Guidelines for a Drug-Free Workforce
3rd Edition
Summary of Recommendations For a
Drug-Free Workforce
In order to achieve a drug-and-alcohol-free workforce, you must take a
comprehensive approach. The approach should include:
A Written Policy
Prepare and circulate a written statement for acknowledgement by all
employees that illegal drug use will not be tolerated and that job performance
deterioration resulting from abuse of legal drugs, including alcohol, will
result in adverse personnel actions. The statement should explain that drug and
alcohol abuse creates both economic and social consequences that are
unacceptable to your community.
An Employee Assistance Program
Establish an Employee Assistance Program (EAP) that provides
counseling and referral programs, to be operated either by your own staff or by
a contractor. The program should be operated in a confidential manner.
Employee Awareness and Education
Provide a drug orientation program to advise all employees of your
organization's policies and the drug-and-alcohol-related economic, health and
legal liabilities that brought about the policy. Ongoing educational efforts to
inform employees about the negative consequences of drug and alcohol abuse are
also essential in changing their attitudes about the problem. This can be
accomplished with meetings, brown bag lunches, and educational handouts.
Supervisor Training
Offer supervisors substance abuse training so those closest to the
problem can be coached on the signs, symptoms, behavior changes, performance
problems and intervention concepts attendant to drug and alcohol abuse.
Drug and Alcohol Testing
Consider a drug and/or alcohol testing program to detect and deter
drug and/or alcohol use or abuse. If testing is adopted, it should conform to
proper procedures.
Sanctions
Determine the consequences for those who violate the policy. Will
employees be terminated or offered rehabilitation? If the latter, will it be
offered on a one-time basis only? Who will be responsible for the cost of the
program, you or the employee? Differentiate among penalties for various policy
violations. For example, most employers terminate employees who are involved in
drug trafficking in the workplace, even though the employee is a drug
user who would otherwise be a candidate for treatment.
Appeals Process
Include an appeals process in the program, and clearly define it in
the policy. Employees who disagree with positive drug test results should be
allowed an opportunity to request a second test at their own expense. The second
test should be conducted on the original urine sample or the second half of the
original sample that was split for the specific purpose of a second test. A new
urine sample should never be taken, since some drugs pass through the system
quite rapidly and may be present one day and absent the next.
Evaluation
Monitor cost effectiveness and success of the program.
Back To Index
Go To Next Page
|
