Drunk construction worker jumps off tower
February 5, 2009 by Fred HosierPosted in: Falls, In this week's e-newsletter, Latest News & Views, Stupid human safety tricks
PDF This isn’t how companies would want to test a safety net at a construction site.
A drunk construction worker jumped off the 36th floor of a building in Lower Manhattan into protective netting one floor below.
He wasn’t injured, but the unidentified worker was fired immediately, according to the Downtown Express. No word on why he jumped.
As the worker made his way up the building, his boss told him to put on a harness. The worker yelled back that he didn’t need one.
Police may charge the worker with reckless endangerment.
The incident happened at the W Hotel construction site. The building previously located at the construction site was damaged and contaminated during the 9/11 attacks and had to be demolished.
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Tags: construction, drunk worker, safety net
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February 10th, 2009 at 2:16 pm
I’m surprised the union allowed them to fire him - no one got hurt.
February 11th, 2009 at 9:12 am
They fired him for gross negligence. Union wouldn’t and shouldn’t go to bat for a drunken fool.
February 12th, 2009 at 9:34 am
Larry, just because no one got hurt this time, only means he had sheer dumb luck. That’s just like a drunk driver not getting charged because he only wrecked is own car. What about the next time. What lessons has he learned. But my bigger issue here - from a safety perspective - is why didn’t his manager stop him from proceeding if he refused to use the proper PPE. He should have called a Time-Out and walked the employee off the job then. Most companies are willing to help if he has a drinking problem, with programs that are available. But for something like this - even the union wouldn’t protect him. I sincerely hope it was an eye opener for him before he gets another job and something like this happens again. His odds on being so lucky twice are not likely and he could severly injure others in his path of self-destruction.
February 12th, 2009 at 9:58 am
If one has a drinking problem and the company has an EAP, he could have gotten help - however, I don’t know of any company allowing an employee to be on the job intoxicated. I was just surprised that the union would allow the co. to fire him - unions typically go to bat for far worse infringements than this.
February 12th, 2009 at 10:56 am
I agree with Karen, and I know first hand how difficult working with the union can be. Had the employee, after arriving at work told his supervisor/foreman that he had to much to drink last night, the super could have sent him home with a vacation day, no pay, what ever, and the whole scene could have been avoided. Just because the employee drunk does not make him a bad person, he may have been the best worker they had. All of us are under some kind of pressure this day and time and we all find different ways to cope. Putting your fellow worker in harms way as well as yourself has to be delt with, with a firm hand. If ever I find an employee in a drucken state, I will take the employee off to the side and we will discuss the situation. My concern with this kind of employee is why is he/she behaving in this manner to begin with, there has to be an underlying problem, people don’t just act this way, it’s not normal. Remember, our job is to look for the root cause of why things happen in the first place. Firing someone is the easy way out. As Karen said now we have someone out there with a serious problem that could very well be the next person you hire.
February 12th, 2009 at 2:24 pm
Bill - our jobs aren’t to be social counselors, they are to provide for a safe and productive workplace. If someone comes to work drunk - which should be against the rules of the company - that is a choice they make and is a terminable offense and I would do so. It is not the easy “way out” as you say. He just made my job easier - but it was his choice.
If a guy came to me before work and said he was under the influence, I would send him home and cut him slack (unless it got to be a regular occurrance).
I can save the psychological mumbo-jumbo for later to find out about causes. In the meantime, the employees know (or should know) the rules - and one of them is if you come to work intoxicated, you’re fired.
February 12th, 2009 at 4:40 pm
Thanks Larry, after reading your response I see I touched a nerve (social counselors, “way out”, psychological mumbo-jumbo). I agree in this case the employee was in the wrong, firing him was the only course of action. I don’t have to be told what my job consists of, I’m a 30 year veteran in the safety field, I’m 60 years young so, I’ve been around the block a few times. Our company has a policy that calls for termination of intoxication/drugs and I follow that policy. I am not a push over if you are think I am, I’m also a retired SGM from 23 yrs. in the army Why do you feel you have to use this kind of language aimed at me, my blog was just a blog aimed at no one, yours is aimed at me, why, because I look at things differently than you, is this not a free country. Well anyway if I affended you in some way I’m sorry Larry. You missed my whole point, I have seen so much change over the years of how management looks at people or employees and it is sad that in todays workplace we are still using the same old ways of treating people that come to work every day to make us a living. Most of the change’s in, how you handle employees, over the years, had to be forced by some power greater than the employer or there would have been no change, no betterment of life in the workplace. All to often we forget that the people that run the machines are not machines themselves, their people and you have to treat them like people, with a little compassion. Have a great day Larry.
