{"id":3266,"date":"2018-05-23T09:12:31","date_gmt":"2018-05-22T23:12:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.wiseworkplacetraining.com.au\/2021\/09\/11\/issues-with-intoxicated-or-hungover-staff-what-to-do\/"},"modified":"2021-09-11T09:12:39","modified_gmt":"2021-09-10T23:12:39","slug":"issues-with-intoxicated-or-hungover-staff-what-to-do","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wiseworkplacetraining.com.au\/2018\/05\/23\/issues-with-intoxicated-or-hungover-staff-what-to-do\/","title":{"rendered":"Issues with Intoxicated or Hungover Staff? What to do"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.wiseworkplacetraining.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/Drug-and-alcohol-issues.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/><\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Most adults like to indulge in the use of alcohol from time to time. Some even like to partake a little more frequently &#8211; which is generally not problematic, in the privacy of one&#8217;s own home and social sphere.<\/p>\n<p>But occasionally problems with alcohol or even drug consumption can creep into the workplace, with staff under the influence while at work or under performing because of the after-effects.<\/p>\n<p>Employers have an OHS duty of care to all employees so they need to ensure that alcohol in the workplace does not give rise to safety risks. Employees also have a duty of care to themselves. Let&#8217;s take a look at how employers can manage alcohol and drug-related issues in the workplace.<\/p>\n<h3>underlying factors and potential consequences<\/h3>\n<p>Alcohol and drug-related problems can occur in any workplace, across different industries. They can arise due to any number of factors, including personal issues experienced by the employee, stress, ongoing addiction, or poor workplace culture, to name a few.<\/p>\n<p>The potential consequences of alcohol or drug consumption &#8211; whether recreational or prescription &#8211; include the risk of injuries sustained by other staff and customers, absenteeism, lost production or general lack of competence, and a reliance on rehabilitation or workers compensation.<\/p>\n<p>The cost of these problems to business varies, however 1 in 10 workers say they have experienced the negative effects of a co-worker&#8217;s misuse of alcohol.\u00a0\u00a0<span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h3>identifying alcohol or drug-related risks<\/h3>\n<p>One of the best ways to avoid difficulties with drugs and alcohol in the workplace is to identify potential risks and develop workplace policies that address these.<\/p>\n<p>These are some of the factors to consider when determining the level of risk facing your business:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Are your workers engaged in a high-stress environment?<\/li>\n<li>Is the operation of heavy machinery, vehicles or other equipment a requirement of your business?<\/li>\n<li>Are there legislative or safety requirements to ensure that anybody operating this equipment is free from the influence of substances?<\/li>\n<li>Do staff potentially have access to illegal or significant amounts of pharmaceutical drugs, whether for their own consumption or for resale?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>implementing a workplace drug and alcohol policy<\/h3>\n<p>At a minimum, your workplace policies should spell out:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Whether your company has a zero-tolerance policy for any types of drug or alcohol consumption;<\/li>\n<li>Whether staff are required to declare reliance on specific pharmaceutical medications;<\/li>\n<li>If random drug or alcohol testing is undertaken in the workplace;<\/li>\n<li>What expectations are placed on drug and alcohol consumption at work-related functions;<\/li>\n<li>What the potential consequences of intoxication in the workplace could be<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>It is important to note that Section 12 of the Fair Work Act defines &#8220;<em>serious misconduct<\/em>&#8221; to include an employee being intoxicated at work. It would therefore be reasonable to dismiss an employee under those circumstances.<\/p>\n<p>It is also worthwhile ensuring that HR and other executive employees have undergone training in identifying staff who are intoxicated in the workplace or have perhaps formed habits of dependence.<\/p>\n<h3>how to approach a worker who is under the influence<\/h3>\n<p>When staff members suspect that a colleague may be under the influence of drugs or alcohol, it is important to be extremely sensitive in approaching that person. The specific approach will, of necessity, be dictated by various factors, including:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The relevant industry;<\/li>\n<li>The workplace culture and structure;<\/li>\n<li>The employee&#8217;s role and seniority;<\/li>\n<li>The personal circumstances of the employee;<\/li>\n<li>Whether the occurrence is &#8216;once off&#8217; of suggests a pattern of behaviour;<\/li>\n<li>The legal environment;<\/li>\n<li>The duties and responsibilities of the employee.