In an effort to create more safety awareness (as a proactive move) in my shop - I am strictly enforcing the rule requiring protective eye wear - this is like herding cats especially when inmates are involved. Quite frustrating I tell you.
Nothing very serious - but worth a whimper (sorry Sam)...
Inmates? A prison?
I am the assistant reconditioning manager for an auto auction and I run the detail department directly - I use inmate work crews from the local state woman's prison (I have used mostly men in the past but the women are much better workers and their prison culture lends itself to a teamwork based working environment). All of my civilian workers (myself included) have been background checked, approved and trained to work with these inmates - they work along side of us and make a much better wage than they would working on the yard. A lot of them have families on the outside that they can still contribute to - also - a lot of times this is the inmate's first real job and we hopefully give them some real world work and people skills.
These girls are the very best, non-violent, low custody inmates in the system - it is a real privilege to have a job in this program and they are very proud of what they do here. We are very big on instilling self confidence in our crew.
It's a great program and I am very proud of the success we have had - some of these inmates have gone on to key positions working here at the auction. They also has a much lower recidivism rate than the regular inmate yard-based work programs.