Violence at Work (UK)

Drug (and substance) misuse is a major social problem in the UK

Society attitudes to drug taking have relaxed a lot over the past few years and use of illicit drugs and other intoxicating substances has been sky rocketing.

Recent studies indicate 40% of people in the UK under 40 years of age and suggest 45% of those aged between 16 and 29 have "experimented" with illegal drugs.

Drug user in the workplace = Danger

Drugs can seriously affect a person's perceptions and judgement of situations. Inevitably this puts not only the user's safety in jeopardy but also the safety of other people.

• One in four of those seeking help for drug problems are in employment

Illegal drug use by workers

HSE has funded research to determine the extent and impact of drug use on the functioning of the workplace. The work was undertaken by the Centre for Occupational and Health Psychology at Cardiff University. In addition to establishing the prevalence of illegal drug use, the study aimed to provide a detailed profile of current and potential users, explore the effects of illegal drugs taken out of working hours on the work performance of people who continue to work within the next day, or 2-3 days, and to uncover any possible consequent association between illegal drug use and workplace accidents, injuries and human error. The results show that recreational drug use reduces performance efficiency and safety at work.

To read the (150+ pages) study: Click Here

Use of illegal drugs has to be prevented

Employers have responsibility under Criminal Law to ensure that:

• Actions of employees and other visitors always remain legal

• Illegal activities are not permitted to be practiced on their premises (e.g. Illicit drug taking/ trafficking.)

The penalties of non compliance include fines, confiscation of property - and imprisonment.

Detecting illegal drug use

Becoming aware of a problem with drugs relies on you knowing what you are looking at.

Security Officers, Staff Supervisors and Cleaners need to be able to recognise the signs, symptoms, paraphernalia and 'litter evidence' of drug misuse.

Click Here for details

Management also need to know who's taking 'legal' drugs

Millions of people these days take psychotropic medications to alleviate symptoms of relatively common conditions, such as anxiety, stress, depression, eating and sleep problems and obsessive compulsive disorders - perhaps to the extent of 10% of the workforce during any one year!

Many of these treatments have the effect of dulling the senses and / or impairing ability to concentrate.

Note: In an attempt to find out what side-effects these psychotropic medications might have on work performance, human error and the incidence of workplace accidents, the HSE funded research by Cardiff University's Centre for Occupational and Health Psychology. The results have been published (Oct 2004) in a report titled Research Report 282: "The scale and impact of psychotropic medication use by workers"

To read it: Click Here

Concerns are also mounting over increasing evidence of a link between suicides, violence and the use of popularly prescribed anti-depressants known as Selective Seratonin Re-uptake Inhibitors (SSRIs) like Seroxat and Prozac. (British Patient Groups claim that at least 16 suicides can be directly linked to Seroxat alone - although the manufacturers GlaxoSmithKline who made £100 million in 2002 from sales of Seroxat denies this.)

The threat to safety means employers need to know if an employee is suffering these symptoms. (Note: For employees to self report their 'condition' requires confidence in a positive, understanding response.)

Setting a Policy on Drugs at Work

DrugScope provide a useful handbook for employers to use when developing and implementing a Drugs Policy.

It shows how to put a Drugs Policy in place and how to ensure alcohol and drug problems are tackled effectively within your organisation.

For more information: Click Here