Six employees of Minneapolis equities firm Polling/Quinn were injured on September 8 when they tried unsuccessfully to move the needle. The company will not release their identities or the nature of their injuries, except to confirm that two were hurt seriously enough to be rushed to Tollifson General Hospital.
“Our thoughts are with these employees and we wish them a speedy recovery,” says company spokesperson Molly Seguin. “Their attempt to move the needle, however, was not approved or in compliance with company policy.”
“That’s hogwash,” counters Prof. Roger Follins of the Morpinway Institute. “Companies are constantly telling employees to move the needle, and then when something goes wrong they distance themselves from the process.”
According to Follins, businesses aren’t providing employees with the comprehensive training that’s required to safely and effectively accomplish needle movement.
“There’s a right way and a wrong way,” he says. “And if you don’t know the right way you shouldn’t even be thinking about it!” The lack of training, Follins believes, is the main reason that needle-moving injuries have increased by 75 percent since 2011. “This should be a wake-up call for Polling/Quinn and everyone else,” he says.
In fact, he believes that unless companies act quickly, needle-moving could soon overtake the number one cause of corporate injuries: Placing things on the back burner.
