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Let's assume the following scenario. One early morning, at work, you walk to the coffee maker to refill your coffee mug. When you get over to the coffee maker, two individuals are there talking. Based off of the strong smell in the general area, it is quite evident that one of these individuals has been consuming alcohol. Furthermore, let's assume that one of them works on a plant floor and operates heavy machinery which is quite dangerous.

What should you do in such a circumstance? If both of these individuals were office workers, it might be worth forgetting since you're not sure who the individual is who may have been drinking. However, there is a chance that one of the two could be putting themself and others in serious danger, due to the nature of their job.

I'd You'd never want to accuse someone of committing such a serious offense without reasonable proof.

This one is a bit of a sticky wicket. Could anyone offer any guidance?

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floor worker = prduction facility/plant, correct? is the plant unionized? – acolyte Aug 2 '12 at 20:21
There is no union and, yes, this is a Production Facility or "Plant". – RLH Aug 2 '12 at 20:24
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...one of them works on a plant floor and operates heavy machinery which is quite dangerous. There is really no choice here. You must say something to someone. Someone may lose a mother/father/brother/child/etc if you stay silent. I would follow this answer immediately. – Chad Aug 2 '12 at 20:57
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I would not describe that a s a serious offense. It might be a violation of the company rules, an unnecessary danger or simply an obvious lack of professionalism; not a severe violation of your country law (except if you live in a fundamentalist religious state) nor a conscious action aiming deliberately at hurting people. Also if it's really dangerous to admit drunk workers, and the company doesn't check it, you might want to incriminate the company BEFORE the worker – PPC Aug 3 '12 at 17:27

4 Answers

up vote 21 down vote accepted

Personally, I'd take the flak and go for speed over anonymity. But I've always had a good rapport with HR and at this point, I'm a manager... so that may bias me.

I'd go in this order:

  • direct supervisor
  • Human resource representative
  • plant safety (if there is such a thing?)
  • escalating chain of management

Depending on who is easily accessible and who responds quickly. I wouldn't do it like a panicked fire drill, but with some sense of urgency - and in ways that can't be ignored - in person or by phone -- email only as a last resort.

My thought is that the political issues of blowing the whistle on a coworker are vastly outweighed by the bad case of someone getting hurt because of this guy. After getting the message through to someone in charge, however, I'd let it go and trust the system (at least the first time). By "getting through" I mean that you get the feedback that the message was received (like you talked in person, or got a follow up phone call saying "thanks, got it").

For the record, there are legitimate medical conditions in which someone can end up smelling like alcohol. I believe diabetes (if not managed properly) is such a case... but I think there are others. The management and/or HR should have a procedure for following up that takes this into account and handles the situation properly. Of course, that's an idealized world...

NOTE: My answer would change in the event you, yourself, are a manager. At that point, you try to touch base with HR and then figure out how to talk to the guy. If you have reason to suspect a safety issue and you are a manager, you can be held liable in some cases for everyone's safety because of your position of authority.

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First, I'm not a manager. Second, what makes this a bit more difficult is, I don't know the name of floor worker. I know who he is (he has to come in and out of my office area frequently to ask engineering questions) but I don't know his name. Also, thanks for pointing out the diabetes aspect. I wasn't aware of that. – RLH Aug 2 '12 at 21:02
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My only addition here would be if you're very concerned about anonymity is to go for HR first over your supervisor, but I'd talk with them personally (and privately), not try to give them an anonymous note they might not take as seriously. – Rarity Aug 2 '12 at 21:05
Depending on the kind of manufacturing that is taking place, there may well be lubricants or chemicals that smell of alcohol as well. For that reason, going to the direct supervisor is really useful, since they will know if there are such things, while an HR person might not. – David Navarre Aug 2 '12 at 21:05
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@David - true. Although I'd hope HR was in the loop on that, you're right that there's no guarantee. For RLH- then I'd hit either your HR, or anyone you know managing the area the floor worker came from... you may just end up saying "hey, it was someone, not sure who - looks like this" but it's better than nothing. – bethlakshmi Aug 2 '12 at 21:08
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I would suggest talking to the person in question before going to their supervisor. If there is a serious problem and they won't acknowledge it, at least you can say you gave them a chance to take the day off on their own terms (to recover/sober up), before getting their supervisor involved. – FrustratedWithFormsDesigner Aug 3 '12 at 14:18
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up vote 1 down vote

Send an anonymous note to HR. There is all kinds of liability here. If it's anonymous, you won't have to deal with follow-up stuff, nobody will wait for you by your car after work with their baseball bats, and the company can deal with its liability issue. If HR doesn't find cause to fire the guy/gal, then you've done your part and can sleep at night.

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Any sensible HR department won't reveal your name to anyone else anyway, and if they did they'd be inviting legal trouble. – Rarity Aug 2 '12 at 20:32
That's good to know. thanks for the info. – jdb1a1 Aug 2 '12 at 20:37
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Still could suspect you if you made a funny face in the break room or otherwise had a "knowing look" – jmort253♦ Aug 2 '12 at 20:58
up vote 0 down vote

Alright, the lack of a union complicates this immensely. For posterity, if there was a union, you should speak to either the plant manager OR the union representative for the plant workers. They're the ones who can adequately judge if disciplinary actions should be taken, and normally will have discretion no matter what. going to upper management is not a good plan, as it can really ruin someone's career/job. A good union rep will send the worker home, and then keep a close eye on them from then on.

Without a union present, however, you can only really report them to your HR department. Try to do so anonymously, however. Bad feelings can propagate quickly in a production plant, and that's never good.

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up vote 0 down vote

Do you feel comfortable talking about this with someone empowered to take action (AKA a manager)? (Do you believe that the manager will protect you from retribution or even reward you for your diligence?)

  1. If yes, the answer is obvious report the unsafe condition, collect your reward, and be secure in the knowledge that there will be no retribution.
  2. If no, the answer is also obvious, keep your mouth shut, look for a new job, and hope that no accidents while you are on the floor. If you don't feel comfortable reporting unsafe conditions, then who does. There may be some hidden dangers - in addition to the stuff you see. Someone else is aware but not reporting - just like you.
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