Been there, done that. How about the new guy hired to run the
main cut off saw. A week later we discovered that he did not know
the difference between eights and sixteenths. We lucked out, he
only cut a couple orders short, those were rough cuts for blanks
and we could salvage all of it. Whew!!

Anyway, my suggestions:
1) Go through the shop and replace ALL the tape inserts (yours
and employees) with new ones with sixteenths marked. The inserts
are cheap, buy them by the dozen, replace every 3 to 6 months.
Forbid any non standard tapes to be in the place.
2) Since it was the older guys that screwed up, send them to the
optomistrist for new glasses. You might also have to put brighter
lights in their work areas. Ask me how I know this!
3) Get a good graphic of a tape measure with the same sixteenths
that the tapes have. Post a big one on the wall, smaller ones
above the cutoff saw and other critical spots. The graphic should
have ALL 16 marks shown as eg 3/16, 5/8, etc. Even better would
be to have all the major ones specified as 3/4"= 6/8" = 12/16"
4) Be prepared to downgrade (not fire) someone who does not try
to improve.
5) Peer pressure also works. I had a major screwup that was only
noticed after plating and shipment to the customer. Flaw was not
reworkable. Had the parts sent back, dropped off in the CENTER of
the shop, near the break room. Assigned the guy who drilled the
parts wrong to unpack the crate, unwrap the shiny parts, and
pitch them in the scrap dumpster. Took him a couple of hours. No
yelling, no screaming, just a 'standard' assignment. Only
mangement comment was "parts had to be scrapped because they were
drilled wrong" You better believe everyone in the shop knew what
was going on. And the offender did not get much flack in the
break room, no one wanted to be next on that list!

Good luck, you just have to keep on it.

Cheers.

Tom Gardner wrote:
After 3 major measuring screw-ups this week I put 3 employees on notice that
they had one month to learn to read a tape measure or...else. They are 60,
55, and 45 years old. How they got through life so far is beyond me. I
have tried to make go/no-go gauges for everything but this basic skill is
still needed and I can't be everywhere. I know I've been down this path
before and I'm so embarrassed that I still haven't been able to teach this
on this level. I have yet to find instructions for tape measures. I only
want 1/16" accuracy. Any thoughts?