Does your Employer Have a Drugs Testing Policy?

Recent research conducted in Northern Ireland by Randox Laboratories in Antrim has found that more than one third of companies here have sacked or disciplined employees for using drugs. These results were taken from research conducted across  1500 companies.

This may seem like a large proportion of companies here, but Randox was not overly  surprised by the statistics, pointing out the 74% of all drug users are in employment. Dr. Mark Piper, Randox's toxicology manager, said that whilst he was not surprised by the figures he was shocked that so many of the companies surveyed had no official policy of drug testing in place.

Dr. Piper also highlighted that whilst it is the "safety critical" industries who will be most likely to test their employees, all employers should have the correct procedure in place to allow testing when necessary.

Employers will clearly be eager to keep drug misuse away from the workplace as they need to be concerned with the health and safety of all their employees, as well as ensuring that accidents are prevented where possible and that work is efficiently done.

Accordingly, they should ensure that they have an appropriate policy drawn up any such policy should include:

• what the policy is trying to achieve;
• who is responsible for implementing the policy;
• how the employer expects employees to behave;
• how any tests will be carried out;
• what support is available to drug misusers;
• how periods of absence may be treated;
• what disciplinary action may be taken.
  

If an employer decides to test employees for drugs they need their consent. This should normally be given where the employer has grounds for testing under a full contractual occupational health and safety policy.

Guidelines for employers who want to implement a Drugs and Alcohol Policy, as well as a model policy, can be found on the Health and Safety Executive for Northern Ireland's website at www.healthandsafetyworksni.gov.uk/