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Impact of employee assistance programs on substance abusers and workplace safety
Author(s) -
Elliott Karen,
Shelley Kyna
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
journal of employment counseling
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.252
H-Index - 27
eISSN - 2161-1920
pISSN - 0022-0787
DOI - 10.1002/j.2161-1920.2005.tb00906.x
Subject(s) - employee assistance , substance abuse , psychology , population , alcohol abuse , occupational safety and health , public relations , medicine , psychiatry , environmental health , political science , pathology
Businesses have dealt with substance abuse in different ways. Some organizations have established Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs) to address these problems. One large national company chose to fire employees with positive drug screens, offer them EAP services, and then consider them for rehire after treatment. A study of performance records for 12,167 employees with safety incidents revealed that rehired employees had a significantly higher incident rate than the company's general population. Results indicated no difference in pre‐ and post‐EAP incident rates for rehired workers, and the post‐EAP incident rate fluctuated for 2 years. Implications of hiring/rehiring individuals who abuse drugs and alcohol are discussed, and suggestions are made for future research.