When Lack of Common Sense Has Awful Consequences

It appears that there is a problem in security protocol when an employee clocks in with her pass at 7 AM and no one is monitoring the check out time. It also begs the question, who was responsible to make certain all employees are accounted for at the end of the day.

 

Apparently, there was a breakdown in those procedures at a Wells Fargo office in Tempe, Arizona as one employee clocked in on Friday, August 17, but never clocked out.

Then, while the employees complained about a foul odor, no one walked through the facility to investigate. On Tuesday, August 20, the person was found dead at her desk.

When I was in banking, it was routine to verify that all employees who punched in each day, also punched out. It was part of the Manager and the Assistant’s responsibilities to make certain the premise was checked, including the bathrooms and the basement, to be certain no one was left behind.

It was the same procedure each morning before anyone was allowed to enter, for a whole host of reasons, including to verify no one broke in overnight.

I know in my career, there was one time that a Manager failed to verify that all employees were present and accounted for before she locked the vault for the evening. Once the vault door was closed and the combos were spun, the vault door could not be opened until the time clocks reach the morning opening set time.

Fortunately, there was a phone inside the vault and the employee who was locked inside used her common sense to page the intercom. After the vault company was called, it took several hours for the technician to bypass the clock and open the vault.

The Manager was reprimanded, the cost was high and the procedures were made more secure to be certain this would not happen again.

I an sure there was hell to pay for the Manager of that Wells Fargo facility. And I am sure the procedures were made more secure for all locations.

It is sad that someone had to die to learn that lesson.