Michigan Employees Must Report Health and Safety Threats; Really!
Governor Whitmer’s first directive was to direct that all state employees must report any threat to the public’s health or safety.
In her Executive Directive to state employees she said that:
The people of Michigan deserve to know that their government is working for them, and our government employees deserve to know that they can speak up when they see threats to Michigan’s health and safety
Although I find that her sentiment is correct, the question I have is why that would need to be an Executive Directive and not just common sense. Why do we need to make state employees report anything that could be a health and safety issue to Michigan citizens, shouldn’t they just have the common sense and duty to do so, who are we hiring as state employees?
Governor Whitmer went on to say that state employees must report to their department or agency director their concerns. The agency director then must determine if it is an imminent threat to public health, safety or welfare. If the agency director believes it is, the department director must inform the Governor’s Chief Compliance Officer. If the department or agency director determines an imminent threat does not exist they must report the reasons for that determination to the Chief Compliance Officer. If any director feels the threat or concern is not being addressed adequately, they must raise those concerns to the governor directly.
Again I ask the question; who does Governor Whitmer think we are actually hiring as state employees that she must make an Executive Directive to report these concerns.