Alcohol and Alcoholism Vol. 35, No. 4, pp. 413, 2000
© 2000 Medical Council on Alcoholism
Book Reviews
Drugs and Alcohol Policies.
It is good to see that the Institute of Personnel and Development have added Drugs and Alcohol Policies to their Good Practice Series of books for the management and development of people at work. These are short, concise, easy-to-read books.
This book follows the series pattern of being concise, easy to read, and clearly laid out. Why drugs come before alcohol is a mystery, perhaps to emphasize the growing importance of the drugs culture, but their impact is still less than that of alcohol. The book, unfortunately, does not have an index. This would be a great advantage; however, the chapters are well defined with a summary of the subheadings at the beginning of each. Each chapter heading is a question so the book follows the pattern of a question-and-answer session. The chapter headings are the most important questions likely to be asked by any managing director or human resource manager looking at implementing a drugs and alcohol policy. The first four chapters deal with educating the reader on the fundamentals of drugs and alcohol policy, whereas Chapter 5 is perhaps the core chapter which brings the book together. This chapter highlights important rights and duties under the law and discusses the thorny question of whether abuse falls under misconduct or incapability policy. It also has a clear flow diagram of the correct management procedures under the disciplinary or capability routes. This chapter also has some good case law studies, which will be ‘sobering’ to the overzealous manager.
Chapter 6 (on testing) does not define the difference between evidential alcohol testing and biological testing, which is a pity, because the occupational physician has a good battery of tests (such as GGT, MCV, and CDT) which are often used to identify the dependent drinker as well as for monitoring the rehabilitating employee. These should not be confused with evidential or direct testing for alcohol.
When discussing pre-employment screening, reference is made of the limited usefulness of alcohol type testing, yet no mention is made of the recent landmark case of the television executive being refused employment. The identification of alcohol dependency by medical questionnaire pre-employment is questionable. However the main body of the chapter on testing provides sound advice, but could possibly have been elaborated on, as this is such a complex subject. Nevertheless, additional information on evidential testing can be sought from the Appendix.
The remaining chapters focus on policies; how to go about developing policies, what the policies should contain, and how to make them work. Important mention is made of the issue of relapse, which is often difficult to manage, and also the agreement or contract which employees would need to make when accepting treatment. These two points are not often considered effectively. Managers are well aware of risk assessment and audit and these could have been utilized more effectively, particularly when relating to safety-critical work. The Appendix provides, as an example, the Railtrack policy which has a detailed description of the disciplinary elements and the testing that is required by Railtrack, but there is no substance to the issues of capability and dependency in this policy. Perhaps another policy should have been provided for balance. The book is not prescriptive, but lays the foundations for an individual company to make up its own mind of what it requires for its own policy.
In summary, this is a short, concise book which gives the necessary information for a human resources manager, an occupational health professional, or an executive to decide on and implement an occupational drugs and alcohol policy. It has worthwhile chapters on the legal implications and testing and has some good examples of case law.
FOOTNOTES
By Tricia Jackson, Institute of Personnel and Development, London. 1999, 106 pp. £9.99. ISBN: 0-85292-811-4. Available from Plymbridge Distributors or from the IPD website: www.ipd.co.uk
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