Job: Safety Supervisor, Manufacturing (United States)

Right now if something were to happen to anybody at my company I can be sued separately from the company. My job is to get the company in compliance with OSHA regulations and we are not. I took on a huge responsibility and for $13.50 an hour it's not enough.

For instance, right after I returned from Train the Trainer Forklift Safety Certification training, I spoke with the company president about the safety issue in the company. He told me not to get crazy about safety, if we were to try and correct everything in the company it would cost him 100's of thousands of dollars. I wonder if he realizes that OSHA can fine him up to $70,000 per discrepency.

I asked if we had an Injury and Illness Protection Program implemented and he didn't know what that was. The office manager knew and showed it to me, and it is incomplete.

I give safety training for the company on a regular bases. Often times I give training that pertains directly with what people are at risk with. I share my own personal experiences along with showing films.

But none of this is doing any good because there are supervisors in the company that don't enforce the safety policies, it's left up to me to be the deputy dog and I don't have time to police the company, in fact policing isn't my job it's the supervisors of the people doing the work responsibility.

If I were to leave the company I would either have to take out liability insurance to be covered in the event that someone on a forklift in that company gets hurt or killed. Because as long as any forklift permits are in affect that I've issued, I'm liable for them. Or collect them before leaving and make the company send someone else to get the certification.

My other responsibility involves Quality Control. I'm in direct control of the inventory of the raw materials. I also take on some of the engineering overflow for producing work orders for making machines and I correct engineering errors in their work orders. Along with that I inspect the parts before they go to assembly. We have a new leadman in the fabrication department that takes a good deal of burden off my shoulders in ensuring parts are made correctly which helps tremendously. The former leadman was always in the way.

I also do a lot of the Fabrication Supervisor's job ensuring that material call out is correct on the prints that goes to the floor. I do a lot of running around ensuring things get done as smooth as possible, and I'm not knocking the Fab Supervisor, he's a good man.

I left for vacation for a couple weeks and when I returned I was told how things fell apart, that I have the company over a barrel. I accomplish a lot in an 8 hour day. I have to take my work home sometime, and not get paid for it.

I feel I should be on a salary. I feel I should be making better then twice then I am now. I'm doing the work of two people, and I have people that have been there longer than I, down playing what I do. I feel that $3500/mo is not too much to ask. I wouldn't ask for more right away because it is a considerable step above $13.50/hr.