October 12, 2007
Did you know...?
Drug-Free Work Week 2007 is October 14-20
Drug-Free Work Week is the perfect time to launch a Drug-Free Workplace Program if your organization does not already have one. Such programs are natural complements to other initiatives that help protect worker safety and health.
If your organization already has a Drug-Free Workplace Program, Drug-Free Work Week is a logical time to ensure the program is adequate to meet current needs and to remind employees about its important role in keeping them safe while on the job. One way to do this is to distribute to all employees a copy of your drug-free workplace policy, along with a positive message about valuing health and safety, and then provide an opportunity for them to ask questions about it, perhaps through an open forum or privately.
To achieve a drug-free workplace, it is critical that an organization educate its workers about the nature of alcohol and drug use and its negative impact on workplace safety and productivity. Drug-Free Work Week is a natural time to step up such efforts through training sessions, guest speakers or brown-bag lunches.
Supervisors are the individuals closest to an organization’s workforce. As part of Drug-Free Work Week, organizations can conduct training to ensure supervisors understand their organization's policy on alcohol and drug use; ways to deal with workers who have performance problems that may be related to substance abuse; and how to refer employees to available assistance.
If your organization has an Employee Assistance Program (EAP), Drug-Free Work Week presents a perfect opportunity to remind them of its availability. Such programs offer free, confidential services to help all employees, including supervisors, resolve personal and workplace problems, such as substance abuse. They also offer confidential substance abuse screenings as well as brief intervention, if warranted, and help employees locate local treatment resources.
Organizations can use Drug-Free Work Week to encourage employees to assess their own use of alcohol and drugs and privately determine if they need help to change their behavior. For example, organizations can inform employees about the confidential, self-administered online screening tool Alcohol Screening.org and make sure all employees have access to the Internet in a private location in case they want to use it. Availability of confidential substance abuse screenings by qualified professionals could also be publicized and offered by the EAP health unit, and/or occupational nurse.
Drug-Free Work Week is a great time to remind employees about community resources that can be helpful for a person struggling with a substance abuse problem or those who are close to him or her. Whether or not an organization has an onsite EAP or health unit, help for substance abuse problems is likely available nearby through a hospital, local health department or stand-alone Substance Abuse Treatment Center. Furthermore, self-help programs, such as the 12-step programs of Alcoholics Anonymous and Al-Anon, are free and available in communities nationwide.
For more information about Drug-Free Work Week point your browser to the US Department of Labor's web site at: http://www.dol.gov/asp/programs/drugs/workingpartners/wpdrug-free.asp.
To learn how OHS-COMPCARE can help your company with an alcohol and drug testing program or supervisor training, please contact our Client Services Team at 816-559-6306 or by email at customerservice@ohscompcare.com.
To learn more about services OHS-COMPCARE has to offer, contact our Client Services Team at (816) 559-6306 or by e-mail at customerservice@ohscompcare.com. You can also visit us at www.ohscompcare.com.
*Please feel free to forward this information to any member of management in your company who would benefit from it.*
OHS-COMPCARE has eight (8) area clinical facilities:
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Blue Springs Clinical Facility |
Independence Clinical Facility |
Johnson County Clinical Facility |
St. Joseph Clinical Facility |
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801 NW St. Mary’s Drive |
19000 E. Eastland Center Crt, St. 200 |
10415 Lackman Road |
904 Edmond Street |
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Blue Springs, MO 64104 |
Independence, MO 64055 |
Lenexa, KS 66219 |
St. Joseph, MO 64501 |
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816-224-9121 |
816-478-9299 |
913-495-9905 |
816-233-7702 |
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After Hours Available |
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KCMO/Broadway Clinical Facility |
KCMO/Front Street Clinical Facility |
Wyandotte County Clinical Facility |
Grandview Clinical Facility |
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1650 Broadway |
6501 East Commerce, Suite 110 |
1333 Meadowlark Lane, Suite 200 |
13830 S Us Highway 71 |
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Kansas City, MO 64108 |
Kansas City, MO 64120 |
Kansas City, KS 66102 |
Grandview, MO 64030 |
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816-842-2020 |
816-483-5550 |
913-596-2774 |
816-761-4664 |