Hi Terri,
You do not highlight in your email whether you have a Drug & Alcohol
policy. HR may have one which would be a useful guide. I had a similar
situation last year and my client did brilliantly for a few months, then
relapsed, then did well again. This continued until he turned up for
work one morning smelling of alcohol and verbally abused a senior member
of staff. Once he realized his job was in jeopardy he followed my advice
to the letter and just yesterday I received a lovely Thank You card from
him letting me know he is now a happy family man and not "the lonely,
self-obsessed person who only wanted to see the world through the bottom
of a glass"! Sometimes the hard line approach is necessary to show the
individual that consequences can be harsh.
It may be worth asking your client whether there is something triggering
her drinking. Is she in a stable relationship? Are there problems with a
family member? Is there something in the work environment which causes
her to have alcohol as some kind of crutch?
Good luck with this and I hope she turns a corner soon.
Kind regards,
Rita
Rita E.Ogden
Lead Occupational Health Specialist Practitioner
Occupational Health Service
Westbrook Building 9H
Bradford College
Great Horton Road
Bradford BD7 1AY
Tel: 01274 433259
-----Original Message-----
From: [log in to unmask] [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On
Behalf Of Goodyear, Terri
Sent: 16 December 2010 11:57
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Suspicion of alcohol abuse
Importance: High
Dear List,
Could I have your advice please..............
The Company I work for and I (as in OH) have been supporting a lady that
following a incident in Aug 2009 informed the company that she was an
alcoholic. She had managed to function in her role for 18months before
suspicion was aroused re the drinking, she has openly admitted that
during our sessions that she was frequently drunk at work, none of the
drinking to date has been on work premises. She was told that if she
took all the help that was provided her job would be safe but this was a
one chance salon.
We contacted her G.P., who provided a report which to be honest was no
help. We suggested that she contacted Cruse for counselling to try to
address the reason why the drinking became out of control and then to
Drink sense for support for the alcoholism- she did not fancy a group
meeting provided by her local AA. She did the Cruse counselling and
attended sessions on a 1 to 1 basis with drinksense. I had tried to
seek her permission to contact Drinksense to see whether there was more
as a company we could do to support her but she declined, she maintained
that they were advising her that she could remain a social drinker which
has never sat easy with me.
We are now 16 months down the line and I am now in a position to suspect
that her drinking has increased again but have nothing concrete to base
my assumptions on. Her tremors have returned and her skin has taken on
that grey pallor. It has been mentioned to 2 supervisors from
individuals on a shift that they have smelt alcohol on her but these
people will not mention it to management as they do not want a part in
her potentially losing her role. The risk involved with her work is
very minimal, there is more of a risk to quality of the products we
manufacture than her personal safety- this is quietly being managed by
her manager- she is unaware. We have fortnightly get togethers to
discuss how things are going, I have asked her out right if she is
indeed drinking to excess but she denies it, she maintains that she in
only drinking x2 small sherry sized glasses of wine on a Friday and
Saturday evening and occasionally up the club on a Sunday. People have
seen her on work functions slightly worse for wear.
What would you do? My company does not want to introduce breathalyser
tests but know that this may be an avenue that we may need to consider
but would this single her out as they do not want a blanket approach.
They have suggested that if it is suspected she is under the influence
that she is brought over to OH and I perform the 'standard police test'-
walk the line, point to your nose etc but I am a little wary of taking
on this responsibility.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Many Thanks
Terri
This communication came from one of the Napp Pharmaceutical group of
companies below:
Bard Pharmaceuticals Limited (company number: 0987562), Napp
Pharmaceutical Group Limited (company number: 0884285), Napp
Pharmaceuticals Limited (company number: 3690299) Napp Pharmaceutical
Holdings Limited (company number: 3486244), Napp Laboratories Limited
(company number: 0192707). All companies are registered in England &
Wales and with the same registered office address at Cambridge Science
Park, Milton Road, Cambridge, CB4 0AB, England - tel: +44 (0) 1223
424444, fax: +44 (0) 1223 424441. www.napp.co.uk
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