Study: 7 Percent of Workers Drink on Job
Tuesday, 10-Jan-2006 10:16PM EST Story from AP / CAROLYN THOMPSON
Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press (via ClariNet)

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Associated Press/AP Online
BUFFALO, N.Y. - Just over 7 percent of American workers drink during the workday - mostly at lunch - and even more, 9 percent, have nursed a hangover in the workplace, according to a study.


Young, single men are tied most often to workplace-related drinking, especially managers, salespeople, restaurant workers and those in the media, according to the findings by the University at Buffalo's Research Institute on Addictions.

The results, culled from telephone interviews with 2,805 employed adults from January 2002 to June 2003, appear in the current issue of the Journal of Studies on Alcohol.

Principal investigator Michael Frone said the national study was meant to help managers develop workplace policy on alcohol use and to open the door to exploring the causes and effects of workplace alcohol use.

"Of all psychoactive substances with the potential to impair cognitive and behavioral performance, alcohol is the most widely used and misused substance in the general population and in the work force," said Frone, research associate professor in the university's Psychology Department.

"It slows down your reaction time, it impairs your decision-making," said Elena Carr, who coordinates a U.S. Labor Department program to combat workplace alcohol and drug use.

"In close to 19 percent of on-the-job fatalities, the person who dies tests positive for either alcohol or drugs or both," Carr said, noting toxicology tests are not required for every incident.

In the study, employees around the country were asked about workplace alcohol use during the previous 12 months. The sample was designed to reflect the demographics of the U.S. work force from ages 18 to 65, the researchers said. Participants were promised confidentiality.

Seven percent said they had drunk alcohol at least once during a workday. Lunch was the preferred time to drink, according to the study, which was funded by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.

Overall, 15 percent of respondents reported being directly affected by alcohol at work - either by drinking on the job or shortly before heading to work or working with a hangover. Nearly one in five workers, 19 percent, made it a monthly habit and 11 percent reported weekly use or impairment.

The NIAAA estimates nearly 14 million people in the United States abuse alcohol or are alcoholics.

Indeed it seems that soon the anti smoking well will run dry, so the nannies are thinking ahead and training their guns on boooze as the next grant cash cow.

Maybe booze is next... but I'm thinking fat foods. Overweight people are victims so make McDonald's pay.
In any case, once tobacco is completely prohibited, booze has to be one of the many things on the list to make sure that "we" are safe.

RWJF has already purchased and fully controls Mothers against Drunk Driving and has currently spent $77 million to develop "studies" on how to "educate" children in schools, "enforce" penalties against drinking and "increase taxes" to reduce consumption. Also being "studied" is the effect of "second hand alcohol" on "the community". Sound like something we have seen before???
Smoking bans were just practice for RWJ.

I guess if it's something enjoyable, then it "must go." I'm sure that everything is done for my own good and has nothing to do with the money that these people end up with (tax money, grant money, etc, etc).

These nannies would have freaked out had they entered the last three offices I worked in.........

We had fully stocked liquor cabinets and the fridge always contained beer and wine.

OH, and we all smoked