CHRIS Parker says the days after drug intoxication can be more hazardous than the actual period of intoxication.
Parker is a former drug user and now works as a health and wellbeing advisor. He will be addressing the Queensland Safety Conference on 18 June 2009.
According to organisers of the Queensland Safety Conference, one in 16 workers work under the influence of alcohol, and in 2007 nearly one in five Australians admitted to taking illegal drugs in the last 12 months.
Parker claims an intoxicated person displays signs which allow managers to do something about the worker. However, the ‘coming down’ period is when the drug becomes undetectable, and the worker is left dealing with shakes, fatigue, flashbacks, hallucinations and possibly the legacy of depression and psychosis.
Research has put the annual cost to Australian business of absenteeism resulting from hangovers or alcohol and drug related injuries at more than $500m.
Parker will tell the Queensland Safety Conference that the prevalence of drug and alcohol use in the workplace makes the cost of employee assistance programs (EAP) a worthwhile investment for larger employers.
Parker claims employer support should go beyond providing a formal EAP. He contends that a depressed or psychotic worker cannot be expected to seek help on their own, so employers need to remove as many barriers as possible to enable people to engage in treatment seeking behaviour.
Many workers might also hesitate to talk to their line managers about their problems. Line managers are also often ill-equipped to deal with requests for help. Employers can bypass this difficulty by engaging a support worker who is not involved in line management but can advise managers and encourage employees to ask for help and then provide practical support through the process.
Apart from understanding, the employee needs time to recover, which generally takes months. Employers should be prepared to give the person time off for counselling. Despite the difficulties, thousands of drug-affected workers do recover every year.
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