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>An employee is likely to be more responsive if they are approached from the perspective of a safety concern rather than an accusation. This is particularly the case where the behaviour or intoxication may arise from physical injuries, acute distress or prescribed medication which the patient is reacting badly to.<\/p>\n<p>During the process of drafting a workplace policy relating to drug and alcohol consumption, management should consider appointing and training specific staff members whose role it is to approach employees who are suspected to be under the influence of substances.<\/p>\n<p>These staff members could include managers, counsellors, health and safety representatives or HR representatives. A chain of command should also be instituted so that staff who have been tasked with making initial contact have somebody else to turn to for assistance if their initial approach fails.<\/p>\n<p>If an employer dismisses an employee for drug\/alcohol abuse and ends up with a claim for unfair dismissal, then a good employer defence would include that they had a workplace policy and approach that not only included clear consequences but also emphasised that the employer views abuse as a health issue and therefore seeks to help the employee overcome their abuse (this would be in cases where abuse outside of work is affecting performance as opposed to being intoxicated or high at work).<\/p>\n<p>This can be done by having an Employee Assistance Program (provided by an external provider); having a mental health and wellbeing policy; and an &#8216;RUOK&#8217; approach &#8211; whereby managers encourage a culture of everyone looking out for each other and literally asking, are you ok? After all, such welfare approaches are exhausted over a reasonable period of time an employer would be safe to move to disciplinary approaches.<\/p>\n<p>Employers may also need to assess whether the issue is widespread, ie. a workplace culture of abuse. If this is the case, then there maybe engrained cultural issues that need to be investigated and remedied.<\/p>\n<h3>What can employers do?<\/h3>\n<p>Workplaces are encouraged to establish a workplace drug and alcohol policy and procedure that can be followed in the event of a drug or alcohol-related incident in the organisation.<\/p>\n<p>WISE can assist you in drafting these policies, or assessing your current policy, and training staff. Alternatively, we can provide investigative services for any incidents that have occurred in the workplace.<\/p>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/p>\n<p class=\"wpss_copy\">Content retrieved from: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.wiseworkplace.com.au\/_blog\/WISE_Blog\/post\/issues-with-intoxicated-or-hungover-staff-what-to-do\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">http:\/\/www.wiseworkplace.com.au\/_blog\/WISE_Blog\/post\/issues-with-intoxicated-or-hungover-staff-what-to-do\/<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp; Most adults like to indulge in the use of alcohol from time to time. Some even like to partake a little more frequently &#8211; which is generally not problematic, in the privacy of one&#8217;s own home and social sphere. But occasionally problems with alcohol or even drug consumption can creep into the workplace, with [&#8230;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_price":"","_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_header":"","_tribe_default_ticket_provider":"","_tribe_ticket_capacity":"0","_ticket_start_date":"","_ticket_end_date":"","_tribe_ticket_show_description":"","_tribe_ticket_show_not_going":false,"_tribe_ticket_use_global_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_global_stock_level":"","_global_stock_mode":"","_global_stock_cap":"","_tribe_rsvp_for_event":"","_tribe_ticket_going_count":"","_tribe_ticket_not_going_count":"","_tribe_tickets_list":"[]","_tribe_ticket_has_attendee_info_fields":false,"wds_primary_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[180,121,163,312,106,264,206,155,105],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wiseworkplacetraining.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3266"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wiseworkplacetraining.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wiseworkplacetraining.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wiseworkplacetraining.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wiseworkplacetraining.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3266"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.wiseworkplacetraining.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3266\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wiseworkplacetraining.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3266"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wiseworkplacetraining.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3266"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wiseworkplacetraining.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3266"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}