Alcohol and workplace safety don’t mix. If any of your employees are reporting to work under the influence, they’re putting themselves and others at risk. Take advantage of Alcohol Awareness Month to promote an alcohol-free and drug-free workplace.
Workplace use of alcohol and drugs is a problem that costs American businesses more than $100 billion annually, according to the U.S. government. If that figure sounds high, consider these statistics:
- Most substance abusers are employed.
- Substance abusers are 2.5 times more likely to be absent 8 or more days a year than other employees.
- Between 30 and 50 percent of all workers’ comp claims are related to substance abuse (abusers file 3 to 5 times as many claims as other workers).
- Substance abusers incur 300 percent higher medical costs than nonabusers.
It’s estimated that close to 10 percent of the U.S. population over age 12 has a substance abuse problem. Among full-time employees with substance abuse problems, those ages 18 to 25 have the highest rates. However, lots of older workers have dependence problems, too—particularly alcohol dependence.
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Why Be Concerned?
Employees who are working under the influence are 3 times more likely to have job accidents than other employees. And sometimes, when they have an accident, they’re not the only one hurt. They may injure one or more of their co-workers, too.
Even a little alcohol can impair:
- Judgment
- Coordination
- Reaction time
Whether it’s getting behind the wheel of a company vehicle, operating a piece of equipment, handling hazardous chemicals, or climbing a ladder, any impairment can be dangerous—even deadly. Just image the havoc an impaired forklift operator could cause. Or imagine what could happen to a worker who has had a few drinks and is working high up on a scaffold or a powered platform.
As a safety professional, you don’t even want to imagine such things happening. You certainly don’t want to see them happen in your workplace.
Self-Diagnosis for Drinking Problems
Most people with a drinking problem aren’t aware of it or are in denial. Here’s a self-diagnosis checklist from Safety Audit Checklists that can help employees recognize a drinking problem:
Do you:
- Lose time from work because of drinking?
- Want a drink in the morning?
- Want a drink at the same time every day?
- Have trouble sleeping?
- Drink to feel more confident or outgoing?
- Become frustrated easily?
- Feel anxious and sensitive?
- Drink alone?
- Let family or job responsibilities slide because of drinking?
- Forget what happened while you were drinking?
- Have major mood swings?
- Feel remorse after drinking?
- Have financial problems because of drinking?
- Find yourself losing weight without dieting or exercising?
- Believe others are to blame for your problems?
- Worry that drinking is affecting your reputation?
- Feel less ambitious since you’ve been drinking?
- Drink to escape from problems?
- Drink with people or in places you’d otherwise avoid?
- Find you home life is more unhappy because of drinking?
- Believe your job is in jeopardy due to drinking?
Several answers of “often” or “sometimes” may be an indication that alcohol may be hurting an employee and the people he or she cares about—as well as creating serious on-the-job safety risks.
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Take Action This Month
The good news, the experts say, is that the expense, accident risks, lost productivity, disruption, and human costs can be reduced demonstrably with a drug-free workplace policy and a workplace culture that doesn’t tolerate working under the influence.
If your company is covered by the federal Drug-Free Workplace Act or
a state drug-free workplace law, then you’re already doing a lot to prevent substance abuse in the workplace.
Whether you’re complying with a law or not, take advantage of Alcohol Awareness Month to publicize the problem of workplace substance abuse. During April, make employees more aware of the risks of working under the influence and the damage that alcohol can cause in their personal lives.
Tomorrow, we’ll look at some of the common indications that an employee has a substance abuse problem and talk about what to do when you recognize the signs.
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