Waste Today Magazine | Adam Redling | January 12, 2021

Waste companies face a number of staffing challenges related to recruitment and retention, but one of the most important considerations for cultivating a healthy and productive workforce involves identifying and addressing potential substance abuse issues before they become a problem.

With this challenge in mind, the Solid Waste Association of North America (SWANA) hosted a webinar on Nov. 10 titled, “Controlling Drugs and Alcohol in the Workplace: Employer Liabilities and Solutions Program.”

Panelists on the webinar included...

Drug testing is a means for employers to determine the facts of whether an employee or prospective new hire has recently used drugs. When developing their drug-free workplace program that includes drug testing, employers should practice careful planning, ensure consistently applied procedures, follow strict confidentiality, and make provisions for employees to appeal test results. The drug and alcohol testing provisions should be included in the company’s drug-free workplace policy that has been provided to all employees in advance.

While pre-employment, post-accident, and reasonable...

Here are some tips for parents to encourage their kids to understand the dangers and have a healthy attitude about alcohol and drugs.

Make Time to Be with Your Kids

In a time of hectic, overbooked schedules, it’s hard to find the time to give your kids the individual attention they need.  You will often find that by spending more one-on-one time with your kids, providing them with your undivided attention even for short windows of time, you and your child will reap the reward of that investment through better communication, cooperation and interest in family activities

Use...

From Quest Diagnostics: 

"As data from the NSDUH examines self-reported drug use by Americans, the Quest Diagnostics Drug Testing Index™ for the same time period also showed workforce drug positivity hit a sixteen-year high in [the U.S.]. Marijuana positivity climbed by double digits across nearly all employee testing categories, while opiate and heroin positivity declined. Additionally, methamphetamine positivity in the general U.S. workforce testing increased nearly 12% over the past 5 years."

Get the Quest Diagnostics Report

There is no doubt that most workplaces employ parents. If a child or teen becomes involved in using alcohol or drugs, it can affect the parents’ work life due to loss of focus on work responsibilities, taking time off to deal with family matters, coordinating treatment or counseling, and so on.  Workplaces that have resources available for parents, such as substance use or misuse educational links and videos, Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs), or have a list of community help lines or referral agencies, will support their employee parents through their family crisis.

The News Isn’t All...

Drug Free America Foundation is pleased to share the resources from the recent webinar, Stigma and the Workplace held December 8, 2020. 

Webinar content:

Progress in the recovery process is crucial for achieving outcomes that will manifest the best possible integration into society for people in recovery. The Life in Recovery research showed that one of the main obstacles to integration was finding employment. This webinar will emphasize the effects of stigma that people in recovery face in the workplace and also highlight the significance of personal responsibility in creating and...

Supervisors should understand their specific responsibilities for initiating and carrying out the drug-free workplace policy and program. Here are some of the key functions:

Know the Organization's Policy and Program

It is extremely important for a supervisor to know and understand the company drug-free workplace policy and to clearly communicate and interpret its provisions to staff members. Alongside the policy are other program components which may include drug and alcohol testing, awareness education, supervisory training, resources for assistance, and more depending upon the...

Kratom is a tropical tree native to Southeast Asia with leaves that can have psychotropic properties. It is mostly consumed in pill or capsule form, while some people chew or smoke the leaves, brew the dried or powdered leaves as a tea, or eat the substance in food.

Some of the compounds of kratom are believed to interact with opioid receptors in the brain. While persons who use kratom in small amounts feel it energizes them, larger amounts can have a sedative effect.  The Mayo Clinic in the U.S. has labeled kratom unsafe and ineffective and can cause dependence especially in persons who...

Tobacco-free workplaces protect all employees from the harms of secondhand smoke and can motivate persons who currently use tobacco to stop or decrease its use. Employers that take the steps to implement a tobacco-free policy can reduce the impacts to both employees and their business.

