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UK: Link between drug tests and accidents at work challenged

Karin Goodwin

The Herald, Glasgow

Sunday 16 Mar 2003

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Draft report prompts unions to call for rethink

A government inquiry into employers' escalating use of drug tests on
workers is expected to reveal they have had little impact on safety in
the workplace. Now unions are calling for a rethink on the tests.

Unions say they have seen a draft copy of a report by the Health and
Safety Executive, which reveals there is little link between the number
of positive drug tests and the number of accidents at work.

TUC Senior Policy Officer Owen Tudor told the Sunday Herald: 'People
have generally not objected to alcohol testing in safety-critical areas
but there are more problems with drug testing. With a lot of drug tests
there can be false positives. If you eat a poppy-seed roll it can show
up as an opiate. Ibuprofen has a similar effect.

'In our experience the biggest problem at work is with alcohol, then
prescribed drugs.

'If a person goes clubbing on a Friday and takes ecstacy, they may not
be affected by Monday -- but if a chief executive goes to a business
lunch on a Tuesday and drinks, the alcohol will still have an effect in
the afternoon.'

Drugscope, the campaigning charity, is also suspicious about claims of a
link between drug-taking and accidents. Results of its independent
inquiry into workplace drug tests are due next month, but inquiry
researcher Peter Frances said he has found insufficient evidence of a
link. Frances, of Northumbria University, said: 'When you look at drug
use in relation to accident and injury it gets complex. Poor working
environments might be at the root of something for which drugs are being
blamed.''

The Scottish Human Rights Centre has received hundreds of calls about
the issue, as worried employees seek advice on their rights. Director
Rosemarie McIlwhan said: 'There is the feeling that there is an
infringement of their privacy.

'We advise employers to think very carefully about what the tests are
for before they introduce them. If they want to know if someone is fit
to do their job they should use the least invasive methods possible,
such as manual dexterity tests.

'Where possible, we advise employees to get their union involved and it
can discuss with them whether they want to refuse. We've got to protect
health and safety, but testing has to be proportional to risk.'

There is evidence that the number of firms testing employees for drugs
is increasing. Companies employed to perform the tests are reporting
significant growth.

Lindsey Hatfield, Policy and Education Adviser at Medscreen, a company
undertaking drug and alcohol tests on behalf of about 450 UK-based firms
said: 'We've now got around a 5 million pound turnover.

'The range of companies using our services has also expanded. As people
are aware of the increased use of drugs they are doing more to deal with
problem drug use. More recently, firms have become aware not only of
safety-critical issues but also business-critical issues. They realise
that people talking on the phone could give out wrong information or
enter data wrongly.'

Altrix Healthcare, a firm offering mouth-swab tests that collect blood
serum, estimate between 30% and 40% of UK firms use or plan to use drug
testing in the workplace.

Marketing Manager Steve Nurdin said: 'We tend to follow America. Around
80% to 90% of companies use pre-employment or random testing there.

'More and more companies are contacting us. We had huge targets this
year and we're meeting all of them.'

The controversial tests, which detect the presence of drugs including
cannabis, amphetamines and opiates in blood or urine samples, have been
used for over a decade in such 'security-sensitive' jobs as transport
and industrial sectors to detect intoxication.

But many drugs show up in tests long after use, with traces of cannabis
remaining in the bloodstream for up to 28 days.

Unions are warning against the adoption of drug-testing policies without
clear evidence of critical health and safety issues and have urged
employers to consider the relevance of such tests in the workplace.

Both the GMB and Unison Scotland stressed that drug testing in the
workplace is only acceptable as part of a well-defined company policy.

Alex McLuckie of GMB Scotland said: 'Drug and alcohol policies are
becoming more common in today's workplace. While the GMB supports the
introduction of responsible and fair policies there are major concerns,
including the increased and indiscriminate use of testing. Whilst the
GMB does not oppose testing per se, there are many instances where it is
unnecessary. Where testing has to be introduced it should be part of an
integrated framework policy and carried out under strict controls.'

A survey by the Chartered Management Institute last year revealed that
55% of managers agreed drug and alcohol tests at work were an effective
deterrent. But only 46% had an alcohol and drug policy in place -- and
of those, only a fifth said they knew what it involved.

 

 

 

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