NEW SUBSTANCE-ABUSE GUIDELINES FOR WORKPLACE A GOOD PLACE TO START: AADAC REP

New workplace alcohol and drug guidelines are a good tool to help both
employers and employees deal with substance-abuse problems, an AADAC
training co-ordinator says.

An industry, trades and government backed initiative saw February's release
of the Canadian Model for Providing a Safe Workplace, Trish Wright told a
small audience at AADAC's national addictions awareness week workshop Thursday.

The alcohol and drug guidelines and work rule booklet sets out standardized
policy "based on safety and respect," Wright said.

"It is a very good general policy (and) a very good place to start if you
are looking at policy," she said.

More and more businesses either have to or want to have policy in place to
define a process to address workplace use of alcohol and drugs and many
firms have sought copies of the document, Wright said.

"Of course, there are the general thou shalt nots," she says, but the
purpose of the policy extends to set standards and responsibilities when
problems need to be addressed and can be used as one more safety management
tool.

Effective "policy can't be divorced from other safety management
practices," Wright said.

Legally established guidelines for impairment exist only for alcohol, but
the Canadian Model guideline and work rules policy uses generally accepted
substance impairment levels - when drug testing is necessary.

Firms can adopt policy requiring pre-employment testing or regular or
random drug testing, but most firms still try to "promote a corporate
culture of trust."

"A lot of companies won't go into testing. They want their employees to
want to be there and feel safe," Wright said quoting the business guru who
said he would "never work for a company that made him pee in a bottle."

Weyerhaeuser Canada safety resource co-ordinator Rod Rutberg says adding
workplace alcohol and drug guidelines to safety management practices
"absolutely helps make a safer work environment for everyone."

Employee education about substance abuse and the guidelines is an important
part of an effective policy, he said at the workshop Thursday.

Addictions awareness also makes co-workers more likely "to approach people
and say the right thing at the right time. There is lots of good help out
there if people want it," Rutberg said.

One in six Alberta employees misuses alcohol or drugs, Wright says.

The many impacts of substance abuse costs $400 million a year in this
province, she said.

The AADAC workshop - Partners in Performance - was one of several events
run to mark addictions awareness week.