Workplace Drug & Alcohol Abuse

With increasing concern about the misuse of drugs within the workplace, and the potential detrimental affect on workers' safety, many employers are considering implementing a workplace drug and alcohol policy.

Drugs and Alcohol in the Workplace

Some of the main concerns of company directors about drug and alcohol abuse in the workplace identified by the HSE include:

Healthcare Connections is an experienced provider of drug and alcohol screening services. Our standard panel of substances for Point of Care or emergency testing includes:

In addition to this standard screen, we are able to produce a bespoke screen in-line with the legal requirements of your industry. Furthermore, our state of the art laboratories used for further screening following a positive or negative point of care screen and chain of custody screening, can also detect a vast range of additional substances to give you an unambigous, accurate and legally defensible result where so desired.

*not part of rail specific screen

Drug and Alcohol Related Absenteeism

Every organisation, regardless of size or industry sector will, at some point, encounter problems relating to alcohol and drug dependency amongst its employees. It is estimated that the effects of drug and alcohol misuse cost UK industry £4.1 billion annually. Alcohol alone is estimated to cause upto 5% of all absences from work. This equates to a staggering 17- 18 million lost working days in the UK each year.

The effects of employee drinking or substance abuse on productivity and safety are far reaching. According to the HSE, alcohol consumption and/or substance abuse may result in reduced work performance, damaged customer relations, and resentment among employees who have to ‘carry’ colleagues whose work declines because of their drinking. In addition, because drugs and alcohol are known to affect judgement and physical co-ordination, abuse at work is likely to result in an increased number of accidents. Drinking even small amounts of alcohol or taking drugs before or while carrying out work that is ‘safety sensitive’ will increase the risk of an accident.

Drug and alcohol dependency should be seen as a health problem and organisations have a duty of care to their employees to provide support and treatment. The object should be to drive drugs and alcohol - not people - out of the organisation wherever possible.

Healthcare Connections can help you develop and implement your own screening programme. For more information please contact us.