Threat Management and Protection, Inc. (TMAP – www.threatprotect.com), a provider of corporate security and investigative services headquartered in California, has released a comprehensive seminar to train corporate supervisors and managers to identify employees under the influence of drugs and alcohol, and teaches exactly what steps should be taken to effectively and safely deal with these situations. The seminar, titled Drugs in the Workplace, is being presented by veteran Los Angeles Police Department Lieutenant, Lita Abella, experienced in undercover narcotics activities and extensively trained in the use, possession and sale of narcotics. The seminar is considered to be the most comprehensive of its kind ever offered.
Employees on drugs have been proven to reduce workplace productivity; heighten quality control issues; create potential risks for security, safety and medical problems; they also increase the number of disciplinary issues and potential confrontations with co-workers, and supervisory and management personnel. In a recent study by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce it was found that 75% of employees admitted to using drugs on the job; 65% stated that the drugs affected their job performance; 44% said they sold drugs on the job; and 18% stole from their co-workers to support their drug habit. The number one drug problem in the workplace is alcohol. Other drugs being used on the job include marijuana, cocaine, club drugs like MDMA (Ecstasy), PCP, anti-depressants such as Ritalin, and methamphetamine – the fastest growing, and possibly the most destructive, drug of choice amongst U.S. workers.
This drug use is taking its toll on corporations. The typical drug-abusing worker is late 300% more often, is involved in 3.6 more accidents on the job, and requests early dismissal 220% more often than non-drug using employees. One of the most serious effects is the matter of violence, such has been frequently displayed with users of the anti-psychotic Ritalin, and with high dose methamphetamine users, both are prone to induce erratic and violent behavior. According to the U.S. Justice Department's National Crime Victimization Survey, every year in the U.S. 1.7 million violent victimizations occur to employees, by employees in the workplace. And 95% of them are simple assaults and aggravated assaults – victimizations where the employee has used a weapon of some type to threaten or harm another. Workplace violence is now recognized as a specific category of violent crime, one that has particular measures of handling and prevention by law enforcement and employees. As workplace drug use is increasing, so is the incidence of workplace violent crime.
As international consultants to corporations on security and threat management issues, TMAP launched the Drugs in the Workplace seminar to counteract the negative influence that drugged employees have on their corporate clients. The seminar effectively educates and trains executives to understand specifically how each drug type influences their workers, how to spot these drug influences in their employees, and how to handle them accordingly with the least disruption to the corporation, co-workers and the drug-induced employee.
The seminar covers in-depth:
(1) Drug characteristics and their manifested influence in employees
(2) Drug testing, understanding its strengths and limitations
(3) 12-step pre-determination process to isolate employee drug usage
(4) Taking action – document, investigate and control the situation
(5) Confronting and handling the employee to minimize disruption
(6) Employer's responsibilities and liabilities
(7) Employee's rights and responsibilities
(8) Legal liability issues
"Workplace training programs in employee drug handling for executives, managers and supervisors should be mandatory, as our business environments are more and more becoming negatively inundated by those who are influenced by drug usage," says Robert Kirschner, President of TMAP. "Training that approximates the reality of the situations to be encountered is vital to the safety of every man and woman employee, and the security of the company itself. The Drugs in the Workplace seminar achieves that objective."
For more information on the Drugs in the Workplace seminar provided by TMAP corporate security services please contact R.J. Kirschner, Threat Management and Protection, Inc.; P.O. Box 5640; Huntington Beach, CA 92615-5640; Phone: 888-926-8110; Fax: 888-677-4407; email: [email protected]; or visit their web site at www.threatprotect.com.
