GOSPEL-POL-020 IMPAIRMENT

DOCUMENT: GOSPEL-POL-020
REVISION: 01 CURRENT
EFFECTIVE: 2026-09-01
OWNER: GOSPEL Safety
APPROVED BY: GOSPEL
REVIEW: 2027-09-01

The rule

A person must not enter or remain at a workplace while their ability to work is affected by alcohol, a drug or another substance so as to endanger anyone. The employer must not knowingly permit it. 4.20. Crane operation, rigging and signalling are safety-sensitive. There is no ‘a little bit’ on a hook.

What counts

Alcohol. Cannabis — legal possession is not permission to operate impaired. Illegal drugs. Prescription and over-the-counter medication that affects the work. Fatigue and illness. If it makes you unfit to run the machine, make the hitch, or hold the zone, it is impairment.

Report it

Workers report impairment to the supervisor or the employer at the workplace before they attend, start, or continue. Observed impairment is treated the same as reported impairment. The person comes off the lift. They are not left in the cab to ‘sleep it off.’

Testing

This program does not run random drug or alcohol testing as a default. Testing happens only where the law allows and the situation requires it. Host or prime-contractor programs that are lawful are followed for that site. A test is not a substitute for taking an impaired person off the work.

Disability

Addiction and other disabilities are protected under the Human Rights Code. The employer accommodates to the point of undue hardship when it is told. Accommodation is not a licence to lift impaired. See Discrimination and Fitness for Work.