Colleague drinking at work

[Chasa]

My colleague is known for liking a drink and I and others have smelled drink on him on previous occasions. However, over the past fortnight his behaviour has become more hyper at work as if he wasn't just nursing a hangover but was actually still perhaps drunk? Another colleague suggested that maybe he was drinking at work so we decided to go and look in his backpack and there was an empty kids drinks bottle with a tiny bit of wine left in it. So he is drinijng on the job. So do we do anything or mind our own business? He's a nice guy on the whole. I'm thinking say nothing, I need advice.

She could still raise a concern without mentioning what was in the bag surely

I reported a colleague for being drunk on the job when we were both teaching classes. I smelt alcohol on his breath and his behaviour was unacceptable too. You should report what you have observed but leave out the fact you looked in his bag. Please do not "offer support" as a PP suggested. In your position you cannot, and should not have to, support an alcoholic and suggesting to him that you can would be seriously invasive of his personal life.

The alternative to saying anything is being responsible for injuries sustained with very heavy loads in a busy warehouse. And not necessarily to him, to others - you do not want to be in a situation where somebody is pinned behind or underneath 2.5 tonnes of stuff because he was too pissed to load it properly or to stop when he's recklessly buzzing it around a corner.

Tell management he smells of alcohol and if there is a plausible way of saying that he went to wherever his bag is kept and came back hyper and smelling stronger of it, they'll likely do a bag check themselves. Or just speaking to him will make it obvious to them from the smell.

I don't give a flying fuck about his welfare - the important thing is the safety of everybody else.

Keep quiet or ask your co-worker outright, when in private,
"Mate, I smell alcohol on you nearly every day. Do you have a problem that I can help you with? Can I help direct you to AA?"

He will then know that possibly others also can detect his drinking and he needs to tone it down at work.

We had this and she actually brought in clanky wine bottles. I was very unobservant and never twigged but the higher powers did, noticed the smell and also she had a black eye once obvs due to falling. Q sad as she was a nice lady. She was a temp so didn't last long.

If this is genuine, I would suggest you ask your colleague if they are ok or raise a general concern about their well being to your line manager. If you told me you had gone through a colleagues personal items without their knowledge or permission you would be formally disciplined and potentially sacked. Unless you conducted forensic tests on the bottle you can’t know for certain what was in. Much of it is speculation and unpleasant rather than helpful.

Of course OP isn’t responsible for any injuries he may cause

OP I agree with the others- mention it to the manager, leave out the bag

You should speak to your colleague in the first instance and not go over his head and run the risk of him losing his job without having an opportunity to rectify the situation! I suspect he also has kids if the wine as in a kid's bottle.

I think you crossed a very big line, you went down another's bag, you are gossiping, and you are in the wrong.
I would get this thread taken down in case someone recognises it, and you are in trouble.
Personally I don't think you have done this because you care about him, you done it to bitch and talk about him. I also think you are worried because you may be in have to answer for your actions.

If you had safety concerns you should have raised with his line manager or HR, definitely shouldn't be rummaging through his personal belongs.

When I was young, some older colleagues had the odd drink at lunchtime (in one of the places I lived). And my teachers went to the pub on Friday lunch times. It's surely the amount that is more the issue, because if it was one wine, that's one thing, but if he's obviously drunk as you say, that could be dangerous, and I would worry about someone's mental heath if they need to drink all the time.

Report to manager and let them deal with it. There are other explanations e.g. medical or mental health.

Don't mention the bag, don't spread gossip, don't do the bag thing again.

This. You know you shouldn’t have looked in his bag. However you absolutely need to report the smell of alcohol and his behaviour as a warehouse is too dangerous an environment for someone to be working while impaired. It is not just the risk to himself but the risk to everyone else around him.

Who the fuck do you think you are? Rifling through someone else's things, that's a new low. Mind your own business, you sound a spiteful mare.

Harsh but true

People on this thread are insane. He could be endangering his own life and the lives of others by messing about with warehouse equipment while drunk. Of course OP needs to discuss her concerns with someone in authority.

How would you feel if he was your child’s teacher, or driving instructor, or bus driver, or doctor?? People who are drunk or high should not be at work, unless their job is 70s rock star.

Jesus, don’t make something up - that’s even worse than snooping in his personal belongings.

It’s actually the companies responsibility to put safeguards in place for this. I work for a company in similar environments and we have to put checks in place that employees aren't impaired, not rely on other employees to tell us

So @Itsmetheflamingo you are saying that you would happily endanger the safety of staff and customers/service users/children because it’s not your “responsibility” to alert anyone?

Don’t be ridiculous. You don’t know what the guy does and can’t risk assess from the information the OP has given. You’re being a right drama queen.

there is no excuse for a company relying on staff information to manage the possibility of impaired working. They should have policies in procedures in place to identify it.

Searching the bag wasn't on but someone drinking at work is the business of everyone they work with.

Regardless of the legality of searching his bag, OP says he "uses pallet trucks and heavy lifting, manual work etc.". Doing that under the influence of booze is a danger to himself, and possibly colleagues. A back injury from simply not carrying something correctly, or instinctively trying trying to catch something that's slipping could put someone out of work.
The "strong suspicions about smelling something on his breath" need to be reported to management ASAP before someone gets hurt.

I hope you suffer the same invasion of privacy very soon.

Shouldn't have gone through his bag, but you have confirmed your suspicions.

There are signs that he is drinking on duty without needing evidence... smell, demeanor etc, for the sake of his own safety this needs to be raised with the powers that be. You can do that without leaving yourself incriminated.

Or search bags, I assume