Member Benefits

Small businesses are twice as likely as large businesses to have drug users working for them. Why? 

Large businesses have drug and education policies. Half of businesses with fewer than 25 employees have no drug policies or education; 90 percent of businesses with 500 or more employees have them.1

Given that 74 percent of drug users are employed, you do the math. Drug users find workplaces that can’t identify them. 2

Drug users:

  • Are 2.5 times more likely to have extended absences3
  • Are three times more likely to be late4
  • Are five times more likely to file a workers’ compensation claim5
  • Are 33 to 50 percent less productive6
  • Are responsible for 50 to 80 percent of all employee thefts7
  • One in six workers who died in workplace accidents tested positive for drugs and/or alcohol8

Instituting a drug-free policy can improve your business’s bottom line. It reduces the number of workplace accidents, which increases productivity and enhances revenue. And it can help you control your workers’ compensation costs.

Creating a policy is easy.
The Department of Labor has developed a free easy-to-use eTool that will walk you through the steps. At the end of the process you will have a coherent statement of policy customized to your business. Click the eTool link to the right to start. That's Step 1.

Step 2 is to implement it. 
Some suggestions for doing so are downloadable on the right.

But to make is happen you’re going to have to execute. It’s a classic case of the old adage: “If it is to be, it’s up to me.” You are the key to making yours a drug-free workplace.

1Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) 1999 Study “An Analysis of Worker Drug Use and Workplace Policies and Programs”

2SAMHSA 2003 National Survey on Drug Use and Health

3,4,5http://www.sba.gov/gopher/Business-Development/Success-Series/Vol6/substanc.txt and 9Backer, T.E. Strategic Planning for Workplace Drug Abuse Programs, p. 4. National Institute on Drug Abuse. Rockville, MD. 1987.

6,7Ohio Bureau of Workers Compensation Web Site http://www.ohiobwc.com/employer/programs/dfwpinfo/dfwpdescription.asp

8Bureau of Labor Statistics, Weber, William and Cox, Cherron, "Work-related Fatal Injuries in 1998," Compensation and Working Conditions, Spring 2001.