Policies have to be careful not to impinge upon individuals’ civil liberties by regulating what they do in their leisure time. Nevertheless, rules and procedures should cover what happens if an employee’s performance is affected by drugs or alcohol consumed outside working hours.
Some social events in the workplace serve alcohol; a strong line, taken by Medway Primary Care Trust, states that ‘if alcohol is consumed, staff must make arrangements for planned leave (flexi/annual leave) in the afternoon. Alcohol is prohibited where staff are returning to work.’ This is an example of good practice, as it means there is no inconsistency in workplace policy and practice.
Monitoring and Evaluation
An organisation states how the policy will be monitored and evaluated.
This is one example of how to layout a policy. There are, however, other ideas that some other policies have included in addition to the above and that are strongly advisable:
Relapse
In the course of recovery, those who misuse drugs or alcohol are likely to experience a relapse and this must be taken into account in a policy. Organisations are advised to not always terminate employment of individuals who have a minor relapse yet who still seriously want to recover. However, it is recognised that there may come a point when it is accepted that the employee can no longer continue in employment, even if they feel regret for relapses. It is advised that the individual’s attitude and nature of relapse be taken into account when considering possible actions to take.
Testing in the Workplace
A drug and alcohol policy should state if workplace testing for illicit substances is used; in 2007, the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) said that 22% of organisations carry out testing of employees for drug and alcohol misuse, up from 18% in 2001. In particular, 53% of ‘safety-critical’ organisations use testing, with a further 9% planning on doing so in the future.(6) It is therefore an option of increasing prevalence amongst many employers.
There is no legal requirement to carry out testing or anything in law to prevent employers carrying it out. The current government advice is that for most areas of employment, an effective policy is adequate in tackling substance misuse at work, but testing may be useful in safety-critical posts.
Drug and alcohol use can be detected by testing:
- Urine – the most commonly-used type of test for detecting drug use, quick and inexpensive. • Breath – useful to indicate alcohol consumption and is an easy and inexpensive test to administer.
- Blood – more complicated medical procedure involving trained medical professionals and the use of screening under laboratory conditions. The most accurate way to test for alcohol, but less accurate for drug testing as many drugs do not stay in the body for long.
- Hair – not used for alcohol testing. To test for drugs, 50 to 100 hairs are taken and the process can be expensive and lengthy, involving screening under laboratory conditions.
- Saliva
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