6.5 Workplace Information, Policies, and Drug Testing Related to Heavy Alcohol Use

Table 6.4 presents the relative risks of heavy drinking by self-reported status of workplace drug use information, policy, and drug testing programs. Although none of the results achieved statistical significance, there are some results worth noting. After controlling statistically for the effect of workers= age, gender, race and ethnicity, education, income, workplace establishment size, and region of workplace:
 

In 1997, workers who said that their workplace did not have a written policy about alcohol or drug use were more than twice as likely (p<.05) to report heavy alcohol use as workers who said that their workplace had a written policy.

In 1997, as in 1994, the multivariate analysis showed no statistically significant relationship between workers saying their workplace conducted drug testing at hiring, on a random basis, upon suspicion, or after a work-related accident and worker reports of heavy alcohol use.

SAMHSA, an agency in the Department of Health and Human Services, is the Federal Government's lead agency for improving the quality and availability of substance abuse prevention, addiction treatment, and mental health services in the United States.