Question about bringing your cousin onto the dredge team

My uncle keeps pushing me to hire his son, but the kid has zero respect for safety protocols. I think family on the job is a huge risk if they won't listen... it just creates more problems than it solves. Do you ever say no to relatives wanting a spot on your crew?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_jessica2mo ago

Watched my cousin once try to fix a conveyor belt without locking it out first. He nearly lost a finger when it suddenly kicked back on. My aunt still brings it up at holidays, how we almost had a trip to the emergency room over sheer laziness. Stuff like that makes you real careful about who you let on the team, family or not.

the_jordan2mo ago

Yeah, the hard hat thing from your brother-in-law is exactly why you gotta set hard rules. I tell my guys, family or friend, if you're on my site you follow my safety plan, period. I had to send my own nephew home once because he "forgot" his steel-toes. It felt awful, but it beats the guilt of him getting hurt because I let it slide. You let one thing go, and suddenly nobody takes any of it seriously.

sean7822mo ago

Man, that whole safety thing hits close to home. My brother-in-law used to help out sometimes and would never wear his hard hat, thought it was a joke. One day a small tool fell from the rack above and bounced right off his head, gave him a nasty cut and a concussion. The mood around the shop got real tense after that, lots of quiet blame. It really strained things at family dinners for a long time, all over something so stupid and easy to prevent.