A study by the American Journal of Industrial Medicine found that 1 in 10 workers in their 30s uses alcohol, marijuana or hard drugs while on the job. Trade industries ranked among the highest risk of employees abusing substances.
According to the study, 8.9 percent of workers reported any substance use in the workplace, including 5.6 percent drinking alcohol, 3.1 percent using marijuana and 0.8 percent taking cocaine or other hard drugs. Safety-sensitive occupations like facilities management ranked higher in alcohol and marijuana use.
Many companies test their employees for drugs during the interview process but don’t continue testing after being hired. Nearly 20 percent of survey participants said that their workplaces have no substance abuse policy. It’s hard to implement interventions for workers who move from job to job. However, it has been proven that having a comprehensive workplace substance use policy that includes recover-friendly initiatives decreased drug and alcohol use across multiple employment sectors.
Drug policies alone cannot prevent substance issues while on the job. Still, only half of workers had access to support services for substance abuse problems at their place of employment. According to the study, workplace support services led to lower rates of drug use among workers. Combining policies and support services is one of the strongest drivers to lowering drug and alcohol use while on the job.
Mackenna Moralez is the associate editor of the facilities market and the host of the Facilities in Focus podcast.
