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The impacts of alcohol on work
How big a problem is alcohol and work?
While it is important to address any alcohol-related issues at work, it is also important not to overstate the role of alcohol as a cause of problems at work.
Few Australian studies have been conducted on the impact of alcohol on work. However, some studies do consistently identify a small, negative relationship between alcohol and drug use and work-related outcomes. [i]
The 2004 National Drug Strategy Household Survey of Australians aged 14 years and over reported that 4.4 per cent of people said they went to work while under the influence of alcohol or other drugs.
Research suggests that working "under the influence" does not seem to be widespread. People appear to stay home from work if they are impaired. The best documented link between alcohol and other drug use and work is increased absenteeism and there is a correlation between "drinking habits", absence from work due to long-term sickness, and early retirement. [ii]
Other studies indicate negative impacts of alcohol and drug use on work including inconsistent performance, procrastination, poorer quality and reduced quantity of work, neglect of detail and more mistakes. [iii] However, it should be noted that these outcomes could also be the result of other factors at work, including long hours, tight deadlines, and/or a poor working environment.
Contrary to what many people think, it is not only the "problem drinker" who may cause alcohol-related problems at work. Impacts on work performance and relationships can arise from:
- the consumption of alcohol by anyone at work, during meal breaks or at work-sponsored events
- one-off or occasional bouts of heavy, or "binge", drinking outside work
- long-term moderate to heavy drinking by people outside work.
This means that when we talk about alcohol and work, we mean the whole working population.
Click here to see the Department of Health, Western Australia: Alcohol and the Workplace, which provides information of the effects of alcohol on performance, the effects of alcohol in the workplace, and alcohol and other drug policies.
See below: ALCOHOL IN AUSTRALIA: ISSUES AND STRATEGIES, Alcohol and the workplace, Endorsed by the Ministerial Council on Drug Strategy, July 2001.
Alcohol and non-fatal work-related injuries
While there is good evidence linking alcohol with transport accidents, the evidence linking alcohol with work injuries is mixed. [iv] One estimate has associated alcohol with seven per cent of "industrial machine accidents". [v]
An international review of studies found that those injured at work have the lowest incidence of all alcohol-related emergency admissions to hospital, but also that "there were proportionally more serious injuries among those (injured at work) with a very high blood alcohol concentration (more than 0.22 per cent)". [vi]
The United Kingdom Health and Safety Executive, Guide for Employers on Alcohol and Work states that there are no precise figures on the number of workplace accidents in which alcohol is a factor, but that alcohol is known to affect judgement and physical coordination. [vii]
A 1993 study in the United States of America concluded that there is some evidence that alcohol contributes to work-related injuries, but the extent is unknown. This study also drew attention to the lack of information about the interaction between alcohol and other factors in the work environment such as exposure to neurotoxic chemicals. [viii]
Click here for more information about alcohol and chemicals at work.
A review of the available evidence in 2001 found that "costs incurred as a result of drug-related accidents at work are a small proportion of the overall costs arising from workplace accidents". [ix]
Alcohol-related deaths at work
Testing for the presence of alcohol or other drugs is more likely to be performed after a work-related fatality than after an incident in which no injuries occur or where injuries are not fatal.
A study of fatal occupational injuries in the United States for the period 1993-94‚ found that: "Overall, about one-fifth of the toxicology reports showed positive readings for alcohol or one or more drugs. This is about five per cent of total fatal work injuries". [x]
The most comprehensive Australian study of work-related fatalities - the Second Work Related Traumatic Fatalities Study (WRFS 2) was undertaken by the National Occupational Health and Safety Commission (NOHSC).
The WRFS 2 found that raised blood alcohol "appeared to contribute" to at least four per cent (or 60) of the 2,389 persons who were fatally injured while working or commuting to work in Australia between 1989 and 1992. The alcohol had been consumed at least partly in connection with work in 39 per cent of these deaths - either at work during normal duties or at work-sponsored functions.
