While many employees in Australia enjoy the common tradition of a beer or wine on Friday afternoon, it is an important part of any tenderer’s application to include a Drug and Alcohol Policy if requested by the tender documents.
The Drug and Alcohol Policy is a comprehensive document that covers all aspects of drug and alcohol-related incidents occurring at the workplace. The tenderer is required to demonstrate procedures and methods that help to assess the situation and rectify any issues that arise when an employee has become inebriated and their actions lead to damage, injury or a combination thereof.
In many Drug and Alcohol Policy documents, tenderers often employ the following sections to help comprise their own, company-specific policies;
Responsibility/Duty of Care
For all companies, there are basic responsibilities and duties of care in regards to their employees at workplace premises. In respect to drugs and alcohol, The Tender Team notes that tenderers are required to have an assessment procedure as below to identify any and all relative hazards;
- Identification of foreseeable hazards that may arise;
- Assessing risk of injury or harm arising from each hazard identified; and
- Controlling risks through the implementation of control measures to eliminate or reduce such risks.
Policy Strategy
It’s usually not enough for a tenderer to identify the need for Drugs and Alcohol Policy without any further mention of how to implement it. In this respect, this policy strategy provided by us at The Tender Team outlines how specific steps to ensure that the procedures and methods within the policy are practically enforced.
Examples of how this is to occur are listed below;
- Education and training modules for all employees concerning the policy
- Proper communication of the Drugs and Alcohol Policy, in conjunction with OHS regulations
- Support from management (middle and above) on all aspects of policy
- Availability of Drugs and Alcohol Policy in hardcopy or uploaded to local intranet
- Additional training to selected, particular staff in addressing other employee issues derived from misuse of drugs and alcohol in the business premises
- At work-sponsored functions, alcohol is to be monitored and provided with moderation to all employees to prevent hazards and incidents from occurring. Non-alcoholic alternatives are also always to be provided
- Drugs and Alcohol testing with full compliance, and adhering to all legal guidelines, of any and all employees when required
- Counselling and rehabilitation services to workers in relation to alcohol and/or other drug usage.
Disciplinary Action
Understandably, not all drug and alcohol-related incidents can be prevented and a lapse of judgement from an employee under the influence can lead to a hazardous situation. Under this scenario, the Drug and Alcohol Policy becomes effective in proposing a standardised method for dealing with the issue that is both fair and appropriate.
We have listed below a series of disciplinary actions taken whenever an employee has either tested positive in a drug and/or alcohol test or has been caught in their inappropriate misuse and handling.
In the case of a negative test result, the subject will be cleared and return to work.
- Positive Test Result – A re-test is permitted within the next 45 minutes
- Confirmed Positive Test Result – The employee is warned and ordered to leave the premises for the day without payment. This first offence is recorded and counselling services are offered to the affected employee.
- Second Positive Test Result (Within 2 years) – Second warning and no payment over the affected period is issued with expectation that further offences are liable to contract termination. The affected employee will be will required to attend counselling services in order to continue employment.
- Third Positive Test Result (Within 2 years) – Last warning issued with affected employee’s contract highly liable to termination.
For any tenderer, a complete and comprehensive Drugs and Alcohol Policy is essential to demonstrate capability of handling a disruptive but highly sensitive issue in the workplace. At the Tender Team, we help to provide our clients with related policy documents that cover all aspects of drugs and alcohol workplace misuse, handling all infractions with strict disciplinary procedures but also recovery measures (such as counselling and rehabilitation) for any and all affected employees.
Call The Tender Team now on 0410 448 770 to speak with our expert tender consultants about other ways to increase your tender and bids win rate now. We provide a round-the-clock service, at great rates.