Drug and Alcohol Testing

Drug and Alcohol Testing by People Asset Management

Why adopt drug and alcohol testing?

Drug testing is becoming more common in the workplace as managers appreciate the value of a healthy and motivated workforce and realise that through productivity and a reduction in absenteeism that their companies can make more money and have an effect on the bottom line.

Drug and alcohol testing has become more common as drug use becomes more widespread in society. Drug and alcohol testing has become an invaluable tool for managers. Drug policies will often include random or regular drug and alcohol testing, and also pre-employment drug and alcohol testing, although this will depend upon the exact terms of the company policy.

A testing regime is an intrinsic part of any drug and alcohol testing policy. Sometimes organisations will test employees after an incident where they suspect alcohol or drugs may be involved. Some companies test on a random basis but these companies tend to be in the minority due to the cost implications of testing large numbers of people on a regular basis. For cause testing after an accident or incident is far more common.

Drug and alcohol testing in the workplace

When a drug and alcohol testing policy has been decided upon, the explanation and implementation of this is important to get right. Whatever the policy is, it must be seen to be followed neutrally with regard to all staff, including the managers. This way, individuals will not feel victimised. When tests are carried out randomly, the selection process must be seen to be truly random and staff must understand that a truly random process might pick one worker 3 times a year and his colleague not at all. That’s just chance! There is quite a variety of ways that drug and alcohol testing takes place. In the case of drug and alcohol testing most tests will test urine. Urine tests have become the industry standard method of testing for drugs. This is for several reasons, but the main ones are that a result is available within a few minutes and that results have stood up to court scrutiny for several years and have a good track record in this area. A good drug and alcohol testing policy will promote sensible drinking and point out the fact that taking drugs is illegal and a potential hazard to an employee and his colleagues.

It will say that all employees must ensure that their performance at work and their judgement are never impaired by alcohol. In particular, employees whose jobs involve activities which impact significantly upon the safety of themselves or others, for example, drivers or operators of moving machinery, must ensure that their consumption of alcohol never threatens the safe performance of their duties and that their behaviour never puts themselves or others at risk.

A conviction for drink-driving is naturally viewed by all employers as a serious breach of the company’s drug and alcohol testing policy. Every drug and alcohol testing will also state that if an employee has an alcohol problem, then the employer will strongly encourage the individual to seek medical advice or counselling, either from their Occupational Health centre or from an external agency.

A dependency problem may be identified by the employee, or by colleagues or managers. A good drug and alcohol testing policy should be welfare driven and provide support to colleagues when such a need is identified.

Drug and alcohol testing can also be provided at our Occupational Health clinics for further details please telephone 01925 227000