The benefits of managing fatigue and monitoring for impairment are becoming more widely recognized, especially as technological innovations like the AlertMeter® alertness level test technology make the benefits easily accessible.
These benefits result from the way alertness level testing fills certain needs that today’s employers have but that are not otherwise met by existing and traditional safety equipment and practices.
What Employers Need for Alertness Level Management
For instance, legal marijuana use and prescription opioid abuse complicate workplace drug testing policies while also demonstrating drug testing’s shortcomings both as a daily safety measure and as a method to prevent drug abuse.
Plus, employers understand that cognitive impairment can arise from sources other than drugs, like fatigue or illness, and this understanding means that employers need better visibility on the employees who may be struggling with their alertness level, whatever the cause. This means that a more relevant way to test for alertness level and impairment is needed in order to affect safety performance daily.
Having better visibility on non-alert employees, of course, is only part of the solution. Affecting safety performance requires implementing standardized methods for applying countermeasures and interventions when an employee’s alertness level may be compromised.
Employers also need ways to better identify and understand the causes of incidents and productivity issues when they occur. A method for measuring employees’ performance could improve this understanding by correlating the performance data against incident cause analyses.
Alertness Level Testing with Alertmeter®
Alertness level testing with AlertMeter® shows an employee’s present performance condition and is sensitive to impairment from all sources. This is unlike traditional workplace drug screens, which can only suggest potential impairment at some point in the indeterminate past, and they involve only certain intoxicating substances.
Plus, measuring present performance conditions with AlertMeter® is non-intrusive, requiring no biological specimen. As a result, it respects employees’ privacy—details of their personal lives and medical conditions are not disclosed to the employer.
While drug testing’s narrow scope tends to facilitate punitive responses in response to positive results, AlertMeter® facilitates communication between employees and supervisors, leading to responses appropriate for the situation.
Alertness Level Testing Benefits not only Employers but also Employees
In a survey, an overwhelming number of employees believed that alertness testing enhanced safety in their workplaces and was fairer than traditional drug testing. These findings are further supported by the statistics and feedback we’ve received from our clients.
