Abstract

OTERO DORREGO, Carmen. Illicit drugs in the Workplace: General guidelines of intervention from the Occupational Health. Med. segur. trab. [online]. 2011, vol.57, suppl.1, pp.145-172. ISSN 1989-7790.  https://dx.doi.org/10.4321/S0465-546X2011000500010.

Drug abuse is an important problem of public health, as well as a serious labor problem in industrialized countries. The serious labor consequences (smaller yield, increase of the number of accidents, etc.) and the possibility of successfully approaching the problem from Occupational Health Services of companies, make the creation of politics and programs of intervention necessary. The overall goal of all these programs is to obtain the personal and labor rehabilitation of the affected workers. Other secondary targets are to improve the indices of absenteeism and accidentability, to establish general guidelines of performance of occupational health doctors to take part in the situations of drug abuse in the work place, as well as to favor the suitable labor restoration of workers who have followed a therapy program. In this article we make a revision of epidemiologic data, labor, personal and social consequences, different norms and international and national recommendations, as well as of specific programs of national and foreign companies in the different sectors from production. Finally, the general guidelines of intervention from Occupational Health Physicians are described. The performances of Occupational Health Physicians in the scope of Primary Prevention will be directed towards the detection of risk factors at work (evaluation of psycho-social risks and facility of access to drugs at work, among others) and individual factors (early detection of specially sensible workers), applying correction measures (training courses, job adaptations, etc). Occupational Health Physicians will also make early diagnosis (Secondary Prevention) for detox through the National Health System. Finally, they will facilitate labor rehabilitation (Tertiary Prevention) favoring labor restoration of the worker with security guarantees.

Keywords : drug abuse; Workplace; intervention; Occupational Health.

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