Workplace Wellbeing Alcohol and Substance Misuse Policy
Epwin Group updated its Alcohol and Substance Misuse Policy in 2022 to ensure it is current and relevant for our business and to maintain a safe working environment for everyone.
Alcohol and drug misuse can have a significant impact in the workplace, often resulting in higher absence levels and reduced performance, and greatly increasing risks to the health and safety of, not only the employee concerned, but also their colleagues and anyone else who could be affected by their work.
The purpose of the policy is to ensure the use of alcohol or any substance misuse by any employee or other person associated with the business does not impair the safe and efficient running of the business or put the health, safety and wellbeing of its employees, customers, suppliers or members of the general public at risk.
The Senior Management Team recognises the importance of balancing respect for employee privacy with the need to maintain a safe and efficient working environment, free from the impairing effects of alcohol and drugs.
Epwin takes its responsibilities for the duty of care to all employees seriously. We want to reassure you that we will support any employee who is struggling with an alcohol or drug dependency and encourage employees to declare they may have a problem so that we can signpost them to the support and treatment available. This will be managed confidentially and sensitively via the Group HR team.
That said, we adopted a proactive approach to managing the issue of alcohol and substance misuse and believe that an effective alcohol and substance misuse testing policy can be a key component of ensuring safety in the workplace for everyone.
We are partnered with Hampton Knight (part of the Medigold Health Group) who specialise in this field and are independently managing the testing programme on our behalf.
As a reminder, the policy includes random testing, and testing following any potentially serious incidents or concerns. The policy applies to all employees, regardless of position held.
Further information can be found on the Intranet (including our policy), Epwin TV and notice boards around the business. In addition, employees were invited to watch an employee awareness video. The video seeks to educate and promote awareness on the impact and effects of Alcohol and Drug Misuse in the workplace. If you have not seen this yet, please ask your manager to share the video with you or follow the link by clicking here.
If you have any questions, please raise them with your line manager in the first instance or contact the HR Team personnel@epwin.co.uk.