AIBU to worry I am being scapegoated at work?

[Workinprogresss]

I am asking here as I am not sure if I might be overthinking, so wanted to get some unbiased views from MN on whether IABU to feel worried/like I am maybe being scapegoated for this at work.

I apologise as this is long but I am pregnant and really stressed/worried so would love some input.

Background
I work for a large multinational holding company. The company owns several companies in the UK and in Canada.

I am part of a specialist team who operate in different fields. I focus on fire risk management, other members of the team include a security expert, electrical expert, leasing expert etc.

As the business has lots of different companies the structure is there are local teams for fire risk management, security, electrics, leasing etc. but they are not usually very experienced, it saves costs at a local level, they manage 80% of the work and then for the 20% which are larger projects or big changes they consult with my team. So we act as internal consultants.

A few months ago it was brought to my attention one of the UK based companies wanted to redo their entire fire risk management strategy and their local team brought me in to support. My role was never to create the document just give guidance on how to lay it out, what they needed to include and how they can go about creating a new one.

The first draft was shot down by that companies head of health and safety, so I was asked to get more involved to get the project over the line.

I co-created a second version and it was pitched last week and again shot down, I was in this meeting and the reasons being given for it not being accepted were ridiculous. For example I was asked ‘why is there no mention of mitigating for people adding fuel to any potential fires’ and 'What about animals, there is no mention on how to risk assess the impact of a dog for example underfoot, they'd be a trip hazard' (fyi this is a business where they don't allow dogs on site)

A normal fire risk strategy focuses on the most common and likely risks associated with a fire in a certain location, the plan would be 80000 pages long if we had to include every possible, silly thing someone or something could do to make things worse. There is no fire risk assessment in the land that mentions how to stop someone pouring petrol on an open fire because there has to be some element of common sense (unless you work at a petrol station that is!)

I pushed back during this meeting but it was ignored by the head of department.

I raised it with my line manager who told me not to worry about it and helped set some next steps, so we will push back on 90% of the suggestions but maybe find a way to accept 10% and see if that keeps them sweet.

However I have just had a message from someone in a related team giving me a heads up that the head of health and safety has gone above my head and started making noise to snr people at the holding company, he has been asked about my performance and why this project wasn’t completed months ago, why its being done this way etc.

My line manager doesn’t seem to be worried about it, as the first thing I did was message him asking if he knew about the head of health and safety escalating this (he did not) but I am starting to get a nagging feeling I might be scapegoated for this entire situation. There is now talk about why I didn’t notice the old strategy needed updating (not my job, I do what I am consulted on, I don’t go and proactively find issues iyswim)

It’s not my job to create the local plans, the feedback given is so silly it can’t even logistically be included in the next iteration and I am just getting more and more stressed about it.

I am due to start maternity leave in 4 weeks time and genuinely don’t know what to do, this has caused me a lot of stress over the past few weeks and I am worried its having an impact on my pregnancy. I have been waking up at 2 am most mornings worrying about it.

But I don’t know whether on the face of it I am over reacting and should listen to my LM and not be worried about it.

I haven’t been there 2 years yet, but once back from mat leave I would have crossed that threshold. But part of me worries if I make too much noise it could negatively impact my return to work, I don’t think they’re stupid enough to get rid of someone who is pregnant and had great feedback until this incident, but I can imagine them making it harder for me on my return if this goes south, which is why I am conflicted of going to HR or anything like that, especially being so close to having time off for mat leave.

So would you be worried in my shoes, any advice if so? TIA

YANBU

weirdly I had a very similar situation at work a few years ago, I think it’s the issue with large companies trying to create internal ‘agencies or consultants’ as the lines get blurred quite easily in terms of roles and responsibilities!

in my case the entire team was scapegoated and faced redundancy, but I hope it’s not the same for you.

id genuinely consider going on Mat leave early in your shoes

I’m in two minds, on one hand this could just be internal wrangling and bullshit and as your lm says nothing to worry about, or they could be trying to get rid of you before the 2 years. Only you know what kind of company they are.

for me it’s just a lot of noise about nothing.

