Supporting procedures

Supporting procedures

The supporting procedures may address all or some of the following matters.
i) Identification of a worker impaired by alcohol and/or other drugs
The procedures for identifying workers apparently impaired by alcohol and/or other drugs should
be clearly specified. Unless such procedures are clear, complications and uncertainty will almost
certainly arise.
It may be appropriate to include information that assists workers to identify and appropriately
respond to hazardous behaviour by co-workers. Section 4 provides further guidance on
identification of workers apparently impaired by alcohol and/or other drugs. However, it should be
noted that identification of a worker impaired by alcohol and/or other drugs is often much more
complex than it first appears.
ii) Dealing with a worker impaired by alcohol and/or other drugs
The procedures for managing a worker apparently impaired by alcohol and/or other drugs at the
workplace should be outlined. It should be made clear to all at the workplace that if any worker
at a workplace appears to be impaired by alcohol and/or other drugs, the procedures should be
followed.

The procedures should provide that, if any worker has doubts about a co-worker's ability to work
safely, the safety concern should be reported to a person nominated in the policy.
When developing a procedure for dealing with people impaired by alcohol and/or other drugs, it
should be borne in mind that factors other than alcohol and/or drug use may cause or impact on
impairment. All workers should therefore be encouraged to discuss observed changes in a nonconfrontational
way, making clear statements about actual behaviours that have been noted and
the reason for concern, rather than confronting the co-worker with an accusation of alcohol and/or
drug use, which may be incorrect.
Where possible, only trained people, nominated in the policy or procedures, should be the ones
to approach a worker apparently impaired by alcohol and/or other drugs. A suitable person
may include a staff counsellor, for example. If the impaired person is aggressive or appears
unpredictable, more than one person should be involved in the initial approach, which should be
quietly assertive, not aggressive, argumentative or threatening.
An outline of procedures for dealing with a worker impaired by alcohol and/or other drugs is
provided in section 4.
iii) Information, education and training seminars
It is important the supporting procedures establish a system that ensures everyone at the
workplace is aware of the existence and contents of the policy and supporting procedures. Copies
of these documents should be readily available at the workplace and widely publicised.
It is also important that ongoing information, education and training are provided and it is clear to
all that management actively supports the policy and the procedures.
A system for providing information to people at the workplace on alcohol and other drugs should
be included as a preventative strategy. A range of material is available from the organisations
identified in Appendix 1.
It may be appropriate for information and training sessions on the workplace alcohol and other
drugs policy to be provided for workers in the supporting procedures. Employers, supervisors
and other nominated workers also need to be fully aware of the contents so they can advise and
answer questions about their operation. See section 3 for issues to cover in workplace training.