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Importance Of Employee Alcohol Testing At Work Place
Now-a-days employers are very much concerned about the costs and consequences of inappropriate alcohol consumption by the employees on and off the job. The employers have realized that there is a need for employee alcohol testing at the workplace. For this the employers are using various alcohol testing methods, so that employees come out of alcohol problems and become more productive in their works.
• Need for employee alcohol testing at workplace
There is a need for conducting employee alcohol tests at the work place as the heavy drinking of employees is showing significant negative effects on their productivity, health and also on employer costs and profits. According to Alcohol Test Info, approximately 40% of the industrial fatalities and 47% of the injuries that takes place in the workplaces in US are associated with alcoholism and alcohol abuse.
• Reasons for an employee experiencing an alcohol problem
The reasons for an employee experiencing an alcohol problem are inability to cope with underlying problems such as stress, relationship difficulties or depression. The result can be that the underlying problems rather than being addressed are increased by drinking and the alcohol use itself becomes a problem. Employees often use drinking as a way of socializing or bonding whilst some employers traditionally use or include drinking in the process of doing business, e.g. via working lunches.
• Methods for employee alcohol testing
Alcohol can be tested by using several ways such as breath testing, blood testing, urine testing by using the tools such as breathalyzers and oral saliva alcohol tests. Due to the fact that the concentration of alcohol in saliva is very likely to be similar to the blood alcohol content (BAC), saliva is a preferred alcohol testing method. The detection of alcohol in the urine typically employs Ethyl Glucuronide (EtG), a direct metabolite of ethanol alcohol. The presence of EtG in the urine is used to detect recent alcohol consumption, even after the ethanol alcohol is no longer detectable by other methods.
The employees under the influence of alcohol on the job, pose serious safety and health risks to themselves and others in the organization. Conducting alcohol test for employees at workplace is very much necessary as it affects their productivity and also the overall growth of the organization.
