Did anyone see the Panorama programme last night about binge drinking?

I couldn't believe the state that woman was in as a result of damage to her kidney.

What are your thoughts about the programme?

AdrianW,

You will need to specify, the Occupational Safety/ Health angle that you are approaching this discussion from so that readers can comment more fully.

I did see the trailer for the programme and the woman with kidney related problems on the BBC 6 O'clock news - very sad to see a mother with such a self-inflicted disease. Drinking heavily is undoubtedly a societal problem here in the UK. I'm not sure what the answer is.

With regards to the Moderator's comment, presumably alluding to a tangible link between occupational health issues and social issues associated with drinking alcoho? There is a tenuous link as illustrated by Ron, but I am against intruding people's personal lives outside of work. It would be all too easy to say that education is the answer, I'm not convinced this alone will solve the problem. Today there is so little free choice I am loathe to suggest regulation is the answer either.

In general I think there is a poor understanding of voluntary and involuntary risks in society. Just as there is with socio-economic issues regarding health and safety - do we value peoples’ health and safety more than making a profit or causing an inconvenience?

Recent results from the Police show a marked increase in drink-driving offences in the under 25 age group.
Correlating issues of concern surely, and an issue which once again maps over to the world of work?
I believe this is a real issue, not one associated with revenue generation, rather issues of resolving a societal problem.

Didn't see the Panorama programme myself but did see a later excerpt on another programme along with a statistic that the NHS nowadays is dealing with about 1 million patients with an alcohol-related condition. (If my recollection of this is incorrect, no doubt others will promptly correct it) Though I don't recall any figure being quoted for the cost of treating such patients (whether by GPs or by hospitals as outpatients or inpatients), it is likely to be enormous. Thus, such money is likely to be diverted from already scarce government funds which perhaps might be better spent on measures to prevent/reduce work related deaths, injuries and ill-health. If the NHS needed significantly less money to deal with alcohol-related problems, perhaps the HSE's budget wouldn't have needed slashing by as much as 35%. Though there's always scope for debating how much real effect HSE has on UK employers and their performance/attitude regarding occupational safety & health, it is fairly likely that less scrupulous employers will be aware of the HSE cuts and perceive that they are less likely than ever to receive attention from HSE inspectors.

Also, I guess that many of the older teenagers and young adults who indulge in binge drinking or are persistent alcoholics are also employees or self-employed. Though alcohol is relatively cheap these days, surely they need some income to be able to buy their booze. If such people are at work with significant blood alcohol levels, this is likely to have direct adverse implications for their employers and colleagues regarding aspects such as capacity to drive or operate machinery safely. Also, their overall productivity could well be impaired by presenteeism (i.e. at work but not very alert and thus not functioning/thinking effectively) and/or higher than average sickness absence.

According to a TV programme I saw a few months ago, employers face another problem in that a significant proportion of teenagers and young adults who have drunk to excess don't appear to be visibly drunk. As alcohol testing of employees is controversial (probably even for "safety critical" posts like airline pilots or train drivers), employers may well have considerable difficulty in determining if any of their employees is unfit/unsafe to be at work.

Thus, workers (of any age and in many occupations and positions) who enjoy heavy drinking in their spare time and are still "over the limit" at work next day, and also employees/self-employed people who are alcoholics, almost certainly do pose major issues with regard to OS&H and other inter-related aspects of work.

I've been intrigued for a while in how much say treating people for alcohol and/or smoking related issues does actually cost the country in relation to how much the government say make in excise duty for both?

Would be interesting to see how much of a difference we spend over what is received in.

This discussion is not off-topic. The Forum intro. specifically mentions "health" and "education".
I must admit to being puzzled (and not for the first time) when the Mods insist we find a specific Occ H&S justification for a post.
This is surely a health education issue and an issue of workplace safety concern for many employers and employees.

I don't know about any one else but I need a drink.

Graham is quite right, something like two thirds of assaults on police, ambulance and A&E staff are entirely down to their 'clients' being horribly drunk and as a direct consequence becoming out of control and violent.

An often quoted statistic is that 95% of murders are domestic related, and in most cases at least one of the parties involved was drunk at the time (usually the offender).

It therefore does not only harm the person doing the drinking.....