Employee Trouble on the High Seas
Photo by: Gregoria Borgia
If you haven’t heard about the Friday crash of cruise liner Costa Concordia off the coast of Italy, you must be disconnected from all technology, newspapers, and media, because it has been the #1 news story. The employment side to this tragedy at sea, is the alleged horse-play that went on in the ship’s bridge and the fact the Captain may have abandoned ship. Today, MSNBC.com reported this is not the first time the ship’s captain, Francesco Schettino has disobeyed orders. According to Italian news reports, Captain Schettino once left Marseilles, France in bad weather, against both company policy and Coast Guard orders. He was also once reportedly caught sailing too close to the shore in another part of Italy.
In addition to the human tragedy and loss of life, this event is going to be costly for Carnival Cruise Lines, the owner of the Costa Concordia. Especially, if it is shown that Captain Schettino had previous performance issues which were not addressed by Carnival. According to news reports, human error is primarily to blame for the cruise liner crash, and that responsibility ultimately rests with the captain. Captian Schettino deviated from the correct route for the ship and contravened safety procedures.
I don’t know if Carnival took disciplinary action against Captain Schettino for past violations of company policy, but if they didn’t, they certainly should have. Discipline for violation of company policies is meant to correct employee behavior. Company policies are important for a number of reasons including but not limited to notifying employees of expected behavior, and outlining safety procedures.
