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.

Yes, I work in IT funnily enough. If an employee poses a risk or a potential risk to the business they are put on gardening leave. This is not only to stop issues such as op describes it is also to stop issues such as an employee on their way out damaging the company in some way.

This is actually the norm in many jobs with responsibility. That’s if your company is decent and you have a half decent job. This is how normal companies work. It’s shocking employee expectations are so low in this country to not understand that this isn’t the norm.

As far as his employer is concerned, this employee isn't posing a risk. Nobody is questioning his capabilities and competencies.

I'm concerned he might be under the influence and therefore more inclined to make mistakes. * *

Hence the decision to report / arrange for a drug and alcohol test, where he likely will be put on gardening leave.

Well they are - hence why he is failing his probation and they are deciding not to renew his contract. You also are - hence posting here.

They've decided not to keep him on because "he's not a good fit for our company". As far as I'm aware, it's nothing to do with how qualified he is.

I have my concerns over the activity itself and whether he has planned it properly if he's under the influence.

but even since he joined the company back in April…. he’s been a contractor for your company?

We brought the company on as a contractor mid-2023. He was employed by them in April, and they assigned him to work on our project shortly after.

yes

so given they sent him to you within days of his first day

how would they know he isn’t a good fit?

surely, surely OP…. you get that it’s odd for a contractor who was on probation with them employer being sent to you and put on a huge and highly risky activity.
Then being sacked by you AND failing his probation but STILL staying on the huge and highly risky project

your insane blindness to what so many of us are trying to point out to you

speaks volumes

As pp pointed out above, almost everyone who starts a new job goes on a probation period. That doesn't mean they're not skilled at what they do.

yes
but when i have the cvs of contractors in front of me and deciding which to bring on board of a project… i wouldn’t select one that was a couple of days in to their probation ro magee a huge and highly risky activity

Your company… would 😱

The contractor (his company) was selected months before he even joined!

yes but we always go through the CVs that the contractor sends through as options so WE select who we think would work best on OUR project

you really don’t see this do you op

Why would we be going through the CVs of another company's employees?

for the big ticket project streams - we want to know who is going to be managing them and in charge of our employees

i give up

just hope that lots of hyperbole in your OP

The guy is a contractor. He works for us. He's not going to be in charge of our employees.

Read your Code of Conduct - it's your duty to report anyone who you think poses a risk.

So using pps example above, outsourcing your IT to an external company, you would really expect to see the CVs of all potential engineers before they're sent out to you??

If his role is safety-critical, or could impact the safety of himeelf or others, and the company has a zero-tolerance approach to D&A (as I believe all companies should), then there is likely to be a process in place to request an immediate (within an hour or so) D&A test.

The process at my workplace is: If you believe him to be under the influence at work, you or his line manager request a 'for cause' test and he doesn't leave the premises until it's done ( if he leaves, it's treated as a positive result). If it's positive, gross misconduct case follows swiftly afterwards.

This is actually painful. What a car crash of a company. It’s employees seeking advice on mn for a project this serious is probably company policy somewhere. You pay peanuts…

I would. Contractors on company critical projects would not be allowed on board until vetted by us either.

Who mentioned the GP appointments and tests to his boss? How do you know about it?
who said he is a drinker?

Can't you just say you want that operative off the job. He's not performing well and you feel he isn't capable. They'll get someone else rather than lose the contract surely.
If he has substance issues then he will hopefully get help. But you just need to focus on safety. He's not to be on site anymore.

That's exactly what we've done. And his employer said fine no problem, he doesn't fit well with their company anyway so they won't he keeping him on.