Objectives
- Define impairment.
- Outline different types of impairment.
- Understand impairment at the workplace.
- Identify signs and symptoms of impairment.
- Working with impaired people at the workplace.
- State available ways to help impaired people
Purpose
- To set out an organization’s approach to managing workplace impairment and reducing the risks it presents
Overview
- Worker impairment, regardless of the cause, could create a work site health and safety hazard. If impairment creates a hazard or unsafe work situation, employers, supervisors, workers and other worksite parties have an obligation to address it and implement controls.
- An estimated 15% of the US workforce is directly affected by workplace alcohol use and impairment (19.2 million workers). An estimated 1.83% (2.3 million workers) consume alcohol before work, 7.06% (8.9 million workers) consume alcohol during the workday, 1.68% (2.1 million workers) work while intoxicated, and 9.23% (11.6 million workers) work with a hangover. According to the findings, most workplace alcohol use and impairment occur infrequently. Gender, race, age, marital status, occupation, and work shift all have a different distribution of workplace alcohol use and impairment.
