in charge of a large group of people (not at a mill) we had an administrative assistant that seemed to spend an inordinate amount of time on the phone, as well as a considerable amount of time just chatting. This was when long distance still cost real money. I had the controller bring me the phone records randomly every couple of months as part of my own routine of self auditing the business. One month, I noticed a certain long distance number had been called many, many times—to the tune of several hundred dollars that month. It was the administrative assistant. She lost her job that day.

My question is this. Why do people (and in the case of the supplier, companies) risk their employment or long term business relationships by doing this stupid stuff? Do people not value their career more than half a tank of gas or a bar of soap? Are they so poorly paid they have to steal toilet paper from their employer in order to make ends meet? Think about what your job is worth to you the next time you need a pad of paper at home. And watch your suppliers, or as Ronald Regan used to say, “Trust but verify.”

Hopefully we do not take safety as casually as matters were taken in the stories above. Safety attitudes and conditions are not something to fool around with—you can recover from losing your job, but your health is another issue altogether.

Be safe and we will talk next week.