Drug and Alcohol Testing Policy Creation/Review
Your drug and alcohol policy sets the stage for a successful fit-for-duty program. Having a documented drug and alcohol policy provides a framework for dealing with the difficult and often sensitive issues surrounding substance abuse, medical conditions, and related stress and fatigue. With a policy in place, your employees know what is expected and what to do to help ensure that your workplace is safe and drug-free.
CannAmm has years of experience creating effective drug and alcohol policies. We design your drug and alcohol policy so it fits your drug and alcohol testing program. This helps ensure that your team will use and adhere to your policy.
Benefits of a Drug and Alcohol Policy
An effective drug and alcohol policy benefits companies in many ways, including:
- Ensuring that everyone in the company understands the requirements and consequences related to substance abuse
- Providing guidelines for balancing safety and privacy
- Ensuring your drug and alcohol testing program is defensible
- Serving as the foundation for a program that can lead to fewer accidents and absences, lower turnover, and increased productivity
Factors to Consider
Goals: Before developing a drug and alcohol policy, CannAmm helps you determine your goals to ensure the policy helps you meet your objectives.
Your goals will depend on the reasons you are implementing a policy, which may include:
- The desire to mitigate safety risk and ensure due diligence
- A recent event on-site or with an employee
- A site requirement
Results: Your drug and alcohol policy should include measures for tracking performance. These may include monitoring changes in absence rates, the number of incidents, the number of refusals, etc. By tracking performance, you can clearly show if there is a direct link between substance abuse and incidents and modify your drug and alcohol testing program as needed.
Comprehensiveness: To be effective, a drug and alcohol policy should include the following:
- Purpose of the policy
- Roles and responsibilities of supervisors and employees
- Definitions
- Description of the circumstances under which testing takes place
- Consequences for employees who refuse testing
- What to do if an employee self-discloses a substance abuse problem
- How results will be stored and what will be done to ensure confidentiality
