alcohol and other drug problems among addiction professionals

◆ Personnel policies should include:• Professional development plans that define career paths and help employeesmove ahead in these paths• Training plans that bring employees up to minimum standards in requiredareas of professional practice and team participation• Measures for corrective discipline, designed to correct problems and bringemployees back into good standing, rather than to entrap employees andfacilitate terminationDuring the course of the discussion, participants identified a number of typesof policies and standards that an organization can set within the constraints of thelaw. These include the following:◆ Organizations can and should establish hiring standards, including the uniformbona fide occupational qualifications (BFOQs) that are necessary to carry outjob responsibilities effectively. These might include things like abstinence ormoderation in the use of alcohol.◆◆◆◆◆Drug-free workplace laws already provide a uniform policy prohibiting the useor possession of illegal drugs in the workplace.Organizations can provide for drug testing of staff (applied uniformly, regardlessof recovery status) and for referral of staff who test positive to medicalpersonnel or employee assistance programs (EAPs).An organization can prohibit its employees from drinking on the job or duringlunch hours. In some occupations, employees (e.g., airline pilots) are notallowed to drink alcohol for a consistent number of hours before they begintheir shifts. In the airline industry, the standard has been abstinence for eighthours before work, recently increased to 24 hours. There was some speculationabout the legality and appropriateness of applying a similar standard to thisprofession.Treatment organizations can dictate the need for supervision if an employee’sperformance on the job is suspected of impairment. The key here is the focuson the impairment of performance itself, rather than on the source of the impairment,whether that source might be alcohol, illegal drugs, or prescriptionmedications.Organizations need policies and guidelines for employees in managing prescriptionmedication in the workplace, particularly in the protection of clientsfrom the temptation they might experience if they see these medications inemployees’ work space. This issue has also been addressed in recent CARF(Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities) surveys.n 32 n