We Aren't in the Termination Business. We're in the Safety Business.
If you spend any time on business websites or LinkedIn these days, you will see a variation of the same phrase popping up everywhere: "Support, don't sack."
It sounds amazing. It looks great on a corporate brochure. It makes companies look caring, modern, and progressive. But as someone who has built his career over the last two decades on the frontline of workplace safety and impairment management, I have to ask a very uncomfortable question.
How many businesses actually know how to do it?
It is easy to write a nice slogan, but it is much harder to actually change how you handle a crisis on the factory floor, in the warehouse, or on the construction site.
For years now, I have watched as companies fit for work/impairment testing like a policing exercise. You set a trap, you catch the "criminal," and you fire them on the spot. However, the world has changed drastically over the last five years and the old knee jerk "fail and fire" playbook just doesn't work anymore.
If you want to keep your business safe, yet still profitable, it’s time to look at impairment through a completely different lens.
The Reality, The Impairment Scene Has Changed.
Five years ago, things seemed simple. If someone tested positive, they were out the door before their shift ended. It was that black and white.
Fast forward to today and the reasons behind a positive test are rarely simple. We are currently living through a massive mental health crisis with people who are regularly dealing with intense stress, anxiety, and burnout.
As a result, and quite often, substance use isn't about someone trying to party. It’s about someone trying to self-medicate just to get through the day.
On top of this, there has been a massive rise in prescription medication dependencies. Strong painkillers and anti-anxiety medications can impair a worker just as much as illegal drugs or alcohol.
If your company's only tool is an automatic firing squad, you aren't actually solving the problem. You are just ignoring the human reality behind the data and leaving you and your company vulnerable.
The True Cost of "Catch and Terminate"
When I chat with business owners, I still find some insisting and arguing that firing people is the safest and cheapest option. They think, "Why should I spend time and money on someone who broke the rules?"
Let me give you the cold, hard business facts that I give them.
Firing an experienced worker because of a single positive test is a massive financial mistake.
Here are just a few of the reasons as to why.
The Recruitment Drain: Many work in a tight labor market. When you sack a skilled worker, you lose all the training and experience you initially invested in them. You then have to spend thousands of pounds on recruitment fees, agency costs, and onboarding a new person who might not even be as good.
The Culture of Fear: Punitive rules don't stop people from struggling. What they actually do is allow them to make them better at hiding it. If your staff knows that admitting a problem means losing their job, they will hide it. I have seen it firsthand.Their workmates will cover for them and you end up with a more dangerous workplace because the risk is buried underground.
The Legal Trap: In the UK, employment tribunals are getting much stricter. If you fire someone without offering them any help, support, or occupational health referrals, especially if their issue is linked to a mental health condition, you could end up facing a massive legal bill for unfair dismissal.
What "Practical Empathy" Actually Looks Like
Let's clear one thing up, shifting to a supportive model does not mean your business goes "soft." It doesn't mean you let people turn up to work high or drunk and just shrug it off. Safety is still the number one priority.
Instead, it means trading blind punishment for practical empathy.
When we help companies design modern impairment policies, we look at a non-negative test as a cry for help or a warning sign, not a reason to destroy someone's livelihood. Here is how a real, supportive system actually works.
The Safe Space: If an employee realises they are struggling with alcohol or prescription drugs, they should be able to step forward and tell HR before an incident happens, without fearing they will be sacked on the spot.
The Intervention: If a routine or random test comes back non-negative, the immediate response isn't a disciplinary hearing. It is further investigation, a referral to Occupational Health or an Employee Assistance Program (EAP) to find out what is really going on.
The Pathway Back: You put the employee on a structured rehabilitation pathway. While they get help, they are moved away from safety-critical tasks.
Dignified Testing: You use modern testing methods to monitor their recovery over 6 to 12 months. This proves they are safe to work, rebuilds trust, and gives them their dignity back.
We’ve Been Doing This for Years
While other safety consultants and HR blogs are just now starting to talk about "support over sacking" as a new trend, my business has been implementing this framework for years.
We recognised a long time ago that a non-negative test result is just a piece of data, it isn't a moral judgment on whether someone is a good or bad person.
Helping an employee recover, supporting them through a tough time, and safely returning them to their job is the ultimate win-win. It saves your business money, keeps your team loyal, and keeps your workplace genuinely safe.
True safety isn't measured by how many people you catch and throw away. It’s measured by how many incidents you prevent and how many people you protect. It is time to throw out the old playbook and build a safety culture that actually works for the modern world.
Dave
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