Drug Testing in Construction Industry
UK contractors, suppliers and clients of the construction industry reportedly undertake rigorous and regular measures to tackle this issue including zero tolerance to drugs and alcohol, random testing, providing information on drugs and alcohol through toolbox talks, site inductions and resources such as on-site posters
How many construction industry employees have been drug tested?
But despite this in the last major study of employees, 65% had never been drug tested, while 59% had concerns about the safety issues resulting from drug and alcohol use within the construction industry. 35% were aware of instances where colleagues had been under the influence of drugs or alcohol within work.
All business have a responsibility and interest to improve site safety by any method available. If your employees are using drink or drugs, they are at increased risk of causing an accident that injures themselves or their colleagues.
What drugs should construction industry screen for?
Screening for the right set of drugs should be easy, but in reality the choice can be a real problem for many companies. No official guidance is given by either the health and safety executive or any other trade or official body. The only area where this has been addressed is in rail-side certification requirements set out by Network Rail. We think this sets a good foundation for the rest of the construction industry, but some of the drugs included are rare in the UK, and it does not cover the modern trends we see developing in drug dependence and abuse.
We have stripped down the suitable combinations to pre-employment or recruitment tests, and more comprehensive, industry led more complex combinations, depending on employment roles. These can be found in the workplace drug testing section of our web site. We also split the options into urine cup and panel tests, and saliva drug tests.
Some very large UK High Street brand companies are using saliva for both screening and laboratory confirmation testing.The move is mirroring what happened in the US following the FDA's move to approve this modality of testing.
Heres a direct link to the appropriate drug testing kit section and products