Have a family member employed as a crane inspector, Texas. Works in Texas and out, is also a daily drug user, at least pot. Does this sort of thing bother anyone anymore, is it accepted, does anyone care, is everyone doing it?
Well, this is a toughy. If someone smokes pot and treats it like booze (nights and weekends, no driving), I can live with it. But anything harder, or daytime use(working hours or before work), and its a huge concern to me and they are encouraged to seek help as if it were alcohol.
Bothers the he!! out of me would not want him anywhere near my job or people. Even more so with the daily comment.
NO, Everybody is not doing it. I agree with dirthog. I don't want a daily user on my job either. The worst of it is, that until something bad happens with a crane that he has inspected, chances are he will not get drug tested. Being he is in and out of different sites continually, he will most likely slip through the cracks. Best thing one could do is help him get some help. He has a good start down the path. His family will be better for it also.
I am pretty certain the guys running the rigs he inspects are NOT doing it, at least not regularly, because drug testing of operators is pretty common these days. Maybe not every job, but a lot of jobs you are tested before you start work. I don't know how it works in a place like Colorado where marijuana is legal, but places where it's not legal, one way to get run off is to fail a drug test.
I would assume under OSHA which is federal that any non-prescription drug use would be grounds for exclusion from work on most jobsites no matter what state law might be. I kind of have mixed emotions about people that smoke some pot to unwind, to me it's in the same region as a six pack of beer after work. The problem is, I can tell if somebody's been drinking usually, but there's no sure way to know if a guy smoked a bowl in his truck before work or at break. I wouldn't want anybody operating machinery or working in a critical job like crane inspection if I was aware that they might be under the influence of anything that could hinder their performance, and that includes mild illnesses like cold or flu and over the counter medications. The real world however is always fuzzier.....
being under the influence of weed (or alcohol) whilst in the act of inspection or operation of anything approaches criminal behavior in my view……on the basis of someone getting hurt due to said pot smoker spacing out and committing a critical error or oversight