Substance Abuse In The Workplace Essays (1338 words) -

Substance Abuse in the Workplace As widespread drug use is on the rise, many employers have begun to worry about the performance of their employees. Absenteeism, injuries, loss of productivity, employee morale, theft and fatalities are just some of the causes of drug use in the workplace. The idea of drug testing among workers has developed from society's concern over a perceived increase in the use of drugs and the relation between drug use and impairment, with resultant risks to the worker, fellow workers and the public. As early as 1987, 21% of employers had instituted drug-testing programs. Employers have begun to think that mass drug tests are the answer to their problems. What many of these employers don't know is that there are many problems that surround drug testing at work. One of the biggest of these problems is whether or not it is constitutional to conduct drug tests on the employees. Employers fail to educate themselves with established or recent laws about drug testing in the workplace and about huma n rights. Also, mass, low-cost screening tests may not be reliable or valid. Alcohol testing does not differentiate casual drinking from alcohol dependence or alcoholism. Drug tests can create an untrustworthy environment for the employees. There are better ways to address substance abuse. Drug testing in the workplace is an important issue for all of Canada's labour force, regardless if it's you're first job or if you've had a steady job for 30 years. Many employees, who have had to subjugate themselves to degrading and demeaning drug tests, feel that these tests violate their constitutional rights. It is an infringement on their privacy. In order for the tests to make sure there is no specimen tampering there must be an administrator present to oversee every action the employee makes during their drug test. For tests such as hair and breath testing this does present a major problem, but for urine tests men and women alike are disturbed by the direct observation of their urine collection. Unfortunately, the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms applies only to the laws and actions of the federal and provincial governments and their agencies. It does not apply to the policies and actions of private employers. The Charter therefore does not protect private sector employees from unreasonable drug testing. It is necessary to state that currently an employer can terminate an employee's job if the employee has been using illegal drug s and alcohol, but only if such use is not considered a disability. Alcohol or drug addiction can be viewed as a physical and/or mental disability. In Ontario, the Ontario Human Rights, Citizenship, and Multiculturalism Act prohibit employment discrimination based on disability. Employers have a responsibility to accommodate employees who are disabled. Drug testing has not been proven to be against the Canadian Human Rights Commission. "In order to institute a drug testing policy into a company which complies with human rights legislation, an employer must be able to demonstrate that the testing is related to job performance, and not just substance abuse." Many employees feel that drug testing is a way of discriminating against people who might have a drug and/or alcohol disability. An example of such discrimination is found in Entrop v. Imperial Oil Ltd. The Ontario Board of Inquiry found that Imperial Oil Limited discriminated against Martin Entrop, a senior operator at the Sarni a Refinery, because of a disability. The Board of Inquiry found that "under a new Alcohol and Drug Policy introduce in 1992, Imperial Oil employees in "safety-sensitive" positions were required to notify management if they currently had or had previously had a substance abuse problem." After Mr.Entrop heard that this policy was coming into effect he informed his employer that he had had an alcohol problem about ten years earlier, that he had attended Alcoholics Anonymous, and that he had abstained from using alcohol since 1984. Mr. Entrop had been an employee for seventeen years and he had had no problems at work that were related to substance abuse, but Imperial Oil's policy required that Mr.Entrop be immediately removed form his current position. This example clearly shows that it is discriminatory to terminate a person's job because of a past or

GrinderPump essays

GrinderPump essays Hello my name is Greg Stewart, and I have been attending Bucks County Technical High School for three years now. I am currently 17 years old and in the junior class. Also I'm in Civil Engineering Technology with Mr. Hale. I came to Bucks County Technical High School for many of reasons. The most important reason was because I wanted to learn a career and yet still get a normal education and still be in high school. Also I came here to get out of going to Neshaminy High School because I didn't really favor what they had as academic major choices. During the exploratory program in ninth grade, I went through at the time 26 technical programs. After like the first couple of shops, I really enjoyed welding and baking. But when it was time to choose my shop towards the end of the exploratory program I had Civil Engineering as my first choice, Collision Repair as my second and Computer Information as my final choice. The reason I chose Civil was because I am very good at math sk ills and I am somewhat creative in designing things. Also I liked the idea of how much money I can earn in the engineering profession. So far for my high school career, I have learned a lot of information from Mr. Hale and from what is around in the civil engineering shop. I have learned what goes into owning real estate and what problems might occur with zoning restrictions which are set up by the township so that houses are not too big or small and that houses are not located in the midst of industrial or commercial areas. I have learned about soil logs and different types of soil. I have also learned to use some of the equipment that we use in our shop, like the Pentax Transit, Level Instrument, prism poles, and the HP 48 computer calculator and data collection process. In the classroom I learned to use our software such as AutoCAD, the Hp 750 plotter and the Xerox industrial copier. The reason I'm choosing to do this project is because I ...

Research Summary and Ethical Considerations , spiritual coping Essay

Research Summary and Ethical Considerations , spiritual coping strategies - Essay Example Some of the spiritual coping strategies discussed in this paper include Jewish meditation, trust and acceptance and expansion of our personality. They are elaborated more by a mother who revealed about her boy, who was suffering from CF illness. She was incapable of healing mental illness, ease pain or motivating somebody to live. The first spiritual coping strategy is Jewish meditation. She focused on few verses that shaped her experience. She used to sing or chant them several times. One of the verses was (Ps. 51:15) which request God to open person’s mouth in order to praise Him. She used to say Adon Olam meaning God was with her, and she would not fear. When she faced confusion times and thought would be different, she would say there was nothing else but God (McSherry & Ross, 2010). The mother would elevate her mood being happy and rejoicing the day God has made for her. When she brimmed with thankfulness, she would give thanks to God claiming His kindness is everlasting. Meditation helps the nurses to show no tears, feelings or fear towards patients. The nurses harden themselves to patients’ suffering. If the nurses turns toward patient’s suffering, have a feeling towards them and work with compassion, they will end up suffering. The second spiritual coping strategy is to build trust and strength. The mother just accepted the things how they were and had the capability of doing what was necessary. The only tool she used was the prayers (McSherry & Ross, 2010). She regarded God as her caring father. She thought in two ways. One way was to thank God for taking care of all her needs, and the other was to thank God for creating all her needs. Building of trust is long term process. She trusted on what happened or was happening was from the will of God. The same case should apply to nurses; they should always accept the conditions the patients are