Employers participating in Tennessee’s drug-free workplace program must provide at least one (1) hour of training to all employees at least one time. All employees must be trained within sixty (60) calendar days of an employer’s implementation of a Tennessee Drug-Free Workplace Program or within sixty (60) calendar days of the employee’s date of hire.
This training must include information on the following topics:
- The covered employer’s Drug-Free Workplace Program policies
- The covered employer’s testing procedures
- The consequences for violating the covered employer’s policies
- The specific drugs for which testing will be performed
- Any employee assistance program (EAP) and/or substance abuse treatment options available for their employees
The training may also include information on the following topics:
- The disease of addiction
- Defining use versus abuse
- The recovering employee in the workplace
- Why people abuse substances
- Avoiding relapse in the workplace
- The role of the family in addressing substance abuse and addiction
- The role of co-workers in addressing substance abuse and addiction
- The role of co-workers in maintaining a drug-free workplace
- The effects and dangers of commonly abused substances in the workplace
- 12-step programs
- Stress and the workplace
- Safety and the workplace
- Warning signs
- The most commonly abused drugs in the workplace (e.g., marijuana, cocaine/crack, inhalants, alcohol, opiates, hallucinogens, prescription drugs, etc.)
- The physical and psychological effects related to the abuse of the above drugs,
and others - The health and medical risks of substance abuse
- Avoiding substance abuse through wellness, exercise, diet, etc.