Your Work and Your Health

Drug and Alcohol Abuse - an overview

A study has been carried out by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) on ‘The scale and impact of illegal drug use by workers’. According to this study an average of 13% of working respondents reported drug use in the previous year. The drug use was more prevalent with younger workers than older workers (29% of those under 30 and 3% of those 50).

Another important finding of the study was that drug use was associated with most strongly to smoking and then to heavy drinking. Use of drugs and alcohol also affects ones behaviour to perform a job properly and efficiently. Therefore a strong link exists between drug use and work performance deficits or errors which may lead to human error resulting injury or accident in the workplace.

Facts and Figures

The Government's Home Office website has published recent statistics on drug and alcohol related incidents, arrests and people undergoing treatment:

 

Further details and guidance for employers on alcohol at work can be found on the HSE's website at: