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Providing Over-the-counter Medications to Employees

Boxes of Advil Liqui-gels and Aleve on shelf next to red first aid kit.

Making over-the-counter (OTC) medications available to employees in first-aid kits or as part of communal medicine chests has potential benefits and risks. These medications can include pain relievers, antacids and cold medicines.

Weigh the Risks

Over-the-counter medications may improve productivity by allowing an employee to remain on the job rather than heading home at the first sign of a headache, cold or minor illness. However, some potential risks exist for employers that provide this type of medicine to their employees:

  • Side effects of OTC medications can be serious, even fatal.
  • The medication provided by the employer could trigger an allergic reaction or an adverse interaction with other drugs taken by the employee.
  • The employee could take the wrong dosage.
  • Some OTC medications can cause drowsiness or dizziness, leading to a workplace accident or an automobile accident on the drive home from work.

Implement Safeguards

An employee or third-party may try to hold the employer liable if an injury or accident occurs as a result of an employee taking employer-provided OTC medications. Therefore, employers providing these medicines have some measure of responsibility for instituting safeguards to help prevent accidents.

Safeguards can include:

  • Ensuring that the medications are in packaging labeled consistent with federal requirements. With appropriate labeling, employees can review the ingredients, usage, dosage and consumer safety details to make informed decisions. Sealed, single dose, tamper-evident packaging may be the best option.
  • Inspecting the medications to ensure that they have not been tampered with, recalled or expired.
  • Making OTC medications available in a vending machine for employees to purchase and self-administer.
  • Reviewing the contract if using a vendor to stock first-aid kits. Check to ensure that only approved items are restocked.

Consider Other Issues

Another concern often raised is whether employees will feel pressured by managers or supervisors to take over-the-counter medications that they would not otherwise use or to take a certain dosage simply because they are on hand. Accordingly, employers may need to provide training to managers, supervisors and employees to ensure they understand that any use of employer-provided OTC medication is strictly voluntary.

Employers may also need to take into account any costs associated with possible employee pilfering of the medications to supplement their home medicine cabinets.

The general industry standard is moving away from providing over-the-counter medications to employees. Rather, employers expect employees to be responsible for providing and controlling their own OTC remedies.

Whether to authorize the provision of over-the-counter medications is a policy decision that employers should take after full consideration of the risks and benefits. For additional information about this matter, members can contact their MCIT loss control consultants toll-free at 1.866.547.6516.

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