According to the World Health Organization, aside from the tragic impact of tobacco on global health, the total economic cost of smoking (from health expenditures and productivity losses together) are estimated to be around US$ 1.4 trillion per year, equivalent in magnitude to 1.8% of the world's annual...

Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs) are important workplace programs geared to help employees address problems such as with alcohol or drugs.  The use or misuse of substances becomes an immediate occupational health and safety concern when an employee’s coordination, concentration, motor control, judgment, and alertness is impaired. When employees can get assistance with addressing the underlying issues, then their workplace performance and their behaviors are likely to improve.  Ignoring the matter can result in reduced productivity, decreasing health of the employee and ultimately, the...

Helping a friend or co-worker with a substance use problem is a hard thing to do. You don’t want to betray a friendship or cause their job in to be in jeopardy. Unfortunately, the truth is that your friend may be putting themselves or other co-workers in danger by the use of drugs or alcohol while at work.  Helping them get assistance before there is a crisis could be a truly kind and compassionate act.

Here are some steps to take to help your friend or co-worker get help:

Do not confront the worker directly

This action will typically only result in denial and anger, damaging the...

Drug Free America Foundation is pleased to share our latest resource entitled, Substance Use and Mental Health: Implications for the Workplace.  

Co-occurring substance use and mental health disorders can have significant impacts on employees and the workplace.

Here are some of the program components that employers should consider: Both disorders can have a profound effect on a worker’s ability to remain focused on the job. For example, drugs and alcohol can alter the brain’s ability to function properly and can cause workplace accidents, absenteeism, and a reduction in productivity...

We are pleased to share the resources from the recent webinar, Recovery and the Workplace held October 29, 2020.  

Monica Barzanti presented on the amazing long-term recovery and treatment programs at San Patrignano in Italy with the goal of returning persons affected by substance use to a productive life with education, job skills, and a job.  Ms. Barzanti relayed that for every Euro invested into their programs, there is a social return on investment (SROI) of 5.21 Euros.

Roberto Canay Mg. Ph.D. shared his presentation on the prevention and treatment programs being conducted for...

Today we're sharing an article published in the U.S.-based, EHS Today online magazine addressing environmental health and safety in the workplace. The article was written by a pair of attorneys practicing environment health and safety law.

They said, "Recent reports show that because of the COVID-19 pandemic, drugs and alcohol abuse has skyrocketed and remains a significant occupational safety challenge for employers. Add to that the changing state laws regarding marijuana use, and it’s clear that employers need to act now to update their organizations’ drug policies."

READ THE FULL...

Today, our final day of our Drug-Free Work Week campaign, the National Drug-Free Workplace Alliance shares a video about the importance of drug-free workplace education and training. Educating your employees on policies, procedures, and expectations of a drug-free workplace, along with training supervisors on the knowledge and skills needed, will positively encourage all workers' participation in a safe working environment.

Education and training are important tools for informing workers and managers about workplace hazards, so they can work more safely and be more productive. What many...

In recognition of Drug-Free Work Week, the National Drug-Free Workplace Alliance collaborated with the International Employee Assistance Professionals Association (EAPA) to share information on the importance of an Employee Assistance Program (EAP) as part of a company's drug-free workplace program.

With the stress of the pandemic, many people have turned to drug and alcohol use to cope with its effects. As workplaces open and workers return to productivity, those drug and alcohol problems will also be present.  Having an EAP is a proactive measure that employers can offer employees who...

In recognition of Drug-Free Work Week, the National Drug-Free Workplace Alliance will feature new themes each day.

Today, the National Drug-Free Workplace Alliance the workplace division of Drug Free America Foundation, is emphasizing the continued importance of drug-free workplace programs that place the safety and health of workers above all else. Here are some points to remember: 

• 9% of full-time workers are dependent on or abuse alcohol or drugs.
• Workplace drug use can lead to a drop in employee morale and productivity and an increase in abesnteeism and accidents.
• A drug-free...