BOOZE CLUES

1. How long does it take your body to process 1 unit of alcohol?
a. Half an hour
b. 1 hour
c. 1.5 hours
d. 2 hours

2. Which one of these affects the amount of alcohol in your system?
a. Caffeine
b. Food
c. Taking a shower
d. Time

3. What is the minimum ban for drink driving?
a. No minimum
b. 6mths
c. 12mths
d. 18 mths

4. Which of the following drinks contains exactly one unit of alcohol?
a. Half a pint of lager (5% ABV)
b. A 250ml glass of wine (12% ABV)
c. A single shot of whiskey (25ml x 40% ABV)
d. A pint of lager (3.5% ABV)

5. What percentage of assaults are alcohol related?
a. 10%
b. 20%
c. 30%
d. 50%

6. What percentage of hospital admissions at the weekend are alcohol related?
a. 15%
b. 25%
c. 50%
d. 70%

7. How much does alcohol cost the workplace every year?
a. £506M
b. £1.3Bn
c. £6.4Bn
d. £12.8Bn

8. What ratio of people drink hazardously?
a. 1 in 4
b. 1 in 8
c. 1 in 16
d. 1 in 32

9. By what percentage have alcohol related deaths risen in the past 5 years?
a. 5%
b. 10%
c. 20%
d. 40%

10. How many people suffer alcohol related domestic violence every year?
a. 180,000
b. 360,000
c. 540,000
d. 720,000

11. Hangovers account for what percentage of lost productivity in the workplace?
a. 9%
b. 18%
c. 27%
d. 36%

12. What percentage of serious road accidents are alcohol related?
a. 75%
b. 50%
c. 25%
d. 12%

13. How many units of alcohol can you consume before you are over the legal drink drive limit?
a. 2 units
b. 3 units
c. 4 units
d. Impossible to tell

14. Women and men read the same on breathalyser tests for the same amount of alcohol consumed?
a. True
b. False

15. What percentage of absence can be attributed to alcohol?
a. 2 - 3%
b. 6 – 15%
c. 15 – 30%
d. 30 – 45%

16. Of all accidents, how many are alcohol related?
a. 5 – 10%
b. 10 – 15%
c. 15 – 20%
d. 20 – 25%

17. How many working days are lost each year through alcohol related absence?
a. 5 Million
b. 10 Million
c. 20 Million
d. 30 Million

18. How much does alcohol roughly cost a company per 1000 employees?
a. £65,000
b. £130,000
c. £1,300,000
d. £13,000,000

19. What would be the best way to reduce the harm and risks associated with alcohol?
a. Drink at home more often
b. Add mixers to your drinks
c. Drink more quickly
d. Drink more responsibly

20. What percentage of the population recognises and understands the unit system and sensible drinking guidelines?
a. Less than 20%
b. Less than 40%
c. Less than 60%
d. Less than 80%

21. Where is alcohol on the list of most serious health concerns in developed countries?
a. First
b. Third
c. Fifth
d. Tenth

22. Which contains least alcohol?
a. A Glass of wine (250ml x 12% ABV)
b. A pint of lager (3.5% ABV)
c. A 275ml alcopop (5% ABV)
d. A single shot of vodka (25ml x 40% ABV)

23. How many people are convicted for drink driving every year?
a. 30,000
b. 60,000
c. 90,000
d. 120,000

24. How much alcohol consumed is considered binge drinking?
a. 3 units
b. 7 units
c. 12 units
d. Double the recommended daily intake (6 units for a female, 8 units for a male)

25. If you started drinking at 8 pm and drank a total of 12 units, what time in the morning would you be alcohol free?
a. 5am
b. 7am
c. 9am
d. 11am

The scale of the problem
Alcohol is the third highest health risk in developed countries.(4) In the workplace, drug abuse accounts for an estimated £2M per day(6), overshadowed by the cost of alcohol at over £17M per day (7). The investment into social marketing to prevent and reduce other priority health concerns, such as smoking and obesity, has been both comprehensive and effective.
The £12 million committed to improving awareness over the next three years, under £11,000 per day, only equates to less than 0.03% of the annual daily costs to society at over £41M (over £15Bn per annum) (7). Greater workplace investment is required to reduce these unwanted costs.

Health
Do not assume there is a window in which any alcohol related health benefit is greater than its harm.(8)
One adult in thirteen is addicted to alcohol. Alcohol dependency is associated with serious and debilitating physical and mental health problems. In fact research shows that simply drinking above the recommended levels increases the risk of incurring a wide variety of illnesses.(9)
Drinking double the recommended daily intake, once, is classified as binge drinking(7), which increases health concerns including; 34% men, 27% women use alcohol to cope with stress.(10) Additionally, alcohol contains non-nutritional calories that can increase weight gain. Other health concerns relating to binge drinking include sickness, depression, sleep loss, anxiety, mood changes and reduced motivation. One in four drinks hazardously (11).