While alcohol may have been a factor in those deaths, the WRFS 2 also found that, excluding vehicles, the most common agencies involved in the fatalities were environmental agencies (for example, water, rough or slippery terrain, unstable walls and buildings) - 31 per cent; materials, substances and chemicals (for example, electricity and toxic gases) - 18 per cent; and machinery and fixed plant - 17 per cent. These figures do not include persons who died from work-related diseases. [xi]
[i] Stockwell T, Grenewald P J, Toumbourou J W & Loxley W 2005 Preventing Harmful Substance use: The evidence base for policy and practice, Cichester, England: John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
[vi] Cited in Phillips M 2001 "The prevalence of drug use and risk of drug-related harm in the workplace" in Allsop S, Phillips M & C Calogero (eds) Drugs and work: responding to alcohol and other drug problems in Australian workplaces, Melbourne: IP Communications
[vii] United Kingdom Health and Safety Executive, Guide for Employers on Alcohol and Work
[viii] Phillips M 2001 op. cit., pp. 30
[ix] Phillips M 2001 op. cit., pp. 40-41
[x] Greenberg M, Hamilton R & Toscano G 1999 "Analysis of Toxicology Reports from the 1993-94 Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries" in Compensation and Working Conditions USA
[xi] National Occupational Health and Safety Commission Second Work Related Traumatic Fatalities Study (WRFS 2). Click here to view the WRFS 2‚ Summary Report.
ALCOHOL IN AUSTRALIA: ISSUES AND STRATEGIES (p. 15) Alcohol and the workplace:
"The impact of alcohol in the workplace is a controversial and complex issue. Alcohol misuse is frequently implicated in impaired work performance and productivity, absenteeism, workplace injury, and premature retirement (OHSC 1992; MDSU 1993; FitzGerald 1996). It has been estimated that industrial costs related to the misuse of alcohol represent between 50-87% of the total cost of alcohol misuse to the economy, exceeding even the health-related costs (Crowley 1991). Collins and Lapsley (1996) estimated that total lost production arising from alcohol misuse was $1.7 billion in 1992. This is likely to be a significant underestimate, since they were unable to include reduced individual productivity and voluntary absenteeism in this calculation.
Alcohol-related absence is more likely to occur with employees who get drunk frequently, drink at work, and have reported alcohol-related problems (Henderson et al 1996). Research has shown that absentee rates for high-risk drinkers were greater than that for the general population, with 14.7% of high risk drinkers absent from work compared with 8.6% of low-risk drinkers (ABS National Health Survey 1989-90, cited in MDSU 1993). In Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, 9% of people reported taking time off for alcohol-related reasons in the last three months, with three days being the median time of absenteeism (AIHW 1995).
Knowledge of the exact role of alcohol misuse in occupational injuries is limited. Reviews of studies examining the contribution of inappropriate drinking patterns to workplace injuries and fatalities have reported alcohol to be a factor in between 3-11% of incidents (Stallones and Kraus 1993; Zwerling 1993; Webb et al 1994). The precision of the estimates is limited, however, due to methodological flaws in research design and variation of the prevalence of alcohol use/misuse between and within occupational settings (OHSC 1992; Zwerling 1993; Webb et al 1994).
The degree to which alcohol has a causal relationship to workplace injuries has not been determined (Webb et al 1994). There is evidence that there may be a number of contributing factors involved in workplace accidents including human error, poor work practices, and environmental factors (Feyer and Williamson 1991). The level and pattern of alcohol consumption varies between occupational groups and settings. Alcohol consumption can be influenced by risk factors found within the work environment (Trice and Sonnenstuhl 1990; OHSC 1992; Trice 1992; Grace 1996; Worksafe 2000).
These factors have the potential to interact with biological, psychological, familial and social class risks to exacerbate or precipitate alcohol problems (Trice and Sonnenstuhl 1990). Workplace risk factors include alcohol availability, alienation and powerlessness, low job satisfaction, stress, inadequate training and supervision, prevailing workplace culture, poor working environment (for example, noisy/dirty) and isolation from family and friends (Trice and Sonnenstuhl 1990; Ames and Janes 1992; OHSC 1992; Trice 1992; Grace 1996; Worksafe 2000) Endorsed by the Ministerial Council on Drug Strategy, July 2001 (Page 15)
