We still seem to tolerate people who come into work after a few pints. Butthe mood is changing, reports Eithne Donnellan, Health Correspondent.
One summer evening last year, after an afternoon in the pub watching Ireland play in the World Cup, a 40-year-old crane driver went back to his building site, in central Dublin, and climbed up to his cab. It wasn't long before alarmed motorists called the Garda to say he was swinging chains dangerously low over Ormond Quay. The three gardaí who responded closed a lane of the road to stop passers-by from getting hurt, then coaxed the man and a young colleague down from the cab.
When the case came to court, earlier this year, the man's employer, a well-known builder, told Dublin District Court that he would tolerate a crane driver coming to work after "one or two pints". The judge said he therefore had to dismiss the case, as the builder didn't mind how much his employees drank and had so sanctioned the way the crane driver behaved on private property.
So returning to work after a couple of drinks is still tolerated, it seems. But what about its implications? The effect on companies can be significant, from sloppy workmanship, missed deadlines and absenteeism to the potential for accidents.
In the UK, 8 per cent of absenteeism by manual workers and 5 per cent of absenteeism by other workers is attributable to alcohol and drugs, according to one recent study. Those figures applied here could mean those few drinks are costing Irish employers €16 million a year of the €200 million that IBEC, the business confederation, estimates absenteeism as a whole to cost.
And in a study of Irish drinking culture published last month, 12.4 per cent of men said their alcohol consumption was affecting their ability to do their jobs. This has huge economic implications in terms of lost productivity, according to Dr Ann Hope, the Department of Health and Children's national alcohol policy adviser and one of the authors of the report.
It has, she says, given renewed impetus to National Alcohol Strategy Task Force plans to tackle alcohol in the workplace, which she acknowledges have been sidelined while other aspects of alcohol abuse were being tackled.
Maurice Quinlan of the EAP Institute in Waterford, which runs programmes for workers with alcohol problems, believes that, as the economy slows, more and more companies will start to look at the cost of employees' alcohol abuse.
"What tends to happen is, when an economy grows like ours did, the biggest issue is skills retention and so forth, but now that has parked everything is being looked at, including absentee rates," he says. Quinlan believes that alcohol in the workplace will soon be demanding the same attention as smoking in the workplace.
"When the issue of passive smoking is put to bed, the Government and social partners need to look in a concerted way at the issue of passive drinking: how it interferes with the individual and their health, with their family and with their workplace in terms of absenteeism, attitude and their potential for accidents. Smoking got a lot of mileage because of its effect on other people, but this also has a tremendous effect on others."
The director of safety and manpower services at the Construction Industry Federation, Peter McCabe, agrees that the priority has been to get enough people to work on building sites rather than focusing on what their social habits might be. "There is no doubt that when we needed people badly we were not as selective as we might otherwise have been. When we are short-skilled, maybe we tolerate people with habits we do not like," he says. The crane driver having a few pints before swinging chains over traffic is the perfect example.
McCabe says 100,000 mostly young people have joined the construction industry in 10 years. "They have a lot of money now and know how to enjoy themselves. It has to be showing itself in terms of alcohol abuse," he concedes.
The industry has now adopted a zero-tolerance policy for workers who enter a site after drinking, he says. "We are a high-risk sector. If everybody was sitting at desks, nodding off with drink, it would not be as much of a risk as somebody on a site operating a crane with six people around them." He hopes it does not become necessary to test workers for alcohol before they come onto a site, however. "It's a very final and brutal instrument," he says.
The federation has been in touch with the builder who defended his crane driver in court; it says his company has changed its policy and will no longer tolerate anyone working on a site after drinking. "We took it up with them and they took a very responsible position on it," says McCabe.
Next year, construction workers being trained for the Safe Pass they require to work on sites will be given guidelines on alcohol use and warned about the implications of drinking.
McCabe believes it is also worth considering whether the reports routinely compiled on building-site accidents should investigate the well-being of the workers involved. Dr Dan Murphy, medical director of the Health & Safety Authority, believes alcohol could be a problem in some workplace accidents.
Prof Joyce O'Connor, who chaired a World Health Organisation expert group on alcohol and drugs, believes there is "a conspiracy of silence" around the issue of alcohol in the workplace. If somebody doesn't turn up for work after a night out drinking, the problem isn't "named", she says.
O'Connor also points to anecdotal evidence that companies are taking employees out for nights of free drinking as a reward for work done and deadlines met. "I think that is an issue that should be looked at." She believes companies should have clear policies on alcohol use rather than alcohol abuse, so that every drinker will be included.
While he was studying in Belgium, Paddy Credon, a healthcare consultant, found that 70 per cent of problem drinkers had full-time jobs, emphasising the need for companies to have alcohol policies. He points to the example of AKAN, a coalition of trade unions, business interests and government that aims to prevent workplace drug and alcohol problems in Norway. It also ensures that employees with problems get help.
Although Norway has less of a problem than Ireland, because Norwegians drink less, AKAN has been at work since 1963. Hans Ole Berg, one of its counsellors, says the organisation helps companies to devise alcohol policies and trains managers to handle employees with difficulties. It is involved in some 1,250 Norwegian companies, helping one in 250 of their employees.
Some Irish companies already have detailed alcohol policies. Aer Lingus is one; it also has an employment-assistance programme officer to whom anyone suspected of having an alcohol problem - or any other problem - can be referred. As long as employees are willing to go for treatment, the initial counselling sessions are paid for by the company. It also organises interest-free loans for staff to pay for additional counselling, which they are given time off work to attend.
"Provided a person shows they are willing to make every effort to assist themselves, the company will make every effort to assist them," says Grainne O'Malley, a spokeswoman for the company. She says the policy has been used by employees but is vague about how many. "No more than any other organisation of this size," she remarks.
Ann Hope says Ireland will have to confront alcohol in the workplace sooner rather than later, as the Government has signed up to a European action plan under which it must, by 2005, "reduce harm" that can be done in the workplace by alcohol, particularly in the area of accidents and violence.
It is likely the Government will do this by promoting workplace-alcohol policies; the task force will look at recommendations around these before publishing its next report, in 2004.
In the meantime, the Western Health Board has published a guide for businesses that want to develop alcohol and drug policies. It hopes it will help them to prevent, identify and treat alcohol and other drug problems.
It is free and can be obtained from the board's health promotion department by calling 091-548437 or e-mailing rosemary.murphy@whb.ie.