[Alcohol prevention in the workplace: current workplace concepts for addiction prevention and addiction assistance programmes].

The standard workplace addiction prevention and addiction counselling programmes for preventing alcohol problems in the workplace and helping those at risk of addiction have been proven to be successful. The key elements are, firstly, information and education; secondly, early intervention if conspicuous behaviour in the workplace is identified; thirdly, qualification and counselling by human resources staff; and, finally, assistance for employees with alcohol or other substance addiction problems.In the 1970s, corporate addiction prevention programs based on the American model were established in Germany. In 2006 the German Centre for Addiction Issues (DHS) published for the first time the "Guidelines on Addiction Prevention and Assistance Programs in Companies" as a quality standard. Since then, all companies or public administrations have had open access to specialised knowledge and current legal materials. This is important in order to regulate and reduce alcohol consumption in the workplace. The prevention mandate of managers includes instructing employees on how to avoid health hazards. As soon as there are occupational safety violations, superiors are obliged to intervene. In general, they should intervene as early as possible in the case of irregularities caused by alcohol consumption. In the case of high-risk drug use and risk of addiction, the procedure is based on a tiered sequence of interviews. Support offers from internal or external advice centres are recommended.Alcohol and addiction prevention is part of occupational health management. It has a particularly lasting effect where the program has been written in a company or service agreement and is implemented in a binding manner.