NuSkin issues given to Jeff (SOS liason)

To whom it may concern;

In the course of the past 5 months there have been several “alarms” that have gone off in my head, situations that need to be taken care of due to safety, policy, and awareness. The first may seem like a small issue unless you’re the person it affects.

Not two months ago NuSkin hired a person (woman, can’t remember her name) to go over “workspace ergonomics” which she described (paraphrased) as “changing the workplace to match what the body can do”. Included in that was finding ways to lift boxes so you don’t hit your knees into objects, or twist at the waist. Unfortunately due to the design of the rollers in shipping that lead in to the UPS trucks it’s impossible to lift the boxes (which in my time working there weighed up to 50 pounds) without either twisting at the waist or banging your knees in to the rollers. They need to be higher, probably close to 6 inches higher, and the wheels need to be recessed underneath rather than sticking out so they are no longer a tripping hazard.
Secondly. There is a fan, which now has been fixed after Directly speaking with Cliff (maintenance) about it. It had a short, insulation was coming out of it at the switch and if you touched the top of the switch it would shock you. There are other fans which have insulation coming out of their power cord. Is that not an OSHA worthy issue? Not to mention on the 3 occasions upon which I was shocked neither Danny or Gail sent me up to talk with Jeff (as I was an SOS Associate) to have an incident form filled out. Also, the last time I heard of a person being shocked in the workplace (and it was a small appliance, a blender mind you, lower voltage than the heavy duty fans in shipping) they were made to go get an EKG (I think I’ve heard them also called EEG or perhaps ECG), on the employer. This is due to the electrical shock having the ability even at a low voltage to cause the rhythm of the heart no longer beat as it should, and they have to check for irregularity afterwards. You have insurance to cover for this, to prevent lawsuits if it’s your policy to have such testing be done on employees when they are involved in a workplace incident where they are shocked I suggest you follow it to avoid issues with OSHA as well as the Utah Department of Safety.

Thirdly. While working in packaging (above double check) it’s the work practice that when there are “tw-8 masters” that are empty that you toss them over the side and the person working in “the corner” then picks them up, fills them with tw-8’s, stacks them on a pallet, and either takes them to Picking or stores then on the North end of Double Check. On two occasions while upstairs working in Packaging I had looked over the edge, saw it was clear, let go of boxes and hit another employee on the head with said box as after I let go of the box the employee walked underneath. Danny and Marilou were the two this has happened to, I don’t think an incident report was ever filed with either, and on top of that speaking with some people more experienced in the workplace that it’s most likely a Utah Department of Safety work-hazard that if not corrected could shut that department down. In that same 5 month time period there was another person who’d been hit in the head by a “tw-8 master” though I can’t remember who. Mind you, gravity alone accelerates falling objects at (negating the minimal wind resistance, minimal relating to a falling cardboard box as compared to a falling feather) 9.8 meters a second squared. Many times boxes are Thrown down, with people having the opportunity to walk under at the time when they’re bring thrown. There needs to be a safety net to guide the boxes down and a way to clearly notify the person in the corner that boxes are being sent down to them, thereby eliminating chances for injury that may otherwise needlessly occur.

Fourth. Surveys about what an employee thinks is more important (pay, fellowship in the workplace, safe workplace, a good boss, a job you like, etc) is all fine and well. So are surveys about what you think about your supervisor, what do they do well, what do they need improvement on, what do you like about them, what do you not like about them, what would you change about them. Unless they’re given, received, and read by the supervisor. That creates in the employee an inability to answer truthfully, to have them written, delivered and subsequently read by the supervisor is a liability to say the least. In my own case I felt so uncomfortable with it that I didn’t fill it out or turn it in. I know several co-workers who were made equally uneasy by it, both SOS Associates as well as NuSkin Employees. One way I’ve seen it done is how UVU does it. The teacher explains the survey, then asks for a volunteer who when the teacher leaves will administer the surveys to the class, collect them, and take them to the department secretary. Never at any point does the instructor see the actual paper copies, it’s deciphered, filtered, and completely confidential. An example of what NuSkin may consider doing (as uncomfortable work situations of this sort Can and Should be reported to certain agencies it’s often better to not leave things like this to chance)is to have HR administer the survey while the supervisor is away, process the information, and return with a summary of recommendations based on the information received by the employees. Anyone who sees the surveys from an employee and is their superior of any form (team lead, supervisor, manager, etc.) has the possibility of making a person feel unable to answer truthfully due to possibility of it affecting their employment. I couldn’t say anything about how poorly Gail makes certain decisions and rightly hand the paper directly to her where she would know it was me, let alone hand written where she would read it and recognize my hand writing or speaking style. It’s not good business practice.

Lastly. Some time ago an employee was fired. Though there were other reasons it seemed the main was because she’d slapped (playfully mind you) two other men, one SOS Associate and a NuSkin Employee, Bob (Symph….can’t spell it). Bob has been at NuSkin for 14+ years and to Gail and Danny seems to be something of a mascot. If the reason Kedra Bullock was fired was listed primarily as for slapping those two playfully it should be known that on one occasion Bob pinched her to the point of leaving a half-dollar sized bruise. He did the same with Kaiya while she was working at NuSkin this summer. More recently (Wednesday October 28th) Bob forcefully grabbed Marilou’s wrist in the break room looking for a 8” lunch container he thought would be underneath her 2” wrist. Then he did the same to me. In the real world people get fired for things like that. That’s a liability no employer can afford. At the rate of being there 14+ years he’s not become any form of management either? Not become a team lead or a supervisor? That’s not an investment for NuSkin, that’s complacency that breeds bad work ethic. I’m leaving for Navy Boot Camp Wednesday November 4th. Were I still working there I would have filed a complaint. Marilou is afraid to report this as she’s afraid there’ll be backlash to her if she does where he’s both an Employee and has been at NuSkin for so long. How many times has he crossed the line like this in the past 14 years when in the past 5 months he’s had 4 occasions where Had he been reported any One of them would have had him fired in a different company.

“When men sin by silence when men should protest makes cowards of men.”
~Abraham Lincoln

You need to know and understand what is happening in your workplace in order for it to run smoothly, from how it’s looked (needed repairs not being fixed or reported in 5 months for example, just ask Cliff, the list of repairs needed in Shipping/Double Check/Packaging was a decently long list, And it’s items that had needed to be fixed since before I started in May) I highly doubt the right kind of communication about what’s going on has been happening. Little trainings here and there aren’t what Gail needs, an Associates or better in Business Management would get her started, but she’s not got enough experience to not be considered a liability. In my opinion, that I developed the past 5 months of knowing her.

This document has been posted on my Blog, and handed to two other persons should someone try to reprint/twist what I’ve said.