I'd watch out for it being a case of constructive dismissal conveniently just before maternity leave.

Could you outline precisely the firm's guidelines on what they expect from a fire risk report and your own role versus the roles of those on site, and present these in an email cc'd to all involved. I'd be tempted to say: there appears to be some confusion at management level X as to which roles hold which responsibilities. To clarify in line with company guidelines: I am expected to XYZ and deliver ABC and the regional teams are expected to etc.

Do you have minutes or bullet point of actions from the second meeting I.e. have the ridiculous suggestions been documented? If not I would write all of them up now along with your comments e.g. dogs/animals not permitted on site so no mitigation required.

Also follow @goldfinchonthelawn suggestion.

I’m a H&S professional and also have a fire safety & risk management qualification, so I have some experience of this type of work.

I completely agree with @goldfinchonthelawn that you should clarify in writing both what the report is meant to be, and who is responsible for what. If the report is the responsibility of the local team with advice from you, you can’t be held responsible for its delivery. You can’t be fired for doing the job properly even though someone else wants you to write daft things.

Was it the head of H&S who said that insane stuff about dogs and people adding fuel? If so he’s not competent. It’s a fundamental principle that you assess foreseeable risks, not implausible ones like tripping over a non-existent dog.

A few things stand out:

I pushed back during this meeting but it was ignored by the head of department. This is one of the most worrying bits. If such nonsense was tabled where I work, the fire safety officers would politely annihilate it, and what they say goes because they’re the experts - and so are you. Was this the head of H&S, someone in the local team or some other senior manager in the company?

My line manager doesn’t seem to be worried about it It needs to be made clear to him how serious it for you to be so badly undermined. If he’s not concerned about the effect on you as an individual, he should at least be concerned that this undermines the central team as a whole.

There is now talk about why I didn’t notice the old strategy needed updating Who is saying that? As you say, that isn’t how it works, so it shouldn’t be too hard to shoot that one down.

I don’t think you should go to HR. You don’t have any evidence of what H&S Twit has been saying and whether it’s being taken seriously. Surely if there was an official complaint about you (which you can easily refute) your LM would be notified. My guess is that he’s interfering in things that are beyond his competence, didn’t like being challenged and is now blustering because he wants it to look like you’re wrong and he’s right. I can’t believe he’d succeed in making the company view you less favourably when you return.

When you and the team present v3, can you also show an example of the same plan from one of the other companies, to show what it is meant to look like and does not in fact include far-fetched scenarios?

You could be being side managed, so you have a paper trail to show your perspectives ?

oh god, thank you for this and its oddly reassuring that other people have had similar issues at work, even if the outcome for you wasn't what I was hoping to read.

Here they have a few internal agencies that also seem to face similar R&R issues but none that were escalated like this which is what worries me

no official minutes written up so far, but I have written the most ridiculous questions down in my notes so might formalise those, there are also a few where the head of dept in question actually put them in the teams chat for the meeting (as some people dialled in) so will save those!

I think in this situation, the best firm of defence is offence. You’re the expert. You said yourself that the local teams are not experienced enough to manage the big ticket stuff. You are. You are most knowledgeable. Act like it. If they ask you a stupid question, don’t answer it. It’s just a waste of your time. Answer it with a question.

“What exactly, in your experience, is the likelihood of someone pouring accelerant on a naked flame in a fire emergency?” “Right, ok. And exactly where would they get hold of this substance, bearing in mind there doesn’t appear to be any on site?” Or just a simple frown and “Can you explain why you feel that the presence of animals is a risk factor? (For example).

As for pushing any responsibility on you for managing the update of such procedures, that is easily deflected. “There appears to be some confusion about roles and responsibilities here and I think this would be a good opportunity for you to work with HR to ensure that local job descriptions are up to date, and there is clear ownership of all tasks. I suggest you set a date (in 12 months 2 years, or whatever) to review/update the procedure, and diarise it for your action. Of course when the time comes, you are welcome to call on me to consult if you need expertise outside local capabilities.”

