Reasonable
suspicion training must include one hour of alcohol and one hour of other drug
information. The goal is to help supervisors become aware of key substances of abuse and help them respond
properly.
Note that one hour covers alcohol and one hour covers all of the other drugs of
abuse the DOT wants mentioned. What does this tell you?
It obviously says that alcohol is the bigger problem in the workplace. And
indeed it is.
One out of 11 drinkers is an alcoholic. (Personally, from my 40
years of observations in treatment and education, I think it is closer to 1 in 9.)
The disease can continue for decades before it is noticed as productivity declines
or increased absenteeism, among many other behavioral, conduct, and attitude
possibilities.
Drugs to include in your reasonable suspicion training are alcohol, stimulants,
depressants, narcotics, hallucinogens & PCP, and Marijuana.
Although the following drugs are not required education, I like delivering
content to supervisors that will help them deal with problems at home with
teenagers or problems at home with an alcoholic spouse or partner. And, the
education I deliver in reasonable suspicion training is designed purposely to
help supervisors self-diagnose their own alcoholism. Think about it. When you
have a captured audience with people that could have a life threatening illness
and not know it, what would you recommend? Enough said!
As you can see the alcohol education in products 154, 155 and 107 is that good.
It helps learners self-diagnose.
There are no other drugs of abuse that supervisors must be educated in as
required by the U.S. DOT in reasonable suspicion training, but we will discuss
some drugs of abuse that you may want to mention because they have dramatic
effects on the workplace, even though required education about their signs and
symptoms is not mandated.
Ever hear of Salvia? No? We’ll talk about it. Spice and K2 also, which are big
problems in many populations groups.
The U.S. DOT does require that supervisors receive certain parameters of
information associated with the drugs of abuse outlined in the code of federal
regulations. When discussing drugs of abuse, always include signs and symptoms
of the drug being used, effects on the employee behavior, and dangers of use in
the workplace.
Personally I like to also make a few comments about withdrawal – when an
employee may be completely drug free, not under the influence, but dangerously
incapacitated by symptoms withdrawal, then it is worth talking about.
The DOT does not require “behavioral signs and symptoms of withdrawal” but as
you might guess, it is a good thing for supervisors to understand.
A new requirement by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is for
all federal employees to have education and awareness regarding several types
of Opioids. These include: Hydrocodone,
Hydromorphone, Oxycodone, and Oxymorphone.
These drugs are predominantly used for pain control, and there is not a lot
that you need to say about them as required by the DOT. Awareness is the key. Include
photos of these drugs in your presentation and simply mention their addictive
nature and general use in pain managements. You can find a
PowerPoint Slide Video here and you are welcome to pause and download or save
this ppt here.
Beyond drugs of abuse it is important to have test questions for supervisors
regarding drug and alcohol awareness. Also have handouts. Do not consume the
time your supervisors are in training with 120 minutes of alcohol and drug
awareness audio/visual content. Instead, break this time up. Make eight or nine
handouts available in the course so they can read and review them in the
future.
Regarding test questions, make them educational. Your test questions do not
need to relate directly to the material in the presentation. I make my test
questions true/false or multiple choice, and then offer a paragraph of
educational content to explain to the learner. The questions for the most part
do not related to the content. No need. Just help supervisors delve deeper into
the content.
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