Timber iQ February - March 2018 // Issue: 36 | Page 51

FEATURES workers in the country. “This may be linked to low levels of production, wasted money, incidents and accidents as well as poor conduct,” he says. The construction industry development board (cidb) suspects that alcohol and drugs play a significant role in contributing to workplace accidents. “Substance abuse impairs workers’ mental, emotional and physical state which is reflected by high absenteeism, decreased productivity, re-work and high levels of disabling and non- disabling injuries,” Bos adds. The effects on the employee’s performance is seen through inconsistent work quality, poor concentration, lowered productivity, carelessness, mistakes, disregard for safety and errors in judgement. Despite having stringent measures in place, employers are held liable should incidents occur while workers are under the influence. ‘Penalties for an employer not complying with its health and safety obligations are significant. Directors and senior managers may, in some instances, be held personally liable for such noncompliance,’ the report says. In addition, the employer is not considered to have discharged its legal obligations in relation to occupational health and safety unless it implements policies and procedures to address the risks associated with substance abuse in the workplace. Substance abuse doesn’t only affect the employer- employee relationship, its implications are also felt on Fastening Soundproofing employee turnover, workmen’s compensation claims, healthcare costs and costs related to mental illness. According to Bos, all the above carry twice or more the amount reported from issues that don’t stem from substance abuse. KEEPING A TIGHT LID ON SUBSTANCE ABUSE With policies in place and the necessary steps taken to educate workers against the practice, employers can implement refresher programmes regarding its policy or doing regular tests and dealing with issues that may arise promptly. This assists in reducing the risk and increasing on site awareness. Alco-Safe supplies electronic breath alcohol detectors and drug detection equipment and accessories in South Africa. They work as the middle man between unions and employers to negotiate and find middle ground related to substance abuse. “We assist in drafting policies, which outline the dos and don’ts. We also do the training (and maintenance) of the equipment and implementation,” he says. Evans says that drinking on the job is more common than what is found out there. In one of the cases they were working on, about 300 employees tested positive for an alcohol test. “In one factory, they experienced 35 to 45 Airtightness & Waterproofing Rotho Blaas Srl www.rothoblaas.com Fall Protection Systems Tel. [phone] [email protected]