Why does your site have "a drugs sniffer dog " at the entrance?

Originally Posted by: A Kurdziel

Why does your site have "a drugs sniffer dog " at the entrance?

Its common practice at high risk security sites. dont forget IOSH members cover a wide range of industries.

Can I draw your attention to page 99 of this booklet from a company I have used previously for D&A Testing Services which gives a guide of how long after consumption drugs groups are detectable via the various testing options they offer.  I have no connection with this company other than it was the company I worked with on this topic in previous employment.

http://www.synergyhealthplc.com/sites/default/files/laboratory_investigations_handbook.pdf

If you are going to proceed with this you will need to decide if you are going down the route of 'present in system' or 'under the influence affecting ability to work'.  The simple presence in system is fairly easy to ascertain through testing especially compared to 'under the influence affecting ability to work' when you need to consider the immediate effects and the long term effects in the case of habitual users.

Every single project I have ever worked on has been very clear, you fail a drugs test you are removed and banned from the site for life.

I guessed it was something like that. I worked at secure government site for 18 years and we never had sniffer dogs but I appreciate that some do.

 I think that if you are aware of the fact that employees are using illegal drugs you are putting yourself and your company at significant risk by ignoring this issue.

Let’s assume that whatever they are doing at work is not directly affected by their drugs use (this is an assumption that I am not sure you can make) there are still legal and security implications in what they are doing.  The site has drugs dogs for a reason: they want to keep drugs off the site and I assume that there is an official zero tolerance policy in relation to the use of drugs. These guys are breaking that policy.  

These guys have been detected already and eventually the powers that be will follow up and ask questions. Do you want to put yourself and your company in the position of having to lie and have to say “No they don’t do drugs as far as I know”?  You can get yourself into a whole load of trouble trying to cover up for them.

Because if the situation you are in, your company needs to adopt a robust drugs policy.

In Construction they are very strict on most sites with regards to Drink and Drugs,  With some pretty dangerous processes happening on sites daily not to mention falls from height are the biggest killer it would certainly affect anyone who was impaired through drink or drugs. 

You need to remember that both can stay in your system for upto 24hrs later, so even if they did it at home in their spare time they are still coming to work under the influance and could injure themselves and others as a result.

For this reason i'm all for Drink and Drug testing on sites, only last week i had to send a guy home who absolutely reeked of Alcohol apparently he had a big seesion the night before only finishing at 3am and he was at work at 7am!  I would imagine a drug user to also be heavilly under the influance had they done similar.

Some great answers here as usual and shows how wide the subject of H&S is

Please do not forget that legal cigs and vapours are also deadly so set up a help system to get people off these vile legal drugs as well as the illegal ones

Originally Posted by: A Kurdziel

Originally Posted by: garyclarke84

The presence of the sniffer dogs is very common especially in large further education establishments. The availability generally depends on the funding for training the dogs but is a great way to deter, prevent and prosecute persons. I would imagine that where such staff members are identified as taking illicit substances, that additional measures and further actions are taken. (Not only disciplinary but also support measures). I agree with all previous posts and we all know too well how complex and difficult it is to implement drug testing. I would personally consult an HR consultant and the companies insurance company in moving forward.

I have never heard of a unversity or college with that has drugs sniffer dogs. Where is this?

I did not elaborate on the type of establishment but certainly did not mention university or college.

I think most people can draw the correct conclusion as to what type of government establishment I am referring to due to the high security in place .

Originally Posted by: Curious1

Originally Posted by: A Kurdziel

Originally Posted by: garyclarke84

The presence of the sniffer dogs is very common especially in large further education establishments. The availability generally depends on the funding for training the dogs but is a great way to deter, prevent and prosecute persons. I would imagine that where such staff members are identified as taking illicit substances, that additional measures and further actions are taken. (Not only disciplinary but also support measures). I agree with all previous posts and we all know too well how complex and difficult it is to implement drug testing. I would personally consult an HR consultant and the companies insurance company in moving forward.

I have never heard of a unversity or college with that has drugs sniffer dogs. Where is this?

I did not elaborate on the type of establishment but certainly did not mention university or college.

I think most people can draw the correct conclusion as to what type of government establishment I am referring to due to the high security in place .

No-one said that you did.

This was in answer to GaryClarke

Look at it from the business view point - if you want to be draconian in the controls placed upon employees during working hours you have to remember the vast majority work to live ergo rather than them balancing work life the company has to adopt a life work policy.

Seem to recall a debate by the Royal College of Nursing and the proposed implementation of a call out system basically telling nurisng staff what they could and could not do in their own time (notably without financial consideration) just in case they were called in to work outside of their standard rota - feel free to guess what the response was.