Open HSI menu
Subscribe Login

Home / Articles and Press Releases / Article / Substance Misuse and Drug Testing in the Construction Industry

CATEGORIES

  • Latest Issue
  • Above The Neck Protection
  • Chemical Protection
  • Confined Space
  • Construction
  • Emergency Procedures
  • Energy, Oil and Mining Industries
  • Eye Protection
  • Fall Protection
  • Gas Detection
  • Hand Protection
  • Hazardous and Explosive Atmospheres
  • Health and Safety Awareness
  • Hearing Protection
  • Heat and Flame
  • Lighting and ATEX
  • Noise Monitoring
  • Personal Protective Equipment
  • Respiratory Protection
  • Safety Footwear
  • Safety Technology
  • Safety Training
  • Slips, Trips and Falls
  • Wellbeing at Work
  • Working at Height
  • Working Rights

MORE

  • Press Releases
  • Events
  • Videos
  • Webinars
  • Magazines

COMPANY

  • About
  • Advertising
  • Newsletter
  • Contact
Open HSI menu
Subscribe

Home / Articles and Press Releases / Article / Substance Misuse and Drug Testing in the Construction Industry

CATEGORIES

  • Latest Issue
  • Above The Neck Protection
  • Chemical Protection
  • Confined Space
  • Construction
  • Emergency Procedures
  • Energy, Oil and Mining Industries
  • Eye Protection
  • Fall Protection
  • Gas Detection
  • Hand Protection
  • Hazardous and Explosive Atmospheres
  • Health and Safety Awareness
  • Hearing Protection
  • Heat and Flame
  • Lighting and ATEX
  • Noise Monitoring
  • Personal Protective Equipment
  • Respiratory Protection
  • Safety Footwear
  • Safety Technology
  • Safety Training
  • Slips, Trips and Falls
  • Wellbeing at Work
  • Working at Height
  • Working Rights

MORE

  • Press Releases
  • Events
  • Videos
  • Webinars
  • Magazines

COMPANY

  • About
  • Advertising
  • Newsletter
  • Contact

CATEGORIES

  • Article
  • Press Release
  • Above The Neck Protection
  • Chemical Protection
  • Confined Space
  • Construction
  • Emergency Procedures
  • Energy, Oil and Mining Industries
  • Eye Protection
  • Fall Protection
  • Gas Detection
  • Hand Protection
  • Hazardous and Explosive Atmospheres
  • Health and Safety Awareness
  • Hearing Protection
  • Heat and Flame
  • Lighting and ATEX
  • Noise Monitoring
  • Personal Protective Equipment
  • Respiratory Protection
  • Safety Footwear
  • Safety Technology
  • Safety Training
  • Slips, Trips and Falls
  • Wellbeing at Work
  • White Papers
  • Working at Height
  • Working Rights

Article

Substance Misuse and Drug Testing in the Construction Industry

By David Cant

| Read Bio

Published: May 26th, 2017

Share this article

Drink and drug testing may seem heavy-handed – but it could actually help make your construction sites safer.

Your business has a responsibility 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.

To better manage these risks, you should seriously consider implementing drug and alcohol testing for your workers.

What is workplace substance abuse testing?

In the same way that the police regularly breathalyse drivers to detect drink drivers, many employers are beginning to introduce their own tests. These tests detect the presence of alcohol or drugs in a worker’s bloodstream, indicating whether they are currently under the influence.

Using a simple urine test, workers can be checked in a matter of minutes – and at a relatively low cost. Urine testing kits are widely available, and administering the test is quick and simple – almost fool proof. Simply pee in the supplied container and wait 10 minutes for the test results to develop.

Another good choice is saliva testing. Saliva tests are readily available, and provide accurate results in as little as 10 minutes. You simply swab the inside of the employee’s mouth, place in the supplied container and wait for the results to develop.

Hair testing is even more accurate, revealing drug and alcohol use in the previous three months. The downside is that you must take a small sample of hair and send it to a lab for analysis. This will take several days and is much more expensive that urine and saliva tests.

Why should you consider workplace substance abuse testing?

Substance abuse testing is a vital tool for improving on-site safety. One study – “Evaluation of Drug Testing in the Workplace: Study of the Construction Industry” – found that within two years of introducing drug testing, businesses were able to reduce on-the-job injuries by 51%.

Drug use is also more common than many employers realise. A Home Office survey found that 70% of substance misusers are currently in full-time employment, destroying the myth that drug use is the preserve of the unemployed. More importantly, the same study found that drug users were 3.6 times more likely to be involved in an accident than non-users.

Every on-site incident presents a danger to the substance misuser and their colleagues.

Testing for more than just substance abuse

Substance misuse often masks other important health factors. Depression is often closely-aligned with drug use for instance, providing a useful indicator to overall wellbeing.

Around 350,000 UK construction workers are believed to be affected by depression, that’s one-in-six of all employees in the sector. They are also much more likely to commit suicide, than be involved in a workplace accident.

Because of the correlation between drug use and mental health, being able to identify substance misusers within the workplace offers a helpful way to spot at-risk individuals, and to offer additional help and support to them.

How do you go about implementing workplace substance abuse testing?

