Employers are struggling to find ways to address their employees' growing use of prescription drugs that could cause safety problems in the workplace.
According to an analysis of more than 500,000 drug tests by the workplace drug test provider Quest Diagnostics, the number of employees who tested positive for prescription opiates between 2005 and 2009 increased by more than 40 percent.
But many employers have not addressed prescription drug use among their employees, even though they could be held liable for industrial accidents, defective products, and on-the-job injuries caused by a worker who abuses prescription drugs, said Mark de Bernardo, the executive director of the Institute for a Drug-Free Workplace.
One reason why many employers have not addressed prescription drug use is that it can be difficult to prove that a worker is impaired by a prescription drug.
Although employers can ask employees who work in positions where safety is important to notify them about their prescription drug use, they cannot be certain that they will do so.
It can also be difficult to develop policies governing the use of prescription drugs because the Americans with Disabilities Act forbids companies from asking their workers about their prescription drug use unless they are seen acting in ways that could be unsafe or in ways that show that they cannot perform the duties of their jobs for medical reasons.
But experts say that companies can protect themselves from the problems caused by prescription drug use by establishing thorough and consistent policies that describe which drugs workers can be tested for and under what circumstances.
In addition, supervisors should be trained to look for signs that workers are impaired by prescription drugs so that they can legally be tested.
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