How far will a vessel go to preserve its VCIP program? Apparently if a crew member has a pulse and can breathe, they are fit for duty. We’ve received reports of one AB being assigned to a vessel in an immobilization boot, two with an arm in a sling and another with ace bandages on both forearms. The VCIP, or Variable Cash Incentive Program, is a performance-based incentive program that “rewards” employees for a company’s “success.” Each company has its own criteria for determining bonuses including total return to shareholders, return on capital employed and Health, Safety and Environment (HSE) measures. In a disturbing trend for the commercial shipping industry, the HSE criteria is being increasingly emphasized to reward executives and senior officers at the expense of the very crew members who are the backbone of their companies. By clearing obviously debilitated workers (such as in the earlier examples) as fit for duty, companies are demonstrating that their safety programs are merely a façade for protecting their VCIP programs and such actions make any safety program less than credible. A legitimate Health, Safety & Environmental (HSE) department will implement a bonus system aimed at encouraging a safer working environment by rewarding regular employees for developing a “safety first” attitude. But when the bottom line takes priority, company accident statistics become part of a shell game by hiding or skewing the real numbers of the “Days since last lost time accident” scoreboard.
For it matters not how long it’s been since a crew member was actually hurt. The real concern is how long it’s been since the company had to pay a disability claim.
Category: Company Tricks Exposed
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