Impairment: Alcohol, Cannabis & Medications

Holiday parties, late nights, and a few drinks are part of the season. But a hangover, last night's cannabis, or a new cold medicine can leave you impaired on site this morning — and you may not feel it. The standard isn't what you took or when; it's whether you're fit to do safety-sensitive work right now.

The hazard

Alcohol, cannabis, and plenty of prescription and over-the-counter medications slow reactions, blur judgement, and cause drowsiness. Effects can last well past the point where someone feels "back to normal," and hangover effects are impairment too. On a construction site that means missed hazards and bad decisions around machines, heights, and traffic — a risk to you and to the crew beside you. Legal use doesn't make it safe to work impaired, and it doesn't change the employer's duty to keep the workplace safe.

What to do

• Show up fit for work — rested, clear-headed, able to do your task safely. That's the test, every shift.
• Don't consume alcohol or cannabis at work, including breaks, and don't come to work impaired. Follow your employer's policy — it will be more specific than any rule of thumb, and it's the one that applies to you.
• Check your medication. If a label says it may cause drowsiness or not to operate machinery, that matters. A pharmacist can tell you how it affects safety-sensitive work and whether there's an alternative — often the quickest and most private way to sort it out.
• Report the limitation, not your medical history. If something affects your ability to do a task safely, tell your supervisor what you can't safely do today — you don't have to disclose a diagnosis or a prescription to do that. A reassignment is an ordinary outcome.
• Plan a safe ride home from holiday events, and give yourself real recovery time. A big night and a 6 a.m. start don't mix.
• If a coworker seems off, say something — quietly to them if you can, and to a supervisor. Then let the supervisor handle it. It isn't your job to police a workmate, and it isn't your call to make about anyone's fitness — your job is to make sure it doesn't get ignored.
• Supervisors: remove the person from the safety-sensitive task, keep it confidential and non-punitive, arrange a safe way home, and follow the assessment process. Remember that dependence and prescribed medication can bring accommodation obligations — this is a fitness and support process, not automatically a discipline one.

Watch out for

• Hangover effects — slow reactions, shaky hands, poor focus. That's still impaired.
• "It's legal, so it's fine." Legal doesn't mean safe to work on.
• New or changed medication. The first few days often hit hardest.
• A crew covering for someone rather than raising it — that helps nobody, including them.

Talk it over

• Does everyone here know our fit-for-work policy, and where to read it?
• If you weren't safe to work one morning, who would you tell, and what would happen next?
• If you started a new medication tomorrow, who would you ask about it before your shift?