Substance Abuse

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If the information you’re looking for isn’t available please give us a call on 01482 870577 or email hello@employeesupport.org.uk

If the information you’re looking for isn’t available please give us a call on 01482 870577 or email hello@employeesupport.org.uk

Alcohol is a positive part of life for many people and most of the time drinking alcohol doesn’t cause any problems. But drinking too much or at the wrong time can be harmful. The Government’s guidance on sensible drinking, published in December 1995, lists the following as examples of specific situations when the best advice is not to drink at all:

before or during driving;

before using machinery, electrical equipment or ladders;

before working or in the workplace when appropriate functioning would be

Adversely affected by alcohol.

Box 1 describes what happens to someone when they drink alcohol. It is easy to see from this how drinking alcohol at lunchtime or before coming on shift can affect an employee’s work performance. The effects of heavy drinking the previous night can last well into the next day.

Box 1 what happens when you drink alcohol

Alcohol is absorbed into your bloodstream within a few minutes of being drunk and carried to all parts of your body including the brain.

The concentration of alcohol in the body, known as the ‘blood alcohol concentration’, depends on many factors, but principally, how much you have drunk, how long you have been drinking, whether you have eaten, and your size and weight. It is difficult to know exactly how much alcohol is in your bloodstream or what effect it may have.

It takes a healthy liver about 1 hour to break down and remove 1 unit of alcohol. A unit is equivalent to 8 gm or 10 ml (1cl) of pure alcohol. The following all contain one unit of alcohol:

A half pint

of ordinary strength beer, lager and cider

(3.5% ABV)

A single

25 ml measure of spirits (40% ABV)

A small glass of wine

(9% ABV)

If someone drinks 2 pints of ordinary strength beer at lunchtime or half a bottle of wine (i.e. 4 units), they will still have alcohol in their bloodstream 3 hours later. Similarly, if someone drinks heavily in the evening they may still be over the legal drink drive limit the following morning.

I Black coffee, cold showers and fresh air won’t sober someone up. Only time can remove alcohol from the bloodstream.