Think you're safe having a drink or two with dinner? Your boss might have other ideas.

Corporate New Zealand is cracking down on boozing workers, with many employees now facing the sack if they come to work with the slightest whiff of alcohol on their breath.

It comes amid raised eyebrows at a commercial radio stunt this week, in which well-known Radio Hauraki DJs drank excessively and publicly through the night, before broadcasting their morning show openly drunk and largely incoherent.

The breakfast team of Matt Heath, Jeremy Wells and Laura McGoldrick completed their Thursday morning radio show, before heading out drinking. They remained intermittently on air throughout the day and night – drinking for the most part – before returning to host their Friday morning show.

SUPPLIED Radio Hauraki host and NZ Herald columnist Matt Heath during an on-air bender.

The radio show staff uttered garbled and unintelligible sentences and laughed hysterically during parts of the morning show.

A spokeswoman for their employer NZME said they couldn't find anyone to comment on a Saturday.

But zero tolerance policies are now becoming common place for many state-owned enterprises and private companies, who have introduced stringent policies designed to maximise safety at work.

SUPPLIED Radio Hauraki breakfast co-hosts Laura McGoldrick, Matt Heath and Jeremy Wells drinking on the job.

Kirk Hardy, chief executive of The Drug Detection Agency, said workplace alcohol testing had been on the increase in the past 18 months – particularly in the corporate environment.

"Even the executive roles, they have the drug and alcohol testing policy in place.

"Someone might come to work and look fatigued or bleary-eyed or washed out ... and you can often smell it on them and the bosses might request an alcohol test."

Alcohol tests were taking place in the office usually following a workplace accident or if bosses had "reasonable cause" to request a staff member to undertake one, Hardy said.

Tests often came after a pattern emerged in an employee. "That's your Friday mornings after a big Thursday night, or even Mondays, after a big weekend – whatever the pattern."

In large firms, the zero tolerance approach applies to both office-based staff and those working "out in the field".

A study into the effects of hangovers in Australia this year revealed our trans-Tasman neighbours are losing $3 billion dollars a year in apparent alcohol-induced "sick days".

The Flinders University study found that the more alcohol and/or drugs an employee consumes, the more time they were likely to take off work.

The grand total of such absenteeism was calculated at 11.5 million hungover "sick days" a year.

The problem was increasing too: the total cost of this lost productivity was up from $1.2 billion in alcohol-related absenses in 2001.

In New Zealand, a recent study found 45 per cent of workers admitted to turning up to work hungover and 23 per cent of Kiwi employees had pulled a sickie after a night drinking.

The Southern Cross Health Society poll found Wellingtonians were the most likely to call in sick with a hangover, with 35 per cent having pulled a sickie after a big night out.

Transpower had a zero-tolerance alcohol and substance policy, and carried out random alcohol testing on a regular basis for all employees.

A spokeswoman said any alcohol reading above 100 micrograms per litre of breath (less than one standard drink) would trigger a positive test.

"It is well recognised that the expectation is absolutely no alcohol consumption while undertaking Transpower work."

Mighty River Power, Fonterra, KiwiRail and Carter Holt Harvey all said they had zero tolerance policies towards staff who were caught with alcohol on their breath.

At NZ Post, any employee or contractor who drank alcohol while working, or reported for work in such a state that they could not perform their duties properly would be subject to disciplinary procedures for misconduct.

Meridian tested all prospective employees for drugs and alcohol prior to employment, and also carried out "just cause", random, and post-incident testing.

While the policy stated the legal alcohol driving limit was the maximum amount to be found on an employee, the "expected level at work is zero," a spokeswoman said.

Since December 2014, the alcohol limit for drivers aged over 20 years was lowered from 400 micrograms of alcohol per litre of breath to 250mcg.

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