March 24th, 2009 at 11:05 am
Bill, I see your Philosophy, and would like to raise you one. However, I am of the opinion that there is less ignorance in the work place that we like to let on regarding be under the influence. I am sure that most workers are aware that if the show up for work “drunk/high” they can expect to be fired, on-the-spot. Regarding (social counselors, “way out”, psychological mumbo-jumbo), I say that this worker was done a favor by firing him. If he thinks he can “jump” floors, and while not wearing PPE on the 36th floor, fire him, put him on the ground where he belongs, and he can jump all day and not injure himself or any of his co-workers.
April 28th, 2009 at 10:44 am
Why was an alledged drunk construction worker on the site to begin with? Forget the safety harness for a moment, shouldn’t the manager have stopped him / sent him home/ termed him for the shear fact that he was drunk on the job?
May 18th, 2009 at 12:02 pm
Following company policy whatever it may be is the safest way to cover your companies backside. If you start making exceptions for anyone you open yourself up to legal ramifications.
That being said whoever was running the site is responsible for the safety of all employees and it is their responsibility to make sure all are competent enough to do the job. In my world if I tell an employee to put on PPE and they say no they are asked to leave the property. This is common sense people. When the inmates start running the assylum you have lost all control. Simply put yes he has issues, those issues are his to work out unless I or my company caused them due to one reason or another. It is not my or my companies responsibility to fix the problem if we didn’t cause it. Cold hard fact. I have been in this business for 20 plus years and have heard every excuse of why someone came to work under the influence of something.
Cold hearted yes when it comes to stupidity.
June 15th, 2009 at 2:48 pm
In my opinion, termination for this stupid act of clear disrespect for safety rules and regulations which were put in place to protect ALL EMPLOYEE’S, was EXACTLY the right thing to do. Hypothetical situation: What “IF” there was a co-worker standing close enough to grab him in an effort to try and stop him from jumping? This could have led to both employee’s being seriously hurt or killed. As the late and great John Wayne stated:”Life is hard - Its even harder when your stupid”
June 15th, 2009 at 4:51 pm
Hi guys, I really thought this drunk issue was over. I’m going to agree with Joe2 and Cindy, they write like someone that has been there. Again something should have been done at the beginning of the shift. For those of you that wonder how a worker could get up there here is a clue. It is very easy for a drunk worker to come to work drunk if no one detects him until it’s be to late. Haven’t you ever had a drunk worker at work that you fired? Alot of the time a coworker will not turn him in and depending on how the work force begins the day, with Safety Talk, without Safety Talk.etc… Thre are to many pieces missing from the article to come to a conclusion of how and why this happen. My point is: If the drunk worker had been stopped before he clocked in, or even before he started work after he clocked in, our company would have found him AA help or something along that line.
Gary: If BIG JOHN were there, him and everyone around him would have been wearing fall protection and had the drunk grabed a co-worker, the co-worker would have been fine but, then again Big John was only acting.
TOM: Your just a cold hearted man, Gerrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. Hey everyone I’ve had fun with this and mean no harm to anyone, you all have great reply’s. Co’s have rules that everyone must follow and if you don’t you are fired, even Safety Managers. Thanks, Take Care, and God Bless.
June 15th, 2009 at 5:24 pm
Safety Bill i’m just not feeling the love here.
Remember every action has a halfway point where we can turn back and prevent the inevitable.
I worked with a biohaz cleanup crew and have seen alot of fatal injuries both in industry and on the highway and have seen first hand what this type of devistation does to families.
As I said, I have a responsibility to both the employee and the company to make sure they are following the rules and I do have little tolerance for those who try to bypass or violate these rules.
I will say if you ask for help you will get help but if you don’t it’s on you.
Don’t worry I won’t be offended about the Gerrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.
Stay safe
June 16th, 2009 at 2:18 pm
Tom, you are a good sport and I do agree with you. He knew what he was doing, he showed up drunk and I would say he knew the company policy if the company has a good new hire orientation.
I really don’t think you are cold hearted, you would not be in the safety business if you were.
September 11th, 2009 at 4:03 pm
This one’s a no brainer. Not only does the worker have no brain, but he also endangered himself and possible others who would have had to come to his rescue. Firing his was definitly the right thing. Still surprised the union didn’t step in to save his job.
May 11th, 2010 at 10:45 am
Well union or no union I would have fired him on the spot. And fought legally who ever wanted to bring it on. Drunk or not sounds to me that this employee had a blantant disregard towards his boss and or safety.