Problem drinkers
There are two types of problem drinker for employers. Firstly, those who have a clearly identified drink problem, and are in need of intervention or treatment. Secondly, the so called “social drinkers” who cause problems at work as a result of their drinking. The second audience is significantly more widespread and difficult to identify.

Units = Hours
It takes about one hour to process one unit of alcohol (5) Today a typical 250ml glass of 12% ABV (alcohol by volume) wine, contains 3 units of alcohol, therefore taking 3 hours before clearing from the blood stream.
An additional factor with alcohol consumption is tolerance. Generally the more your drink, the more tolerance you develop. To some, 4 glasses of wine would not be considered excessive. However, time is the crucial factor that determines how long alcohol remains in the system, 12 units, 12 hours.

Responsible drinking (12)
The important thing is to know where the benefits end and the risks begin.
The Department of Health advises that men should not regularly drink more than 3 - 4 units of alcohol per day, and women should not regularly drink more than 2 - 3 units of alcohol per day.
We advise people not to drink at all:
Before or when driving
Before or when operating machinery and equipment
Before or when using electrical equipment
Before or when using ladders or working at heights
When it might affect the quality of your work
Before swimming or taking part in active sport
Before or when taking certain medicines
If a doctor or other health professional advises this.

Women vs Men
Women’s physical make-up affects the way that alcohol is processed in the body. Women’s bodies have 10% more fat than men’s and they have less fluid to dilute the alcohol, so the concentration of alcohol in the body is higher The average woman weighs considerably less than the average man and has correspondingly less tissue to absorb alcohol. Women appear to have lower levels of alcohol dehydrogenase (AHD) so the alcohol stays longer in the system and has greater effect (9).
Due to the slower metabolism, women are also likely to show higher blood/breath alcohol content on a police breathalyser test.
There are also a number of diseases of specific concern to women including: cancer, coronary heart disease and strokes, obesity linked to hypertension (high blood pressure), osteoporosis and digestive problems (9).

Performance
Hangovers cause a 27% reduction in productivity in the UK (1). Surprisingly, light to moderate drinkers who occasionally drink at high levels, are collectively responsible, due to their greater numbers, for the largest share of alcohols burden on society than those addicted, dependant or alcoholic(2). 6-15% of absence (3) and 20-25% of accidents (4) are alcohol related.

Law
You have a general duty under the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 to ensure, as far as is reasonably practicable, the health, safety and welfare of your employees. Similarly, your employees are also required to take reasonable care of themselves and others who could be affected by what they do.
In the transport industry, there is additional legislation in place to control the misuse of alcohol and drugs (13).

Prevention
The most common form is secondary prevention, to reduce existing problems through intervention and treatment.
Being proactive requires the use of primary prevention. Every employer should have a clear, written alcohol policy. To compliment this, ongoing health & wellbeing programmes using social marketing can provide additional value and useful preventative benefits. By providing employees with information you would empower individuals to make more informed and responsible decisions about their alcohol consumption. You cannot drive a fork lift truck or operate heavy machinery with out being trained.

Health vs disciplinary
Three steps are suggested for dealing with employees who are underperforming due to excessive alcohol consumption.
1. Where intervention becomes necessary, proceed as a health issue, clearly setting out a program that is agreed upon by both management and the employee.
2. Where treatment becomes necessary, proceed as a health issue, clearly setting out a program that is agreed upon by both management and the employee.
3. Alcohol-related incidents that introduce risk of significant harm to the individual or others should be dealt with under the company’s disciplinary procedures.

Key Actions

Risk assessment
Alcohol is more difficult to assess than other potential hazards due to consumption generally being outside of working hours. We’ve compiled this case study for your reference.

CASE STUDY
Based on 1,000 staff.
882 days lost per year to alcohol related sickness absence (6) costing over £85,000.
225 staff drinking to excess (7) costing over £1.2M per year in lost performance (1)(6)
3 accidents are alcohol related per year (4)(14) costing over £17,000.
Total annual alcohol related costs equate to around 13% of total salary expenditure or around £1.3M per 1000 staff. The proportionate costs will remain the same for greater or fewer employee numbers.

“Thinking laterally will provide solutions. If a machine presented a safety risk, steps would be taken to improve its safety. The machine may still be operated as alcohol may still be consumed; the issue is how to make it safer for all involved.” Bob Rawlinson, Chief Executive, The Edward DeBono Foundation UK .

