| 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. |
|
A Written Policy
|
| 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. |
An Employee Assistance Program
|
| 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. |
Employee
Awareness and Education |
| 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. |
Supervisor
Training |
| 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. |
Drug and
Alcohol Testing |
| 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. |
Sanctions |
| 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. |
Appeals
Process |
| Monitor
cost effectiveness and success of the program. |
Evaluation |
