Substance Abuse Awareness and Workplace Safety
The guard's role is observation and reporting
A security officer does not test for drugs, does not diagnose impairment, and does not confront an impaired worker alone in a confined space. The role is to recognize indicators, protect people, notify the employer's designated contact, and document. Drug testing is an employer policy matter requiring its own procedures and reasonable-suspicion documentation.
Indicators of impairment
- Behavioral: slurred or rapid speech, unsteady gait, dilated or pinpoint pupils, odor of alcohol or masking agents, disorientation, mood swings, drowsiness at a station, unexplained absenteeism.
- Physical: tremors, sweating, needle marks, weight loss, nosebleeds, burns on fingers.
- Situational: paraphernalia in a restroom or vehicle, empty bottles, a pattern of early departures, accidents clustering around one shift.
One indicator proves nothing - a diabetic emergency, a stroke, or fatigue can mimic intoxication. Treat a medical emergency as a medical emergency and call 911.
Workplace safety basics
- OSHA General Duty Clause, § 5(a)(1) - employers must keep the workplace free of recognized serious hazards.
- Hazard Communication (29 CFR 1910.1200) - know the location of safety data sheets and label meanings for chemicals on site.
- Bloodborne Pathogens (29 CFR 1910.1030) - gloves, barrier devices, hand hygiene; treat all blood as infectious.
- PPE (29 CFR 1910.132) - use what the task requires: gloves, eye protection, hi-vis vest, hearing protection.
- Report hazards - wet floors, blocked exits, damaged ladders, burned-out lighting in stairwells - in writing.
Worked example
You find an employee asleep in a vehicle with an open bottle on the passenger seat before his shift. Reasoning: do not physically remove him or search the car. Wake him from a safe distance, assess for medical distress, notify the supervisor and the client's HR contact, arrange safe transport so he does not drive, and document the observations, the bottle, the time, and each notification. State facts - what you saw and smelled - not the conclusion that he is an alcoholic.
Traps that cost marks
Diagnosing impairment; conducting a search of a personal vehicle without consent or policy authority; letting an impaired person drive home; skipping the medical possibility; failing to record the exact wording of what was said.