PDF (Lessons learned in drug abuse prevention: a global review)

LOCAL
Outcomes:
COVERAGE
Number of workers reached: 58,300 (Province New South Wales only)
Number of peers/mediators/educators/teachers etc. trained: 1400 (Province NSW only)
Number of families reached: N/A
Number of institutions/associations involved: N/A
Four main products were produced by the programme, including:
● A policy on alcohol and drug safety
● A method of intervention for the removal of drug and alcohol affected workers from
the workplace
● A set of educational materials
● A training course for Safety Committee Members and other key personnel
“If you choose to use
alcohol or drugs
that’s your business.
If you choose to do it
in the workplace
that’s our business.
If you want to stop
drinking or using
maybe we can help.”
By the end of 1993, approximately 19,000 building workers were exposed to the
programme - an estimated 12% of the industry's workforce in Australia. While the
programme was implemented to some extent on building sites in all states and territories
(except Tasmania), it did not achieve broad national implementation over the 1992-93
period. The main constraining factors were the limited extent of commitment from the
building unions in some states, difficulties in the development of active committees,
and difficulties in finding funds to employ alcohol and drug workers. By the end of
2001, the New South Wales programme had reached approximately 58,300 workers
in onsite awareness sessions and 1,400 safety committee members had been trained.
National figures are not available at this point in time.
The programme was effective in raising awareness of drug and alcohol safety issues
among building workers. On sites where it was adopted, the programme contributed
to changing attitudes towards responsibility for workplace safety related to alcohol and
other drugs. Through this, the programme can be seen as contributing to an appropriate
change in the culture of the workplace consistent with its aims.
The performance of Safety Committees was critical to the programme. The training
course on alcohol and drug safety was found to be an effective way of providing Safety
Committee members with the confidence and skills to intervene appropriately.
Members of Safety Committees who had used the programme's method of intervention
reported that it was an efficient means of removing an affected worker from the
site with a minimum of coercion, fuss or danger.
The training of Safety Committees to apply programme policy and to make interventions
did not keep up effectively with the programme's exposure to building workers
at sites, reaching only around 10-15% of the sites where the policy was adopted. The
remaining sites did not have Safety Committee members who were trained to implement
the policy, thus creating potentially harmful situations for individuals and for the
programme's credibility.
Until reliable sources of external data are available that can link workplace accidents
and injuries with the use of alcohol and other drugs, there will be difficulties in measuring
with accuracy the programme's contribution to such outcomes as reductions in
workplace accidents.
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