Identifying the alcohol-impaired worker
You may have a supervisor who isn’t sure of the best course of action to take when a worker arrives at the business apparently under the influence of alcohol.
Your company may have a drug-free policy, but alcohol is a legal substance. You realize it’s against the law to drive on public roads with more than a certain level of alcohol in the blood, but can you carry that standard to the machine shop, the assembly line, the project planning committee?
The short answer is, “Yes.” But there are certain precautions you should take.
First of all, your determination that the worker is unfit for duty needs to be based on fact, not mere suspicion. If you observe an unsteady gait, slurred words, abusive language, or an appearance of laziness, then you have reason to suspect alcohol or drug abuse.
The second key factor is your company’s policies and procedures for determining fitness for duty. In general, the matter should be referred without bias to the supervisor. In other words, the employee shouldn’t report, “Joe came to work drunk. I’m afraid he’s going to hit someone.” A better report would be, “I’m not sure about the way Joe is acting today. I think you need to look into this.”
The supervisor, representing the best interests of the company, should follow the “fitness for duty” requirements exactly, starting with general rules of not accusing the worker of being under the influence or asking what drugs or how much alcohol have been consumed. Only scientific tests should be used to determine that.
When it comes to the use of alcohol in the workplace, the primary challenge is not in finding out if the worker has been drinking but if his or her use of alcohol could jeopardize safety. A sound “fitness for duty” policy lets the experts determine if the worker is impaired and leaves the supervisor with the task of making sure the workplace is safe to all.
Copyright © 2008 by Griffith Publishing
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NOTES...
About 15 percent of U.S. workers said they either used alcohol at work or were impaired on the job, according to research from the University of Buffalo's Research Institute on Addictions.
Occasional heavy drinking by otherwise light and moderate drinkers may contribute as much or more to work-performance problems as do the alcohol-dependent drinkers.--The Robert J. Wood Johnson Foundation Anthology.