Rlchard Pettlnger

Disciplinary proceedings, grievance and dispute Attention should be given to the extent, nature, and prevalence of disciplinary proceedings, grievances and disputes, the sources and causes of these, and whether there are high proportions of each in any department, division, function, occupation or location.

Accidents and emergencies

The extent and nature of accidents and emergencies themselves is always a sure sign of low motivation and morale, if not outright stress. However, serious disasters can very often be traced to organization and employee stress factors. For example:

» the pilot of the Singapore Airlines 747 that crashed during take-off at Hong Kong in 1999 had been ordered to do so against his better judgment;

» the driver of the lorry that caused the Mont Blanc fire in France in 1998 had been driving for over 16 hours on the instructions of his company and in breach of tachograph regulations; and

» those responsible for the Bhopal and Seveso chemical disasters had been ordered to meet production targets at the expense of safety.