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08/12/2009 by admin.
Drug testing at work is now routine for thousands of safety critical workers. Employment contracts have evolved to enable employers to routinely screen for drugs pre-employment candidates, after workplace accidents and incidents, and on a random basis.
Drug testing at work has become more commonplace as rates of social drug and alcohol use have increased. Increasing social drug use is recognised to impact negatively on workplace productivity and safety. Increasing awareness of employers duty of care withing the workplace with the need to ensure a safe working environment at all times justifies indentifying employers attending the workplace under the influence of drugs and/or alcohol.
Where the safety argument works for train drivers and fork lift truck operative, the productivity argument increasingly works for all other employees and increasingly managers at all levels.
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04/06/2009 by admin.
Staff could feel alienated by drug tests.
Managers could end up ‘alienating’ staff and even breaching their human rights by insisting on drug tests within the workplace.
That is according to the drugs charity Release, which has reported a four-fold increase in the number of calls it receives relating to testing on employees.
That is according to the drugs charity Release, which has reported a four-fold increase in the number of calls it receives relating to testing on employees.
Notably, it has revealed that many of those organisations taking such measures are those working in sectors where testing for drugs has rarely been an issue, such as the finance and clerical sectors, with the charity explaining that this upturn could be down to the fact that many managers are looking to get rid of workers without having to make redundancy payouts.
Indeed, many of the employees getting in touch with the charity reported that their employers had announced planned voluntary redundancies just prior to giving staff workplace medicals, which often included drugs tests.
Advising employers on the importance of good management practice in this area, executive director of Release Sebastian Saville said: “This is a worrying practice that may well breach employees’ human rights and their rights to privacy.
“Employers risk alienating staff by forcing them into intrusive tests and should be supporting any staff member who might be experiencing drug problems, not using it as an excuse to make cheap redundancies.”
Testing for illicit substances is already commonplace in organisations where workers are required to operate machinery or undertake driving tasks.
Information taken from learndirect website
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05/05/2009 by admin.
Just read this article in Construction News
Rok’s employees and supply chain will face drug and alcohol tests from this autumn.
The group – which turned over more than £1 billion last year and has 60 offices across the UK – told Construction News it plans to roll out a new drug and alcohol policy which will see all of its workers face an initial round of testing, followed by sustained random checks.
Rok, which in March announced it had a secured future pipeline of work some £2.7 billion, said it wanted to weed out drug and alcohol abusers in a bid to boost site safety across the company.
Head of health and safety Shaun Davis said while the policy had not yet been finalised, it was expected to include pre-employment, random and post-incident testing. Tests could also be carried out if suspicions were raised over any specific individuals.
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Posted in Drug testing in construction industry, Drug testing at work, Workplace drug testing, Drug Testing News, Drug Testing | 1 Comment »
14/01/2009 by admin.
Employment and pre-employment drug screening is again in the news, and despite the economic doom and gloom companies are still investing in careful drugs screening to ensure the right employees are taken on.
Most companies embarking on drug and alcohol screening do not have the facility of an in house occupational health or HR department to oversee the program. This makes picking the right tools for the job even more essential.
Managers need to understand the differences between urine drug testing kits and saliva drug test kits, look carefully at the drug groups covered by the drug testing kit and the manufaturers guide & detection times for each drug type. These vary enormously.
Saliva drug testing offers the enormous advantage of easy sample collection, with high confidence levels that you are testing a fresh sample, from the person you intend to screen. Urine collection is obviously harder to oversee.
A range of saliva drug tests are available in the UK. Ensure the drug testing product carries a professional CE mark and also lists the European representative for the registration mark. Follow the manufacturers instructions for use and also refer to the accuracy studies which should be listed in the data sheet provided with all professional drug test drug testing packs. Products sold as home or self tests, or just not listed as professional, may be from the same manufacturer but do not have to meet the same regulatory and EU compliance tests. Check with the supplier if these drug test products are as good before purchasing.
Our suggested first line saliva drug test products for business are:
InstAlert Twist saliva drug test
Click here for more information on Saliva Drug Testing Kits
Posted in Drug screen, Drug screening, Drug Test, drug testing work, First Sign Oral drug test, Drug Tests at work, Drug testing in the workplace, Oral Drug Testing, Oraline, Saliva Drug Tests, Employment Drug Testing, Drug testing at work, Saliva Drug Test, Oral Drug Test, Drug Testing | 1 Comment »