Well lost 2 coworkers today due to firing. One had been there almost 10 years and the other had just passed the 35 year mark. Last friday night they were playing around and one of them fell and hit his head which required 7 staples. Several rules were broken in the incident, safety first of all, one had food out in the work area which is against policy, the other guy did not even work in that area and the guy that fell was taking 3 prescription medications that he hadnt disclosed to the company so it showed up on his mandatory drug test due to the injury. The situation started out innocently and in just a few seconds it all changed so when we start our work days, think about what were doing and the consequences. Everyone likes to have fun at work but sometimes you can go over the line. Hate to see these guys lose their jobs but then again you break the rules and you pay the price. Also look out for your coworkers because most of us spend more time with those guys then we do our families so if you see someone doing something out of place give em a heads up.

 

x2

Yup, 1 "oh crap!" can negate 1000 "at'a boys" especially if someone gets hurt from it. Seen/heard it happen too many times... be careful out there and enjoy your work!

 

x3
It's all fun and games, until someone loses away to fund their powerstroke... Just saying..

 

Boy that company seems a little Harsh

The Horse play one thing maybe a A$$ Chew for that

The Presciption if in his Name thats a BullSh!@T Offense the way the world Looks Atb Drugs Legal or Illegal I can see why They Didnt say a Word about that I Mean really what do you do tell them and then your Labeled After that

I agrre with a Pre employment Drug screen I guess or if they get hurt

Random is an Invasion of your Privacy Here in the Goood Old FREE WORLD YA RIGHT tell me how free you are

Food Out the Work Area Now there Being PIcky Unless you work in Clean Rooms or work in a Public setting

All In ALL sounds Like a Pretty Anel Company Ya Work for there

A decent company would have gave them a week off Without Pay or something But Fired ???

 

Things are changing out here Benny. Used to be a pretty good bit of horseplay on my job but not so much now. Fired for food in the workplace seems a bit harsh but we have had guys get time off for that. I have taken a wizquiz twice in the last six months and have never had an injury or accident on the job. I don't get it either. Pre-employment, accident related, or even if the boss "thinks" you may be on drugs, but spending the bucks for a 10 panel test at random seems unAmerican to me too.

 

Was their any previous history with the guys? Like previous policy/safety violations?

 

A few years back I went to a management meeting at our head office in Winnipeg and it was based on safety in the work-place and how to enforce good work habits and the first thing out of the instructors mouth was " There is no such thing as common sense in the work place! What may seem normal or common to one person may not seem normal or common to another".

After having to hire and fire guys for the last 15 years I can tell you that it is not like it used to be. The new guys coming out now goof around way too much and the stupid crap they do is bewildering. I think it comes from watching all those stupid excuses for television shows where they go out of their way to hurt themselves to make people laugh.

I walked into their lunch shack one day and one of the guys was snorting sugar because one of his coworkers told him he would give him $20 if he did it! On a different day another guy was sitting on the back of a railcar making a connection to another railcar and was watching the 2 cars coming together but never bothered to move his foot that was sitting on the connection knuckles...... seriously, wtf goes through their heads?

I was always taught when I was on the job that you never put your extremities anywhere you wouldn't put your *****.... worked for me cuz I have never broken or lost any fingers etc... on the job!

The safety precautions in effect around here now at all the job sites are crazy.... there are forms for everything and if someone sprains an ankle there is hell to pay. I believe it has gotten bad because of the lack of awareness this new generation seems to have.

 

When I first hired in on my current job the rules went:
1. Try not to hurt anybody.
2. Try not to hurt yourself.
3. Try not to tear up anything.
4. Try to get something done.

Now the philosophy takes up a binder, two meetings a week, a daily briefing and a daily e-mail. Be smart- Be safe.

