• Make a Safe Workplace Overview
• Manage health and Safety
  • Safety of Contractors and Visitors
  • Visitors to Farms
  • Children in the Workplace
  • First Aid Kits
• Make a H&S plan
  • Implementing Your Plan
  • Employee Participation
• Manage Hazards
  • Monitor Employee Health
  • More on health monitoring
  • Personal Protective Equipment
  • Getting staff to wear safety gear
  • Fatigue, Drugs and Alcohol
  • Sample Drug and Alcohol Policy
  • Workplace Fatigue
• Manage Staff Safely
  • Employee Responsibilities
  • Employee Capability Levels
  • Seven Steps for Training
  • Sample Health and Safety Policy
• Investigate Incidents

Fatigue, Drugs and Alcohol

Fatigue, drugs and alcohol in the workplace are serious issues that can put the health and safety of your staff at risk and affect performance and productivity. You need to manage these three risks like any other significant hazard in your workplace.

Fatigue is extreme tiredness that can be felt both physically and mentally. It’s generally a result of doing too much or not getting enough sleep. It can lead to reduced strength, speed, reaction time, coordination, decision making, or balance. All these effects can be dangerous in the workplace, both to the fatigued employee and to others.

What you must do

• Take active steps to monitor and reduce excessive tiredness in your workplace.
• Focus on areas of work that could lead to tiredness or increased alcohol or drug use. Shift work, long hours and night work are leading causes of these issues. If they’re part of your business, you must manage that risk and be mindful of the culture you create.
• Identify the risks to your business and staff from any employee under the influence of drugs or alcohol and decide how you will deal with these risks.

What you could do

• Spend time working with employees on the best shift roster to avoid excessive tiredness. Some flexibility on your part can help reduce health and safety risks and improve morale and productivity.
• Develop a drug and alcohol policy to ensure staff understand your expectations for maintaining an alcohol and drug free work environment, and for dealing with substance abuse in the workplace.
• Include a clause on drug testing in the employment agreements of staff performing high risk tasks.
• If you know one of your staff is holding down two jobs you’ll need to consider how that’s affecting their health—even if they are only working part time for you.  If you know about it, you must manage it.
• Tips for your employees on getting a quality sleep include not relying on sleeping pills; avoiding caffeine, alcohol and drugs; getting regular exercise, but not just before bedtime, and avoiding large fatty meals before going to bed.