SASSI in Employment Contexts

In non safety-critical industries, the law normally requires substance dependency to be treated by employers as a health issue, and the employee is entitled to sick leave to give them time to recover, as with any other condition. If, on the other hand, the problem is one of cavalier over-indulgence, for example, normal disciplinary procedures may be invoked.

Employers are required to ensure that employees suspected of substance misuse are offered a thorough specialist assessment. Case law has established that unsupported assessment by Occupational Health services or a GP is not regarded as a specialist service.

How the SASSI can help.

• It can identify substance dependence even if a person is unwilling or unable to admit to a problem or symptoms associated with it.
• It can enhance the procedures carried out by Occupational Health Physicians, Personnel or HR staff, and add objective weight to screening and triage decisions.
• In addition, skilful use of feedback on the psychological profiling can disarm the subject, enable them to take a more detached and unemotional view of their own situation, and can help to lower resistance and avoid damaging confrontational interviewing. The interviewer or assessor is enabled to stand alongside the employee and to engage their co-operation in evaluating and trying to make sense of the information gathered, supporting their self-examination, raising their self-esteem and helping them to see that there is a solution to the problems they are facing, and that they do have the courage to grasp it. This offers a win-win solution, where the employee gets to overcome their problem, and the employer regains the use of a trained, experienced and valued employee, firing on all cylinders.