Staying Safe with Alcohol and Drugs

Alcohol and drugs can impair your ability to keep yourself safe. It’s vital that you take steps to avoid letting drinking or taking controlled substances harm you or others.

Using these substances not only increases your chances of being hurt in a fire, but also makes it much more dangerous for you to drive on the road.

We have safety advice on how you can protect yourself if you drink or take drugs. Remember that help is always available to assist you in lowering your intake. Doing so can greatly improve your health and wellbeing.

Alcohol and Drugs

50% of people who die in house fires have had a drink or taken drugs.

You can take simple steps to reduce the likelihood of this happening to you.

The Law In England

Here are the legal alcohol limits for drivers in England, including Lancashire:

  • 35 microgrammes of alcohol per 100 millilitres of breath.

  • 80 milligrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of blood.

  • 107 milligrammes of alcohol per 100 millilitres of urine.

Remember: it’s not always possible to judge how much alcohol you can consume and still legally drive a vehicle. It’s much better to avoid drinking altogether if you plan on getting behind the wheel.

Drug driving is a serious offence, and can be caused by having an excessive amount of one of 17 legal and illegal controlled substances in your system. You should never operate a vehicle if you have been impaired by taking drugs.

How To Keep Safe

There are some simple things you can do to make it less likely you’ll be injured while drinking or taking any drugs:

  1. Let others know you plan to drink or take drugs so they know to check you’re OK.

  2. Where possible, don’t drink to excess or take drugs alone.

  3. Do not cook if you are under the influence. Instead, eat something cold or order a takeaway.

  4. Never drive a vehicle if you are over the limit.

  5. Extinguish all cigarettes fully – smoking outside is far safer than in your home.

  6. Keep in mind that you might still be impaired the morning after, so be careful if you plan to drive.

  7. Make sure you have working smoke alarms to alert you in case of fire.

Help With Alcohol And Drugs

It’s never too late to get help. If you want to stop drinking or taking drugs, or even just reduce your intake, you should seek help right away.

For help reducing your intake or stopping altogether, you can reach out to lots of different sources. The NHS’s drug addiction advice is a good place to start online. For personalised help, you can contact your GP.

Here is a list of useful contacts where you can get help:

Alcoholics Anonymous – support for people who want to stop drinking.

FRANK – support and information about drugs.

We Are With You – support for mental health issues as well as drug and alcohol abuse.

Narcotics Anonymous – support for people who want to stop taking drugs.

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Home Fire Safety

Learn more about how you can stay safe in your home.