Should I report my suspicions?

[MaryRoze]

I'll preface this by saying I don't like this guy- he's a lazy bastard. I'm trying not to let this cloud my judgement though.

We have a contractor who I suspect is coming to work under the influence. He's frequently late, sometimes looks absolutely terrible, disappears multiple times during the day. I brought this up with his boss and he agreed to give him his notice to leave. So, he's leaving end of September/beginning of October anyway.

During the course of this conversation with his boss, he made just an off-handed comment "I think he's a drinker".

I didn't think anything of it until I heard him wretching/throwing up in the bathroom on Friday. Now I'm adding 2 + 2 and coming up with 5.

We've got a zero tolerance drug and alcohol policy, and this contractor is going to be responsible for a huge high risk operation in a few days time. If something goes wrong / he hasn't planned it properly due to being under the influence, this could end in fatalities.

What do I do?

YABU - he's leaving anyway. double check his plan for the high risk activity and let him get on with it.

YANBU - this is too dangerous to ignore. report.

exact words being

I'll be supervising the activity

waiting for the back track….

You have decided to? Honestly my concerns are growing! Who is responsible in the risk assessments and method statements?

why is a contractor “on probation”?

big assumption there that there are risk assessment

I have more knowledge and experience of this particular activity than the contractor does, so yes I have decided that I would feel more comfortable overseeing it myself.

Because he's only been with his employer for 5 months. They have a 6 month probationary period.

contractors don’t have probation period

do you understand what a contractor is?

You said they have been off ill once but that they are ill but that they spend multiple times on the phone to to GP and have tests done but that you haven’t said anything to anyone but that you have because someone else agreed and now they have been given notice. V confusing.

op are you willing to concede that saying this is a direct contradiction to you now saying you aren’t supervising

He is an employee of his company. The company we have brought in as a contractor for our project.

I haven't said anything to anyone about the calls to the GP or medical appointments. It's been mentioned to his boss that he's frequently late to work, disappears without telling anyone, and is lazy with his day to day tasks.

your company recruited a contractor on probation to manage a hugely risky “activity” ?

I do see where OP is all over the place (maybe various slightly different meanings to the word “supervising”?) but just one point: a person can be a contractor from the POV of the OP and her organisation, and an employee from the POV of another company who send him out on…. Contracts

agreed

but the op’s company hired a contractor on probation (having literally just started no less) to manage a hugely risky “activity”

Thank you. Yes, there does seem to be some confusion over the terms supervise and contractor. To me, this guy is a contractor. But he's also an employee of his own company.

Why the italics?

I'm good at my job but if I go to an new employer I have a probation period, I dont suddenly become crap at it during that period. Probation periods are routine and not red flags in themselves

it would seem…. not

I've already answered this.

If something goes wrong / he hasn't planned it properly due to being under the influence, this could end in fatalities.

bur the project overall is low risk?

So this person is a contractor then. Contractors don’t have probation periods. I am finding it very hard to believe there is a company and employees out there this incompetent. I usually hate the press picking up on stuff. I’d love them to unmask the company behind this. Lives at risk, huge operation, company uses unreliable contractor who they need to let go, person supervising said lethal task is now on MN asking for advice. I cannot fathom the level of incompetence here.

This person is an employee of a company. As a new employee he is on a probation period. We have brought this company in as a contractor for our project.

If you’re right then he’s harmed his own chances of getting a job in the future, if you’re wrong (presumably evidenced via alcohol testing?) then no harm done??

what i’m hoping is that the op went in big with the hyperbole in the Op

What kind of job do you work in? Can you conceive that other jobs might be different?,

At my last job it wasn't large enough to need it's own IT department so when something needed to be done contractors came in from an external company, they were employees of the external company and could quite easily have been in their probation period

Tbh you're showing your ignorance and to say that you can't believe that incompetent employees exist is weird

PP didn’t say they don’t believe incompetent employees exist out there

* very hard to believe there is a company and employees out there this incompetent*