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- NSC.org
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- Injury Facts
- Safety+Health Magazine
In 2022, 11% of people 12 and older had an alcohol use disorder; that's 29.5 million people. Alcohol use disorder was highest among 18- to 25-year-olds.
The most common impairing and addictive substance people use and misuse is alcohol. Alcohol, scientifically called ethyl alcohol or ethanol, is the intoxicating ingredient found in beer, wine and liquor. It is made by the fermentation process of yeast, sugars and starches. Alcohol is a depressant, like opioids, and slows down how your brain and body communicate and work together. Alcohol’s impact on each person depends on how much they drank, how quickly they drank it and how fast their body can process the alcohol.
● Impairment: Poor judgment, reduced reaction time, loss of balance and motor skills, slurred speech, confusion
● Rapid loss of body heat because of blood vessels dilating; even though blood vessel dilation (where blood vessels open and get wider) causes a loss of body heat, it makes a person feel like they’re warm, making this side effect especially dangerous in cold conditions
● Alcohol impairment can increase risk for motor-vehicle traffic crashes; in 2022, 13,524 people died in alcohol-impaired traffic incidents
SAMHSA.gov: Results from the 2022 National Survey on Drug Use and Health
Alcohol can cause an overdose when a person drinks a toxic amount. Drinking too much alcohol or combining alcohol with other substances, especially other depressants like opioids and cannabis, can lead to loss of consciousness, coma and death.
With alcohol use, misuse and addiction being so common in the United States, it also impacts workplaces.
● Alcohol use during the workday and heavy binge drinking the evening before work impairs concentration, coordination, judgement and fine motor skills, likely increasing the risk of injury
● The CDC estimates that alcohol use contributes to 18% of workplace injuries
● Alcohol use can increase employer costs due to absenteeism, healthcare costs, job turnover and lost productivity; in the U.S., alcohol use disorder is linked to 232 million missed workdays annually
● Factors such as workplace stress can contribute to employee alcohol use
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