Alcohol and Misconduct: Correlation or Causation? Regardless of the answer, how to promote safety when alcohol is around. 

Alcohol is a familiar part of a variety of social scenarios. It can even play a role in less formal aspects of professional life, such as at corporate retreats, networking mixers, or holiday celebrations. People drink to relax, lower their inhibitions, and be part of the group if they’re in an environment where consuming alcohol is the norm—after all, if you’re hanging out at a college party, a bar, a nightclub, or a festival, having a drink or two is just part of the scene. The vacation vibe of summertime also increases the urge to indulge.

After all, alcohol in a social setting helps you fit in. It makes you belong.

Event Planning Risk Mitigation

This habit has a dark side. Alcohol is strongly associated with misconduct, including violence and sexual assault. The same factors that allow drinkers to leave their inhibitions behind and cut loose can also impair their judgment and increase aggression. If your organization is responsible for the well-being of employees, patrons, or community members in situations where alcohol is being served, you should know that:

• According to the U.S. Department of Justice Bureau of Justice Statistics, about 3 million violent crimes occur annually in which the victim perceived the offender to be drinking at the time of the offense. Drinking offenders committed over one-third of rapes or sexual assaults of persons over age 12 and more than one-quarter of simple assaults. And two-thirds of victims who suffered violence at the hands of a former spouse, boyfriend, or girlfriend reported that alcohol had been a factor.

• In about half of sexual assaults on college campuses, the perpetrator, the victim, or both had been consuming alcohol, per evidence in “Sexual Assault and Alcohol: What the Research Evidence Tells Us,” compiled by the Maryland Collaborative. 

• Research into intimate partner violence shows that the upper half of drinkers have twice the risk of violence as the lower half. 

• The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) estimates nearly 14 million Americans (1 in 13 adults) abuse alcohol or are alcoholics. Numerous studies and reports have estimated the workplace costs of alcoholism at between $33 and $68 billion per year.

In short, in any situation where alcohol may be present, you should assume the potential for misconduct will rise. 

Including Alcohol Without Ignoring Safety

Bar and club owners, festival organizers, college administrators, and any employers who hold events serving alcohol all face a similar challenge. How do you promote safety when alcohol is served and your employees are involved—for example, at a conference, at an after-work hour, Happy Hour, etc.? Having a strong code of conduct, making it easy for anyone to speak up, and encouraging people to report incidents of misconduct as soon as they happen are potent means of stopping developing problems from becoming more serious, but connecting all potentially impacted parties, from staff to patrons, to reporting channels hasn’t been easy—until now.

NotMe Solutions is the perfect answer for seamlessly providing safe reporting and effective case management in any situation. Easily downloaded to any individual’s phone, our reporting app gives each person the means to quickly report incidents of misconduct in full anonymity if they choose, along with uploaded pictures and videos. Your organization gets the information needed to clamp down on aggression or harassment right away, instead of learning that an assault has taken place days or weeks afterward (or maybe only after a lawsuit has been filed). 

Making people know about the #NotMe app and its ease of use also acts as a deterrent to bad behavior, thus enhancing safety for all. 

Equally important is the fact that the #NotMe reporting app integrates with our case management system, which is powered by our in-house-developed proprietary AI system. This platform swiftly flags possible patterns of misconduct and systemic concerns, allowing you to remediate situations that may be inadvertently increasing the risk of harm from alcohol. It also provides the means to investigate claims of misconduct rapidly and effectively with a clear audit trail. 

When alcohol is part of the equation, ignoring the risk is not an option. NotMe Solutions has helped many organizations around the globe maintain high standards of safety with reporting that is always at the fingertips of their people. To learn more about how we can make your event, workplace, and organization safer for everyone, contact us here today.