Drugs in the Workplace – Why Should an Employer be Concerned?
The Law:
- The Health and Safety at Work Act 1974
- Misuse of Drugs Act 1971
- The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 Road Traffic Act 1988
- Transport and Work Act 1992
Cost to Business:
- Absenteeism
- Lateness
- Poor performance
- Damage to equipment/products
- Early retirement
- Recruitment
- Reputation (Corporate Responsibility)
- Compensation
Statistics
- According to the charity Alcohol Concern,10 million people in England currently exceed the recommended alcohol consumption limits, and around 200,000 people in the UK go to work with a hangover every day.
- More than four and a half million working days in the UK could be lost to hangovers this January (Alcohol Concern)
- More than one in 25 adults are dependent on alcohol, and the UK has one of the highest rates of binge drinking in Europe.’ (Drinkaware)
- Approximately 1 in 5 of people killed in road crashes have traces of illegal substances in their blood. (RoSPA) We hear a lot about the penalties for drink driving, but what about drug driving? Click here to find out.
- The effects and duration of the effects of a drug depends on the drug/drugs used and the physical and psychological makeup of the person using them.
Dealing with drug and alcohol problems
- Only 33% of employers train managers in how to manage misuse of drug and alcohol at work and just 22% train employees generally in organisation procedures in tackling these issues.
- 22% of employers currently carry out testing for alcohol or drug misuse and a further 9% plan to introduce some form of testing
- Almost a fifth of employers are planning to introduce a combined policy on drug and alcohol misuse at work
- 60% of employers prohibit alcohol consumption on the organisations’ premises and 24% prohibit alcohol consumption when entertaining in work time.
- 27% would report employees that are found to have used illegal drugs to the police
- Almost a third (31%) of organisations have dismissed employees in the last two years due to alcohol problems
- 15% of organisations have dismissed members of staff where the reason or a significant underlying was drugs
- Just 12% of respondent organisations have referred employees with drugs problems to specialist treatment and rehabilitation in the last two years
Statistics on Drug Misuse England 2012 NHS The Information Centre- A detailed survey carried out about adult, young people and children’s drug use/misuse.