“Sometimes the situation is only a problem because it is looked at in a certain way. Looked at in another way, the right course of action may be so obvious that the problem no longer exists.” Dr Edward DeBono.

Who’s responsible?
Ultimately, your employees should take personal responsibility for their drinking. Your company needs to embrace the precept of prevention before intervention before treatment, endorsed at the highest level.
A team needs to be established with responsibility for primary prevention which should be managed independently of secondary prevention as the objectives are different.

Culture Change
Targets need to be in place to enable clear measurement of results. Your primary objectives may include the reduction of absence and the improvement of safety. Both of which are measurable. Productivity and performance are less easy to measure however. You need to set KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) practical for your business.

How to budget
The best way to secure budget for primary prevention would be to make provisions within the company’s annual budget for primary prevention endorsed at board level.
When you opt for a social marketing programme there would be clear benefits for HR, Marketing, Operations, Health & Safety and Occupational Health, which may enable budget pooling.

Decision makers
By preventing and reducing alcohol related costs, your business would increase profitability. The key decision influencers for implementation of primary prevention include Occupational Health, Human Resources, Wellbeing, Operations and Health & Safety. You may need to gain a final decision and budget approval at board level depending on the size of your business.

Choosing a supplier
You should choose a solution that incorporates proven social marketing techniques, improves intervention techniques, utilises both paper and electronic media and has flexibility to incorporate any specific messaging like company branding and policy.
Your chosen solution should also provide measurement reporting to enable you to track progress. The supplier should also provide you with a return on investment model to demonstrate the value of their proposition.

More information
You can find more information on alcohol and primary prevention at www.alcoholriskfactor.com

Facts

1. The body metabolises about about one unit per hour for most people. (Alcohol Concern)
2. The body metabolises about about one unit per hour for most people. (Alcohol Concern)
3. The minimum ban for a drink drive offence is 12 months (UK Road Traffic Law)
4. There is one unit of alcohol in a single measure of spirits (25ml x 40% ABV)
5. 50% of reported assaults are alcohol related. (Government Harm reduction strategy)
6. Around 70 per cent of weekend A&E admissions are drink-related (IPPR)
7. Alcohol costs the workplace up to £6.4Bn Annually (Strategy Unit interim Report)
8. 1 in 4 drink hazardously (Alcohol Concern)
9. Alcohol related deaths have risen 20% in the past 5 years (Office for National statistics)
10. 360,000 reported victims per year suffer alcohol related domestic violence (Strategy Unit Interim Report)
11. Hangovers account for 27% loss of productivity in the UK (Office of National Statistics)
12. Around half of all serious road crashes are alcohol related (Accident & Emergency – Alcohol Alert 28/11/05)
13. There is no simple, usable calculation for determining your Blood/Breath Alcohol Content (BAC) (Drink Driver Education)
14. Due to slower metabolism, women are likely to show higher blood/breath alcohol content on a police breathalyser test (Alcohol Concern)
15. 6 – 15% of absence can be attributed to alcohol (Institute of Alcohol Studies)
16. 20 – 25% of all accidents are alcohol related (World Health Organisation)
17. 20 Million working days lost each year due to alcohol (Strategy Unit Interim Report)
18. Alcohol related costs amount to around £1.3M per 1000 employees (Alcohol Risk Factor – Calculated using statistics from The Office of National Statistics, The Chartered Institute for Personnel & Development, The Confederation of British Industry, The World Health Organisation and AON Corporation)
19. The important thing is to know where the benefits end and the risks begin (Department of Health)
20. Over 60% of the population are not aware of the sensible drinking guidelines and the Unit System. (NHS Information Centre)
21. Alcohol is considered the third highest health risk in developed countries (World Health Organisation)
22. There is one unit of alcohol in a single measure of spirits (25ml x 40% ABV)
23. 90,000 people convicted of drink driving every year (Drink Driver Education)
24. Drinking double the recommended guidelines is considered binge drinking (Alcohol Concern)
25. The body metabolises about about one unit per hour for most people. (Alcohol Concern)

References

1. Office of National Statistics
2. World Health Organisation, Global Status Report December 2004
3. Confederation of British Industry
4. World Health Organisation
5. NHS Direct
6. Chartered Institute of Personnel & Development
7. Strategy Unit Interim Report
8. Alcohol and ishaemic heart disease; probably no free lunch-jackson et al. Lancet vol. 366 03/12/05
9. Alcohol Concern
10. Developing patient partnerships
11. British Broadcasting Corporation
12. Department of Health
13. Health & Safety Executive
14. Labour Force Survey
15. AON Corporation