The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that nearly 2 million people in the United States are addicted to prescription pain killers. One of those people might be your employee.

Opioid painkillers such as Vicodin and Oxycontin that are hydrocodone and oxycodone based are commonly prescribed to treat work-place injuries and other types of chronic pain. But these drugs are often over-prescribed and abused by patients and addiction is very common. In fact, in the last ten years, painkiller addiction rates have risen to epidemic proportions in the United States, the CDC said.

Injured or chronically ill workers who develop an addiction to painkillers represent a health and safety concern to themselves and to fellow workers. They can also create potential liability risks for you, the employer, and can lead to a less efficient and less productive workforce.

An obvious first-step in dealing with any kind of drug problem in the workplace is to be proactive and have a drug-testing policy in place that allows pre-employment testing, random drug testing, testing after workplace accidents and testing based on reasonable suspicion.

Then train your managers to look for the signs of substance abuse, particularly in employees who slack off at work, take unusual and frequent breaks, are no longer punctual, and who occasionally slur their speech or make unwarranted mistakes in their work.  While many employees may be able to manage their chronic pain responsibly and without abuse, you should be aware of the warning signs of abuse and educate your managers on them as well. These signs can include bloodshot eyes, sudden weight loss, a lack of grooming, poor attendance or other uncharacteristic behavior.

Before you take action against an impaired employee, you need to consider and weigh both the safety of your employees versus the risk of a lawsuit by the employee who is abusing drugs. The Family and Medical Leave Act or the Americans with Disabilities Act may apply to this situation, so don’t make any hasty decisions without legal advice.