Unless your company has a history of trying to get rid of people like this, it just sounds like a mouthy twat who will get put back in box by the appropriate person.

As the H&S officer I would say it's 100% his responsibility to have noticed the policy needed updating. Like literally the main thing he is responsible for. lol

Thank you so much for this detailed reply, reading through is making me feel a lot stronger on this.

'Was it the head of H&S who said that insane stuff about dogs and people adding fuel? If so he’s not competent. It’s a fundamental principle that you assess foreseeable risks, not implausible ones like tripping over a non-existent dog.'

Yes, unfortunately he is one of those people who did 'my' job decades ago so knows how it should be done and you need to mitigate for all potential risks. Which now apparently includes mystery dogs and arsonists!

It was the head of H&S who ignored me pushing back, unfortunately no one dares to tell him no, or is brave enough to disagree regularly - he has been known to be verbally aggressive when he doesn't like something so the people in the room with me were to scared to put their hands up and support too, which makes it so much harder.

on my line manager I totally agree, I think its all well and good him saying I shouldn't be worried about it, but facts are I am, even if its unreasonable. I have a 121 with him next week so will raise it then as I suspect more things may come to light over the next day or so regarding how this is being taken.

'There is now talk about why I didn’t notice the old strategy needed updating Who is saying that?

So apparently it's the snr people at the holding company that are asking this, I am getting this second hand but trust the source - the colleague from a related team. This colleague is in the holding companies legal and regulatory team, since this team was formed there has been some cross over/overlap with my role and theirs, but they only cover the UK not Canada so its been rubbing along fine, but that will be why they're involving them in asking about my work and what I have been doing.

Understood on the HR point, I think if anything is underfoot its very early stages and therefore I don't have 'anything' to show, but I just have a gut feeling that the questions being asked and the people who are being asked these questions are being done in a way that feels shitty. The fact my colleague kind of said they defended me and told the people asking I was doing good work, makes me wonder what was raised where I needed to be defended at all.

no history of getting rid of people like this, which is helping me no totally fall into a spiral of stress eating biscuits!

I am just a bit concerned he wasn't slapped down instantly if you know what I mean, the fact people are even giving him a platform to raise this silly stuff, and seem to be taking it seriously by asking around to other teams to get a view on what I have been working on just has set my spidey senses off.

“What exactly, in your experience, is the likelihood of someone pouring accelerant on a naked flame in a fire emergency?” “Right, ok. And exactly where would they get hold of this substance, bearing in mind there doesn’t appear to be any on site?” This is wonderful @W0tnow 😄

He would of course say “well it’s possible so we have to consider it” which is the perfect opportunity to patiently explain that no you don’t, because it’s not plausible. And if it was me I’d quote the legislation. Because unlike him I know my stuff.
I really do think this is a case of someone who isn’t very good at his job, who said something stupid and is doubling down. Wants to be billy big bollocks and being wrong is unthinkable. I’ve known so many like that.

no official minutes written up so far, but I have written the most ridiculous questions down in my notes so might formalise those, there are also a few where the head of dept in question actually put them in the teams chat for the meeting (as some people dialled in) so will save those!

Definitely write them up and send them to the meeting attendees asking them to confirm if there was anything else. This way you have them captured and shared so there is an evidence trail of how ridiculous there were.

This is where malicious compliance is your friend. Make sure to get all their requests in writing, something like an email saying "just to confirm, you want me to account for pets loose on the shop floor and people pouring accelerants on the fire?" Then include it all. Everything they have asked for. Put it in as an appendix marked "things that are vanishingly unlikely to happen but just to be thorough" or something similar and submit it. When they come back with a "what the fuck is this dross?!?" then you can present your email confirming they wanted it included.

Disclaimer - I have had a fairly shitty month and am at my wits end with engineers blatantly ignoring compliance regulations so I may not be the best person to listen to at the moment.