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DRUGS & ALCOHOL


MANAGING MISUSE


Dr Philip Kindred, technical service manager at Synergy Health Laboratory Services (SHLS) explores how organisations should navigate the often murky waters of drug and alcohol testing in the workplace.


Substance misuse, including abuse of drugs, alcohol and ‘legal highs’ in the workplace is believed to cost UK industry billions of pounds a year. Research from the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) showed drugs and alcohol are a contributory factor in 26% of workplace accidents and cost the UK economy over £4 billion per year.


The use of any form of illicit drugs within a work environment can have serious implications for both employees and organisations. At best, production and morale can experience disruption and in worst-case scenarios, drug-induced accidents could cause injury or even death. Staff coming to work with alcohol or drugs in their system present a risk to themselves and others – the level of which can vary from industry to industry.


It is imperative that health and safety decision-makers within any industry have an understanding of the effect of drugs in the workplace and an effective drug and alcohol policy in place. However, survey evidence suggests that many employers are unsure how to frame an effective drugs and alcohol policy – or indeed how to enforce it – with as few as just one third of employers actively training management personnel in how to tackle these sorts of issues.


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Corporate manslaughter legislation now places great emphasis on management’s ‘duty of care’ to employees, strongly encouraging employers to implement a clear and comprehensive drug and alcohol policy in order to mitigate risk. Effectively implementing and communicating drug and alcohol testing into health and safety policies serves to protect employees, the public, and the reputation of the company itself - reducing accidents, long-term sickness and compensation claims within organisations.


To ensure a policy is effective, businesses should introduce thorough testing programmes, use unambiguous language in policy-writing, and make provisions for education and training throughout the company to provide complete guidance for employees.


Testing programmes should be put into action to test for the presence of drugs or alcohol – not just certain levels of illicit substances. Quite often people are not aware of how drugs in their system can continue to impair their performance for days after consumption and potentially put themselves and their colleagues at risk.


To support this, policies should be drafted to avoid using language that focuses on levels of impairment, or how far different amounts of a specified


substance could affect an individual’s ability to carry out their duties safely. Instead, policies should clearly state a firm and transparent approach to the presence of illegal substances – or acceptable levels of medication – within an employee’s system.


Finally, it is important for the success of any workplace drug and alcohol policy that whoever is responsible for implementing the policy and making any subsequent decisions is sufficiently trained to do so. Employers must ensure their managers are equipped with the knowledge and confidence to deal with issues relating to substance misuse by providing regular training on topics such as how to identify behaviours that indicate potential substance misusers and knowing who, when and how to carry out a test.


These procedures will help employers avoid the current ‘grey area’ approach to the impact of both recreational and dependency drug use on a person’s role at work. By focusing on the measurable science behind substance use, and supporting this in writing, policies will be uncompromising and will help to protect a company from speculative argument, employee tribunals and courtrooms.


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