(ON PHONE) KEVIN: Sorry to have to call you mate, I know
itʼs your RDO but we’re really short staffed
and I’m gonna need you to come in.
BRIAN: I’d love to mate but I stuffed my leg at footy.
(ON PHONE) KEVIN: Not the knee again?
BRIAN: Yeah.
(ON PHONE) KEVIN: Is it serious?
BRIAN: I’ll be OK, casualty gave me painkillers and said stay off it.
(ON PHONE) KEVIN: Mate, I’m up to my ears in it, I
need all hands on deck.
BRIAN: I don’t know mate
(ON PHONE) KEVIN: Come on Briʼ, don’t let me down.
BRIAN: Alright.
(ON PHONE) KEVIN: That’s the way.
BRIAN: What time?
(ON PHONE) KEVIN: Soon as you can get here mate
BRIAN: Alright, see you soon.
MICHELLE: Sounds like you’ll be needing these?
BRIAN: Thanks ʻchelle.
DAVID: Perfect timing. Can you take this up to Pier C?
DAVID: Brian! You good? BRIAN: Yeah.
DAVID: Come on Max, letʼs go.
(MUSIC)
MAX: Brian, you right?
BRIAN: Yeah, just gives us a sec.
Brain: Hey Max, I’m gonna push these down mate, do you want to connect them up?
Max: Yeah, sure.
MAX: Righto, bring it up,
Keep coming, that’s it, ok yep keep bring it up, ok stop.
Stop there! Stop! Stop!
Max: Stop!
MAX: Brian what are you doing?!
DAVID: So what happened?
BRIAN: I donʼt know.
DAVID: You donʼt look too good.
BRIAN: Iʼm not, I think my painkillers are making me crook.
DAVID: Youʼre on painkillers?
BRIAN: Yeah.
DAVID: Why didn’t you call in sick?
BRIAN: I tried to but Kevin said to come in.
DAVID: Well you should have known better and so should Kevin.
You’re obviously not fit for work.
BRIAN: I guess not.
DAVID: Iʼll speak to Kevin and we’ll organise some training
on safety and medication.
BRIAN: Sorry David, if that was it, I had no idea.
DAVID: Its alright, you’re probably not the only one. Now I’m gonna have to file
an incident report and Grace our Medical officer will come up and give you a drug and alcohol
test.
BRAIN: What for?
DAVID: Itʼs standard procedure. If you test positive
we’ll work out the best way to get you back to work safely.
BRIAN: Ok
DAVID: OK Grace will be up here shortly. But I want you to go home, rest up and keep your
mobile handy.
BRIAN: Alright.
In this scenario, Brian is under the influence of drugs to deal with
the injury to his knee. His supervisor ringing him up and asking him to come into work puts
a bit of pressure on Brian. The manager or supervisor should really have assured himself
or herself that Brian was actually fit to work and wasn’t under the influence of any
drugs that might have affected his performance.
It’s very important that workers understand the negative effects of
both prescription drugs and drugs you can buy over the counter such as painkillers.
With this understanding, it helps them minimise the risks themselves and also the risk to
the company and to their work mates. From the company’s point of view it’s important
to manage workers in the organisation to make sure that they do have this understanding
and the company reflects that, so it takes action to provide alternative means of employment
for people when they are taking painkillers which still enables them to do some work,
but doesn’t put them in a critical safety sensitive area.