Greenscape Gardens Green Blog

Alcohol and Lawn Mowers Don’t Mix

Drinking alcoholic beverages while operating power equipment is not recommended. In 2005, a Vermont man was convicted of a DUI after driving a mower to the liquor store with a .16 blood-alcohol level.

Workplace alcohol use and impairment affects an estimated 15 percent of the U.S. workforce (19.2 million workers) according to a study published by the University at Buffalo’s Research Institute on Addictions.

Grounds maintenance occupations, it turns out, have among the highest rates of workplace alcohol use. The findings were reported in the January issue of the Journal of Studies on Alcohol (Frone, M.R. “Prevalence and Distribution of Alcohol Use and Impairment in the Workplace: A U.S. National Survey.”)

The results were obtained by telephone interviews from 2,805 employed adults.
The paper says that this is the first study of workplace alcohol use to survey a representative sample of the U.S. workforce. The broad occupation groups showing the highest rates of workplace alcohol use and impairment were the management occupations, sales occupations, arts/entertainment/sports/media occupations, food preparation and serving occupations, and building and grounds maintenance occupations. The study was funded by the National Institute on Alcohol.