Originally published at SHP Online.
Dr Paul Yates, business development director at Intelligent Fingerprinting, examines the role drug screening plays in reducing the health and safety risks associated with drug misuse.
Drug misuse is a serious concern when it comes to health and safety in the workplace. Almost 1 in 10 UK workers admit to recent drug use,[1] and 16% of UK employers have suspected a staff member of being under the influence.[2] This not only puts the safety of individual employees at risk; drugs and alcohol contribute to 26% of workplace accidents, which cost the UK £4 billion every year.[3]
Tackling drug misuse effectively has many potential health and safety benefits for a business and for its employees. Absenteeism and compromised productivity can be reduced, as can the risk of accidents caused by impaired judgment. Offering support to employees who declare or are found to have a drug-related problem can improve employee mental health and morale. This has the overall effect of enhancing the perception of an organisation as a safe and caring employer.
Tackling drug misuse is an employer requirement to maintain a safe workplace under the following health and safety legislation:
- Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974: it is a general duty for managers to ensure, as far as is reasonably practicable, the health, safety and welfare at work of employees
- Transport and Works Act 1992: it is a criminal offence for certain workers to be unfit through drugs and/or drink while working on railways, tramways and other guided transport systems
- Misuse of Drugs Act 1971: it is an offence for managers to knowingly permit the production or supply of any controlled drugs, the smoking of cannabis or certain other activities to take place on workplace premises
So how can employers ensure they meet their legislative obligations? HSE Drug Misuse at Work recommends that the best way to deal with employee drug use is to have a drug misuse policy[4] which forms part of an employee’s contractual obligations. Even if there is no evidence of previous or existing drug misuse, an effective policy enables early identification of potential issues.
Employers’ drug misuse policies should include training for managers to spot the signs of drug misuse, as 1 in 3 UK employers cannot identify when a worker is under the influence of drugs.2 Perhaps most importantly, policies should consider the nature of the work carried out by employees. Which aspects are safety-critical?
Employee drug testing plays an important role in an active and effective workplace drug misuse policy. Testing regimes vary and need to be defined in the policy, ranging from pre-employment screens to post-accident investigations, and may include random screening of all employees or only those in safety-critical roles.
Conventional drug screening tests require the collection of body fluid samples (usually urine, saliva, or sometimes blood) and are used to test for a range of drugs as specified in the employer’s policy. These are usually illicit drugs of abuse, but may also include prescription medications that can cause impairment.
However, current point-of-care drug screens have limitations that can impact the effectiveness of otherwise well-devised policies. Collection of invasive body fluids for drug testing can be costly, time-consuming and difficult to administer on-site because of the need to set up specially prepared collection areas and provide trained, often gender-specific collectors. Body fluids also require careful handling and disposal at costly specialist biohazardous waste facilities.
On a more personal level, existing drug testing methods can be intrusive or undignified for the employee and the sample collector. Urine sample collection can be particularly problematic for this reason.
It is clear that better alternatives could be of use.
The solution may now be available as a new fingerprint-based drug test developed by the British company Intelligent Fingerprinting. Their new drug-screening system works by analysing sweat from a fingerprint to detect recent drug use. The test is simple and non-invasive: sample collection takes a few seconds, and results are available in under 10 minutes.
In contrast to conventional drug screening methods, the new fingerprint drug test is hygienic and non-biohazardous, meaning that the challenges associated with collecting and disposing of urine, saliva, or blood samples are eliminated.
A fingerprint sweat sample is collected by simply pressing a fingertip onto a test Cartridge for a few seconds. The Cartridge is then inserted into a Reader that analyses the fingerprint sweat for drug metabolites, which are chemicals produced by the body when it processes (metabolises) drugs of abuse. The Reader provides a positive or negative result in less than 10 minutes, giving a simple pass-or-fail reading for the specific drugs being tested.
The arrival of new, easy-to-use technologies has the potential to revolutionise drug screening in the workplace. These innovative solutions could benefit employers by supporting them in delivering more effective drug misuse policies, improving health and safety, discouraging drug use and reducing drug-related accidents.
References:
[1] United Kingdom drug situation: annual report to the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) 2012. Department of Health. https://www.cph.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/23779-FOCAL-POINT-REPORT-2012-B5.pdf
[2] Synergy Health survey: survey of 200 medium to large sized covering approximately 26,000 employees (2014): https://realbusiness.co.uk/article/26589-drugs-in-the-workplace-a-4bn-problem-that-employers-ignore
[3] Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development research: https://realbusiness.co.uk/article/26589-drugs-in-the-workplace-a-4bn-problem-that-employers-ignore
[4] HSE, Drug Misuse at Work – a guide for employers: https://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/indg91.pdf
