Drug Addict Coworker

[how cliche]

I work in the importing/wholesaling industry. When I come into our distribution center I see one of our forklift operators has all the signs of meth addiction. Worker had two off site accidents last year. They resulted in injuries prompting 7 months of disability benefits. Imo, those accidents are related to the substance abuse. Falling while walking into a curb, cutting a finger off in their car door.

I told the general manager as much, but was shooed away due to lack of proof. Thursday of last week, the employee left their drug kit in the lavatory. It included a blade a straw and a vial containing a gram or so of meth. I went to the gm again and they took pictures. Addict was out Friday, but is back in regular schedule this week.

I took it as far as I could, I think. What else can one do? This is an unsafe physical environment.

[MargieRose]

You might want to consider filing a complaint with the...

Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)

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[RunForTheRoses]

Is there an employee help line/service? Maybe speak with them, get the brutha some help.

[Tom]

Originally Posted by how cliche

I work in the importing/wholesaling industry. When I come into our distribution center I see one of our forklift operators has all the signs of meth addiction. Worker had two off site accidents last year. They resulted in injuries prompting 7 months of disability benefits. Imo, those accidents are related to the substance abuse. Falling while walking into a curb, cutting a finger off in their car door.

I told the general manager as much, but was shooed away due to lack of proof. Thursday of last week, the employee left their drug kit in the lavatory. It included a blade a straw and a vial containing a gram or so of meth. I went to the gm again and they took pictures. Addict was out Friday, but is back in regular schedule this week.

I took it as far as I could, I think. What else can one do? This is an unsafe physical environment.

Report both the co worked and your GM to the police/FBI/DEA......your GM is not doing his job. Does HE have a boss?

How about your local newspaper?

[proximity]

this is ubiquitous in the workplace anymore it seems.

just last week we learned that a former coworker died of an overdose while another girl i used to work with allegedly relapsed and was caught doing drugs with a new hire. another older coworker is allegedly a cocaine addict and i've seen an intelligent man in his late 30s get hooked, go to rehab and then relapse.

and of course in grantville rampant horse juicing ruined what should have been a promising slots aided future for our humble track.

[jay68802]

Time to get serious. I have worked in a industrial setting for a long time. The guys is a danger to everyone. Get out your employee handbook, learn it. Everytime he breaks a rule, tell your supervisor. Does not honk his horn when near someone? Tell your supervisor he almost hit a unaware employee. Bumps a rack, he almost knocked it over. Play dirty, get rid of him.

[chrisl]

If you bring this to the attention of your supervisor, HR, ownership and nothing is done. It becomes "Willful Neglect" when an incident happens with this person. Ownership does not want that to happen. Very costly

[jay68802]

9 yrs ago we had a forklift driver similar to this, the guy liked his weed. His first incident, took out a pipe that carried the water to the fire system. That smelled to high heaven. Injured a fellow employee before they got rid of him. Fellow employee sued and they settled.

[PhantomOnTour]

Slightly off topic....I recently learned that yet another (this makes three!) kid who used to work for me has been arrested and charged with murder.
Two of them were drug related; either a deal gone bad or trying to rob a dealer.

Anyone in my line of work (restaurants) will tell you that drug use is prevalent, but murder!?
I sure can pick 'em

[TJDave]

Originally Posted by how cliche

I told the general manager as much, but was shooed away due to lack of proof. Thursday of last week, the employee left their drug kit in the lavatory. It included a blade a straw and a vial containing a gram or so of meth. I went to the gm again and they took pictures. Addict was out Friday, but is back in regular schedule this week.

I took it as far as I could, I think. What else can one do? This is an unsafe physical environment.

It sounds like they don’t want to fire this guy. I would look for another job. If you keep pressing this you could get fired or worse, never get a raise or promotion.

[MONEY]

Some time ago the oil trucking company that my son works for kept assigning my son 6 loads a night.
Every night my son could only complete 5 loads before he ran out of time and had to return his truck.

He was called in by the supervisors and was asked "why is it that he couldn't complete 6 loads like the 2 top drivers".

His answer was that there was no way to do six loads without breaking safety rules and driving more than 30 MPH over the speed limit.
The supervisors laughed it off and told him to try to do better, but my son kept doing only 5 loads night.

Within a month of the meeting both of the top drivers were killed in roll over accidents.

The dispatcher still assigns my son six loads a night and he still does only five, but the bosses don't ask him to do better.
In fact this year he was awarded the driver of the year bonus.

[Fred Mertz]

I thought it was common practice if there was a workplace injury for the injured individual to get whatever test they are using these days; blood, urine, hair. Of course this assumes they are still alive.

This happened to my idiot brother. He cut his arm at a cardboard factory and was sent for treatment and a drug use test. He was positive for pot and got canned from a nice job at the time.

[davew]

I am not sure what the agency is in your state that is in charge of workman's compensation for workplace injuries. They would be interested in safety violations, like a drug addict worker.

[oughtoh]

I worked with someone in the early 70's that use to drink. Would always be late back from lunch and no one would believe he was drinking. Then one day after lunch he cut his finger off on a table saw, he was so drunk he didn't even know he did it till someone else saw his finger on the ground. Needless to say, they didn't fire him till a couple months later when something else happened.

[JustRalph]

Originally Posted by PhantomOnTour

Slightly off topic....I recently learned that yet another (this makes three!) kid who used to work for me has been arrested and charged with murder.
Two of them were drug related; either a deal gone bad or trying to rob a dealer.

Anyone in my line of work (restaurants) will tell you that drug use is prevalent, but murder!?
I sure can pick 'em

Yowser!