A survey done by National Safety Council found that 70% of workplaces have been impacted by employee misuse of prescription drugs. Link to the survey here.
Quote:
Tim Thoelecke Jr., president of Morton Grove, Illinois-based InOut Labs, which provides employee drug testing services nationwide, said the cost to test for such drugs isn’t prohibitive. He believes companies likely aren’t doing the expanded tests because they don’t know about them, they aren’t required to do them, or they are reluctant to deal with the complexities of positive test results that might occur with prescription medications.
“A lot of companies don’t like idea of telling employees we don’t trust you,” said Mr. Thoelecke, who noted companies increasingly don’t view misuse of prescription drugs as a zero-tolerance issue. “If they approach it as an employee health issue, that makes it a little bit easier.”
Workplace Policies can counter safety hazards
Employers should take a proactive approach in mitigating safety hazards stemming from employees who abuse prescription drugs by implementing workplace policies that address drug misuse and outlining procedures for supervisors to follow if they’ve identified a worker who is potentially impaired.
Read the Full Article here
