Alcohol Awareness Week 2024 will take place from 1 to 7 July on the theme of ‘Understanding alcohol harm’.
Alcohol is often a source of pleasure, but it can also cause serious harms.
As with all drugs, alcohol misuse can lead to a wide variety of problems, ranging from severe dependency and life-threatening health conditions to hangovers or conflict with friends and family.
Alcohol harms can affect both individuals and wider society. Ill-health rarely affect just the individual concerned: it may have a devastating impact on families, and the social costs of treating alcohol-related health conditions run into the billions every year. That is why alcohol harms are not solely a matter of individual choice, but an issue for society more widely.
Alcohol reduces physical coordination and reaction speeds as well as affecting thinking, judgement, and mood. From a work perspective, it increases the risk of accidents to themselves and to others, the incidence of sickness absence, and reduces performance.  For those working in safety critical environments, these risks need to be managed and alcohol and drugs testing may be indicated.
For support with Drugs and Alcohol Testing, Policy Development and support for employees with alcohol problems, contact Peritus on 01484 722444 or admin@peritushealth.com.
Here are some downloads that can be printed and distributed around the workplace:
