Deborah Carr claimed yesterday.

The organisation -- which offers a range of counselling services in the workplace -- is celebrating its tenth anniversary.

And Ms Carr told Hamilton Rotary Club that the programme was worth the investment.

She said the EAP no longer had to prove the worth of its services to companies.

Instead, EAP was now trying to specialise and diversify to meet the needs of the workplace.

Ms Carr used the example of the Bulls Head Car Park accident in 1995 -- when a Sea-Land Construction worker was crushed to death by a crane -- to highlight their Post Trauma Debriefing programme.

"It is used when businesses do not have the expertise to deal with the emotional needs of workers after an incident,'' she said. "For example, after Bulls Head Car Park... we counselled the Police, fire workers, the Sea-Land employees. We assisted people to get on and move on from that.'' Ms Carr said in the US there were $1.37 billion a year in losses related to alcohol and drugs in the workplace.

She added the health care cost for companies, per month, of someone with an alcoholic problem was $97 while the health care cost, per month, of an "average'' employee was $36.

The EAP is also planning to help businesses develop policies addressing problems like violence in the workplace.

Ms Carr said: "We aim to develop a response team to protect the health and safety of workers.'' She added that since it started ten years ago, the EAP has grown from having just six business clients to servicing 160 companies.

And she said that counselling was also losing its negative image and becoming more acceptable to Bermudians, with 4,500 employees seeking help over the years.

BUSINESS BUC