Drugs and alcohol on the worksite

By Samuel Goodman - Betterment Evangelist / Human and Organisational Performance Nerd / Author / Speaker

Published February 14, 2020.

I’ll start right here; I LOVE MY PROFESSION! I now truly feel that I’m doing what I was born to do (cheesy, I know). But, early on in my career, I nearly left the profession. I was frustrated, burned out, and I felt lied to. “Did I just waste the first few years of my professional life on something that I now hated and didn’t believe in?” That’s a pretty soul crushing thought. 

Before I dive too deep, let me tell you a little about my background. I started in the profession pretty young, I like to say that “I grew up in safety.” I started and spent a sizable portion of my career in commercial nuclear generation. From there, I moved on to fossil generation, construction, maintenance, and various safety management roles for large-scale contractors and utilities. I spent many years traveling from project to project; all across the United States. That travel eventually brought me to Phoenix, Arizona on a temporary assignment, one that (10 years later) I’m now comfortable calling a permanent assignment. 

Sounds like a blast, huh? Well, within the first few years, I was looking for employment outside of safety. Why? I was tired and craved a life outside of work; I was burned out and done with the beatings. My first few years in safety probably taught me the most, but I was left disenfranchised with traditional safety. I was simply over it and ready to move on.

ONE: You’ll never know your success – it really is a thankless career. You’ll never really know how many lives that you improve, the amount of betterment you create, or the amount of poor outcomes you prevent. But, you will definitely hear about anything that you do not execute perfectly on.

THREE: You’re usually expected to be a subject matter expert… on everything – That’s right, from port-a-jon placement to asbestos; you’re it! Folks will look at you like you’re stupid when you don’t know the regulatory requirements around an Inline 175A-CV3 Modulator Valve. “Gah, what kind of safety guy are you! You don’t even know what an Inline 175A-CV3 Modulator Valve is!”   

FIVE: Work/life balance = 100% work 0% life – there’s a couple of big contributors here: One, you’re new, which means you will get the most undesirable shifts known to humankind. Two, you haven’t learned how to say “no” and self-manage your work/life balance. Another option is that you work for a not-so-amazing organization that doesn't realize the importance of the "care and feeding" of professionals.  

I'm Mr. Doom and Gloom, I know! Here’s the good news: you’ll’ grow up, you’ll figure out how to deal with and overcome many of these issues on your own, some will self-resolve with experience, and you'll move on from employers that do not deserve you. But, in the meantime, here’s a few good ways that I’ve found to “grow through” those tough years:

1. FIND A MENTOR -  This is huge! I lucked up and had a few amazing mentors; folks I still call to this day. They act as a voice of reason; guiding me through the hard times.

2. LEAN ON FAMILY AND FRIENDS – Don’t shut them out, tell them what’s going on; give them the opportunity to support you through challenging times. I tried really hard to be “tough” and “leave work at work!” That doesn’t work so well when your phone is ringing at 2:00 AM. They see it already, open up and talk about it!

3. DISCONNECT - Pro tip 1: I work extremely hard to protect my personal phone number from work - if they get it, I change it. Pro-tip 2: Every day when I get home from work, I put my phone on airplane mode and put it in a kitchen drawer. I leave it there for a couple of hours each and every day. I got to the gym, I have dinner, and I live life without my work phone. It helps a lot more than you’d think.

4. BUILD YOUR "BRAND"  - Yes, I said brand. Who are you? Do you show people who you are? Show them your care, your level of know-how, your ethical commitment, your work ethic, and on and on… Showing people “who you are” will build your respect in the field and open up doors of opportunity that will lift you out of not-so-great situations.

 So what do you think? What do you wish you knew before you started? How do you deal with the “Suck?” 

Let me know your thoughts in the comments!

(And plenty did. I list almost of all them below, though left out a few for the sake of repetition. They're listed pretty close to the order they appeared - oldest comment appears first. And also, where they listed their occupational title on LI, I've listed that alongside their name, just... because.

There is a very, very strong thread of consistency in the comments. I wonder why???)

Incredibly accurate. 

Another coal-face tip for those stepping into the profession: when you land a gig where your role also includes you performing as the initial point of contact for emergency coordination: 

(a) Ensure the emergency phone contact # is different from your usual day-to-day mobile and other contact number(s). Ensure a dedicated ‘other’ phone is enabled and performing as that emergency phone contact. 

And (b) ensure you have capable emergency deputies who can carry that alternative phone/contact outside usual hours, where this is sensible.