There are four key steps to rolling out your own substance abuse testing regime.

Decide how and why you will test your employees

Before launching into workplace substance abuse testing, you need to define sensible policy that outlines how tests take place. You can ask employees to take tests before making an offer of employment, or after an on-site incident. For employees using heavy machinery, or involved in particularly high-risk activities, you could also consider introducing random testing, carrying out spot checks to ensure they remain clean over the long term.

Update the employee handbook

Once you have the how and why of your testing regime decided, the next step is to update your employee handbook so that everyone knows what to expect. You should also have the policy to ensure that it is fully compliant with UK employment law – otherwise you may run into problems later.

Answer your employees’ questions

With the policy published, you should arrange a question and answer session with employees. This gives you an opportunity to explain why the new measures are coming into play – to help keep employees safe. At the same time, your staff can get answers to their own questions about what to expect. You should also use the opportunity to obtain signatures from employees, indicating their agreement with the new policy.

Prepare for push-back

You may encounter some opposition – this is not a sign that those complaining are substance abusers. Some may simply find requests for urine samples to be embarrassing or demeaning – which is why you must be open and honest about the procedures, and how they will keep workers safe.

Get it right, get help

Substance abuse screening is a useful tool in the fight against accidents on construction sites. For any business serious about doing their best by employees and the general public, carrying out these tests should be a serious consideration.

To learn more about substance misuse testing and how it can be used effectively on your work sites, please get in touch

Share this article

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

David Cant

David Cant CMIOSH, RMaPS MIIRSM, MinstLM, OSHCR

Veritas Consulting is run by David Cant who is a Chartered member of the Institute of Occupational Safety & Health (IOSH). David keeps up to date with changes in legislation through Continued Professional Development and his network of consultants.

Drawing on many years experience the consultancy operates in all areas of workplace health and safety, including role of a CDM Consultant , Asbestos Survey Management and Training.

Connect with David Cant

Visit Website

POPULAR POSTS BY David Cant

Istock 531692572 0 92 1125 2000 - hsi -

Article

Substance Misuse and Drug Testing in the Construction Industry

Get email updates

Sign up for the HSI newsletter

Keep up-to-date through the power of email with Europe's largest audited safety magazine - delivering the latest news and products to satisfy all your occupational safety needs.
  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

FEATURED ARTICLES

Article

 Thameslink Traffic Management Programme

Press Release

‘Working At Height’ Remains Biggest Danger

Press Release

“Uncertainty and Ignorance” Risks More Asbestos Deaths

Advertisement

SOCIAL MEDIA

HSI on Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/HSIMagazine/

Advertisement

SOCIAL MEDIA

HSI on Twitter

hsimagazine HSI Magazine @hsimagazine ·
25 Jan

Global gas sensing leader @ionscience has today formally announced the addition of a high-specification Particulate Matter (PM) sensor to its portfolio.

Read all about this exciting addition!
https://www.hsimagazine.com/press-release/worlds-best-performing-particulate-matter-pm-sensor-now-available-from-ion-science-ltd/

#hsimagazine #ionscience #particulatematter

Reply on Twitter 1618280038557970432 Retweet on Twitter 1618280038557970432 Like on Twitter 1618280038557970432 Twitter 1618280038557970432

Advertisement

SUBSCRIBE

Stay up to date with our newsletter

    • Keep up-to-date with Europe’s largest audited safety magazine

 

    • Delivering the latest news and products to satisfy all your occupational safety needs

 

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Subscribe

SUBSCRIBE TO HSI MAGAZINE

5 reasons to subscribe to our digital and print package

  • Stay up to date from anywhere in the world, with instant access to the latest issue straight from your phone, tablet or laptop.
  • Trust that you’re getting the best content from our range of internationally accredited authors.
  • Get full access to our archives and see how occupational safety has evolved with us over the years.
  • Enjoy our monthly newsletter curated with up-to-the-minute news and a selection of editor’s top picks.
  • Hot off the press and straight to your door – look forward to your own glossy copy of HSI, delivered five times a year
Subscribe View Subscription levels

STAY SAFE & INFORMED

Subscribe to the best health & safety articles, news, products and regulations

Find out more

Stay up to date with our newsletter

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

ABOUT

  • About HSI International
  • Advertise
  • Contact Us

YOUR ACCOUNT

Sign In Register Account Subscribe to HSI

RESOURCES

Request Media Pack

CONNECT

ACCREDITATIONS

Copyright Bay Publishing 2023. All Rights reserved.

Designed & Built by:
  • Terms & Conditions
  • Privacy Policy
  • Cookie Policy
We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. By clicking “Accept”, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies.
Cookie settingsACCEPT
Manage consent

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously.
CookieDurationDescription
cookielawinfo-checbox-analytics11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics".
cookielawinfo-checbox-functional11 monthsThe cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional".
cookielawinfo-checbox-others11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other.
cookielawinfo-checkbox-necessary11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-performance11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance".
viewed_cookie_policy11 monthsThe cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. It does not store any personal data.
Functional
Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features.
Performance
Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.
Analytics
Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.
Advertisement
Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads.
Others
Other uncategorized cookies are those that are being analyzed and have not been classified into a category as yet.
SAVE & ACCEPT