 

well, we don't know the back story, and i am
sure there is one. there always is.

here is the problem every employer faces.
if they ignore ANYTHING, they leave themselves
open for a lawsuit from anyone who has a
problem arising later on.

billy joe bob comes back from lunch a bit "fuzzy"
a day or so a week.... has for years. never a problem.

then someone gets hurt at work, and billy joe bob
happens to be involved with it in some way....
and now, when there is an accident, there is mandatory
screening via blood test or UA for most companies.

billy joe blows .09 BAL. and the company has known
for years about the fuzzy days, and did nothing to
protect the other workers from the fuzziness.

welcome to your $1,700,000 lawsuit that will be settled
out of court for $688,000.

the company isn't being a$$wholes, the employees
attorneys are...

back in the day, i worked with a crew of electricians
on a cogen powerhouse in a refinery. this crew was
probably the best collection of industrial electrical
mechanics i've ever seen assembled in one place.
awesome capabilities and talent at their work.

and they went out to lunch every day. i was the designated
driver, 'cause i didn't drink at work. two of the guys would
have a bong going the back of the 15 man shop van,
on the way to the bar. the foreman would have a bloody
mary for the nutritional value, two boilermakers, and get
a gin and tonic to go, which he would drink, finishing
it right at the gate to the plant, flinging the glass from the
moving vehicle, precisely hitting the same phone pole,
shattering the glass, which fell in a pile of broken glass
from all the previous days.

by the way, this was a 30 minute lunch, and we were
never late getting back. you can be fired for coming back late.

he never missed the pole. he never missed getting a G&T
to go.

and after lunch, we all went back to work in a substation,
working on live 34.5 KV distribution voltage, on a 2,000
amp bus. anyone made a mistake, the whole crew reached
out and touched eternity right then.

we did this for almost a year.

today? i'd be fired and probably sued just for telling this
story. it's how things are done differently now.

 

The company is a bronze valve manufacturer and the guys worked out in production. The no food is due to cleanliness, lead in the brass which gets on your fingers. The prescription situation was atleast one prescription has a warning about running machinery. They were all pain meds and since he hadnt disclosed the drugs to the company, they will not be liable for an injury where he wasnt even supposed to be around machinery. Also I hear that he had a tad bit more than the prescribed dosage in his system and failed the d-test twice. The out of your area rule is nit picky but its slow right now so they really do go overboard with the enforcement sometimes. Now I just rolled over 19 years with the company and I have worked in the tooling and die department for the last 14 years and Ive got it pretty good in my department. I make and repair the tooling that is used to machine the valves out in production plus make patterns and coreboxes for our foundry. Im lucky that if I dont do it openly that I can make or repair things for myself as long as my job is done. So yes they do get nit picky in the production areas to an extent but Id say overall that no one there is over worked and atleast on my shift (2nd) that we all get along very well.

 

Fulthrotl, the story you described still goes on even at my job just not to the same extent. A group of management and the "good ol boys" always go out for extended lunches/light drinking and return and its all hush hush but the guys are in the circle. Even small things are overlooked depending on who your are but when company property gets damaged (the guy knocked a light out of a valve tester with his head when he fell) then they have no choice but to step in. I hate to see the guys gone but first off they just said he fell then it got around he was pushed and the he changed his story and confirmed he was pushed. Then several people were questioned. I didnt see the accident but I know how the guys are and I dont think the one guy pushed him, I could see a light shove cause they do it all the time and I can see the other guy staggering around like hes drunk cause thats what he does and he tripped. Now thats just my version but still he was pushed and fell. I just dont think it was a forceful push but a combination of both of them acting up playfully and an accident occurring. Thats my 2 cents anyway.

 

There is Very LITTLE Freedom left in this so called FREE WORLD we live in.



I get the Accidental thats Cool the Company shouldnt have to pay if the Guy cant handle his Pot or Alcohol

But to Randomly Test thats Wrong its an Invasion of Privacy

I used to work for a Construction Company on a Crew where everyone was Smoking Pot. Personaly I dont have an issue with that. But this Crew we all got along Great and a Bunch of HARD WORKING GUYS at that. This Crew was a Money MAKER No Doubt WE would Kick the Jobs out Fast. And all for cheaper Insurance Premeiums. They UA the Whole Crew Every Guy Failed Even the Owners Kids on that crew None of us lost are Jobs 1 Week Off so OK Pretty decent But after a couple months that crew all found Diffrent jobs. So in the end they lost the Money Making Crew for Insurance reasons. But I would Bet they Lost More money in the Long run losing the Crew than what they saved on Insurance But it was a sign of the Times to come

 

They drug test here if an injury requires medical attention which his did.

 

My friend works for a company that drug tests their employees using their hair. A pee test is one thing, but pot can stay in your hair for something like 6 months. That is total BS in my opinion. You could have quit smoking 5 months ago when you got hired, then they test you and you fail even though you don't smoke anymore.