– DDL in moves to stamp out underage drinking
Recognising that the abuse of alcohol is high among some sections of its employees, which in turn affects the company’s performance, the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) recently launched an alcohol awareness programme which focuses on moderation.
Health and Safety Officer, Earle Morris, who is heading the programme, was quick to point out that the company has no scientific data that gives an indication what percentage of its employees abuse alcohol. However, based on work absences by sections of the workforce — mainly cane harvesters — after payday the company has surmised that some had drank so much they were unable to work.
“We have been picking up some trends, especially on the weekends, especially in the harvesting and field [sections] where the attendance would go down and then it would pick up back some Mondays, Tuesdays…,” Morris said. This happens after they would have been paid on Friday afternoon.
Morris told Stabroek News in a recent interview that company, on making the observation, decided that it had to do something particularly after having discussions with some of the employees who indicated that their absence was because of heavy drinking.
GuySuCo’s programme became a reality shortly before Demerara Distillers Limited (DDL), a major alcohol-producing company, announced the commencement of a campaign in partnership with its retailers to stamp out underage drinking in Guyana. In an advertisement, DDL said the campaign seeks to ensure compliance with the laws of Guyana as they relate to underage drinking in an effort to protect children and build a more secure future.
“All DDL customers are being encouraged to sign a declaration committing to comply with the terms and conditions of their licence. Each store that makes a commitment will display a declaration notice and posters that seek to educate the customers about the campaign,” the company said in the ad. It said too that at the centre of the campaign is a drive to ensure that customers, whose age may be in doubt, are asked to produce ID cards before being served.
Last November DDL had told Stabroek News that in its marketing and advertising efforts, it has been generally guided by best practices which have been adopted regionally and which, among other things, seek to:
“1. promote our alcoholic beverages in a socially responsible manner and only to those of drinking age who choose to drink;
“2. disallow advertising and marketing of alcoholic beverages which target children, vulnerable persons or pregnant women;
“3. disallow links of the consumption of alcohol to driving, prowess, bravado, violence, aggression, dangerous or anti social behaviour, enhanced mental or physical capabilities in the advertisement of alcoholic beverages;
“4. disallow illegal, irresponsible and excessive consumption including binge drinking and drunkenness in our advertising and marketing campaign;
“5. include responsible drinking messages in advertising placements.” GuySuCo and DDL are the first two companies to attempt to tackle the issue of alcoholism in Guyana which over the years has been on the rise with sometimes fatal consequences.
Minister of Health Dr Leslie Ramsammy had said that alcohol abuse costs the health sector millions of dollars a year in hospital bills alone, in addition to a host of other negatives in the society, including domestic violence and sexual abuse. He called it a serious health problem and in addition to steps being taken by his ministry he admitted that much more could be done. Ramsammy had said that talks were taking place quietly with alcohol producing companies.
The Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport has joined the Ministry of Health in the fight against alcohol abuse with its focus being on educating the youths.
Moderate drinking
Officially launched on February 2 under the theme ‘Moderate your alcohol intake’, Morris said that the programme will be focused on getting employees to drink moderately.
He said the programme is not about telling people not to drink but that instead they should drink moderately as the abuse of the substance can have serious consequences.
The programme will entail general awareness sessions among employees coupled with focus group discussions among selected groups of employees. The facilitators for the focus group discussions will be persons from the medical field and some of the company’s social workers. The company’s television programme and its quarterly newsletter will also be mediums through which employees are expected to be sensitised about alcohol abuse.
Morris said the company will also slip useful messages into workers’ pay envelopes.
T-shirts with messages will also be distributed among employees while some billboards with pertinent messages have been erected.
It was pointed out to Morris that a large section of the company’s work force, which is abusing alcohol, can neither read nor would be inclined to watch the company’s television programme and as a result the vital messages would not be reaching them.
“With regard [to] who cannot read… those workshops are intended [to get the messages to them],” Morris said while quickly adding that they would not be targeting any one person or persons. It is hoped that those who are involved in the workshops would get the messages over to their colleagues.
“We will be doing many of those sessions because we believe that kind of one and one session would really help get the message across. I do agree with you that in many cases you may have persons who are heavy drinkers who may not be at the level of comprehending written messages,” Morris said.
Caring employer
Asked whether the company would be providing professional counselling for persons who might be addicted to alcohol, Morris said the company did not have an established counselling system and as such could not provide counselling.
However, he said if persons indicate that they are in need of professional help the company is prepared to facilitate them accessing the treatment and maybe down the line the company may even assist the person in paying for the treatment.
While the company does not plan to target anyone it may suspect to be an abuser of alcohol, Morris said it is hoped that through the programme anyone who is addicted will come forward and seek help.
“If we want to be a caring employer we will need to reach out to those persons… Whether the person is a harvester or is a manager those persons are from the company and they obviously play a key role in production and we need to look out for them.”
However he cautioned that the company cannot venture into the area of refusing to give employees, who are known to be heavy drinkers, their salaries and instead give them to their wives.
“While we may be in sympathy with those wives or families [who do not benefit from the money an employee works for] we also have to be respectful of our employees.”
He disclosed that the company knows of cases where wives would turn up at the pay offices on Fridays waiting “to grab the pay packages from their husbands. It is one of the cases where your heart reaches out to them and while it maybe bordering on the situation where it is because of alcohol consumption [that the wives are taking the money] we also have to take onboard that it may be on the opposite that [they are] taking [the] money because [they are the bullies].”
Morris said supervisors and foremen will sometimes reach out to employees they know are alcoholics and talk to them.
Survey
Morris revealed that the company has done a survey among five per cent of its work force and found from the answers there was not a large percentage abusing alcohol.
However, he did acknowledge that not only was the survey done among a small percentage of the workforce but also it did not target the specific sections of employees known to be abusing alcohol.
The programme will be run for one year at the end of which the company will do an analysis of the data collected to determine whether the programme is having an impact on the work force.
Morris said at the end of the year an evaluation would be done so as to decide in which area the programme should be channelled and whether its focus will change. The company is also going to be looking at medical data from its doctors to see what kind of illnesses workers suffer from and to determine whether these are as a result of alcohol abuse.
The programme is funded by the World Bank through the Health Sector Development Unit (HSDU) which gave Guysuco $30 million not only to fund the alcoholism programme, but also for its HIV programme and other programmes. The company approached the unit and after presenting a proposal funding was provided. The HIV and alcoholism programmes are part of the company’s general wellness programme. They are interconnected since they both deal with responsible behaviour.
Morris said this is not the first time the company has made an attempt to tackle the issue of alcoholism; many years ago a programme was launched but it was not sustained.
