Workplace drug testing: An interview with Frank Bellwood

In the UK, the demand for workplace drug and alcohol testing is on the rise. A 2017 article from the European Pharmaceutical Review reveals that the UK testing market is worth £167m – a figure set to rise to £231m by 2019.

While much of the UK’s testing, they say, is used within child protection cases, “workplace drug and alcohol testing is an area of high growth and exciting potential”.

It’s certainly an area that we’re being approached about more frequently than before – and with that in mind, we sat down with Frank Bellwood from our business development team – and a police officer primarily on drug squads for 35 years before that - for his thoughts on the industries using workplace drug testing, the current testing legislation and the impact of implementing such programmes.

Cansford Labs: Frank, thanks for taking the time to talk to us. First, we wanted to ask: which are the UK industries using testing programmes right now?

Frank Bellwood: Aviation, certainly. It was highlighted a result of the enquiry where a Germanwings pilot was found to have deliberately flown his plane into the French Alps and was discovered to have been on antidepressants which he had not declared to his employer.

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We are also seeing an increase in testing in the maritime sector – and we’re also seeing the same in the construction and manufacturing industries.

Many years ago, the construction industry was perceived to be one where it was acceptable to go out for a few beers on a Friday lunchtime, then come back to work – that’s definitely now history. There’s a strong emphasis on health and safety, and part and parcel of that is the drug and alcohol policy.

It’s the same in safety-critical roles across all sectors – roles where people work with heavy plant machinery, cutting machines, band saws, that kind of thing.

CL: Why do you think it’s taken so long for businesses to cotton on and really start enforcing workplace testing policies?

FB: Well, people can be reluctant to change, and it’s probably to do with workplace culture. It’s a change in culture that has to be driven by management with the support of employees, and getting any unions on board is a key part of that.

The unions play a key part, but at the end of the day their main drive is the health and wellbeing of their members. And if the workplace is drug and alcohol free, it’s obviously a safer working environment for all..

CL: So, workplace drug testing is becoming more common, but how do workplaces distinguish between what employees are doing in their private lives, and what they’re doing in their working lives?

FB: In the workplace the cut-off levels are set by the European Workplace Drug Testing Society in their guidelines. For the purposes of the Road Traffic Act with alcohol, the legal drink drive level  for a breath test is 35 in England and Wales, and 22 in Scotland.There are also cut-off levels for specified drugs.

Ultimately, though, whether someone takes controlled drugs at home or at work, it’s been illegal under the Misuse of Drugs Act since 1971.

At the end of the day, if you supply a Class A drug, it’s potentially life imprisonment. The problem is that there’s so much of this stuff around, that people are almost blind to the fact that it’s a criminal act.

CL: So the cut-offs could give a negative result at work, despite the employee being a drug user. Hair testing takes their history into account – how does that help?

FB: So, if I was going to employ you and as part of the recruitment process I inform you that will be required to undergo a drug and alcohol test. Depending on your levels of use you’ll know that if it’s a saliva test, it’ll cover up to a maximum of three days, and if it’s a urine test, it’ll pick up anything in your system for up to a maximum of five days.

So, for example you might have a heavy coke habit, but you think, “Right, I’ll just stay off it for three weeks before the interview”, and you’ll pass the test and become employed. You could then get straight back on it the next day, and resume your normal  lifestyle.

A hair test, though, is different – it can show a history of use. Each centimetre of growth equates to roughly  a month’s history. You can therefore identify potential employees with a history of drugs use. It’s not all about health and safety, though – it’s about wellbeing, too.

If you can identify someone with a history of misuse, it doesn’t automatically lead to dismissal from employment – it might lead to them entering an employees’ assistance programme where they receive the appropriate help, so you can turn people’s lives around for the better.

CL: So, in your experience, is there a duty of care from employers, or would a positive result mean straight dismissal?

FB: It is essential that the companies response to a positive drug or alcohol test is specified in their Drug and Alcohol policy. They can vary, some companies adopt instant dismissal others prefer to treat each case on its own merits..

The duty of care also includes staff who declare that they have a drink or drug problem outside of the testing regime and wish to be referred to the employees assistance programme.

CL: Does workplace testing actually work? How does it have a positive impact on the workplace?

FB: Absolutely. I’ll give you a couple of typical scenarios

There was a utilities company with a policy that  included the testing of any driver who damaged a company vehicle. An agency worker turned up on the morning of his first shift, and reversed into a bollard causing damage to the vehicle allocated to him. Testing revealed that he was five times over the legal limit for cocaine, and well over the limit for cannabis.

He was about to take a 35-ton vehicle out on the road – imagine the negative impact it would have had on the company if he’d been involved in an accident with members of the public.

Another scenario involved a company that services engines. They’d randomly tested about eight guys – four of them had just come back from a stag do in Amsterdam, and came into work still full of coke and cannabis.

Their policy was instant dismissal – would you really want someone impaired through cannabis and coke in this safety critical line of work. But, as I said, it’s not just about penalising and dismissing staff.

A random testing programme can also be an incentive to encourage people to come forward and declare to HR that they have an existing problem, and enter an  employees’ assistance programme.

We’ve had some people who have come forward and said in addition to any safety at work or health benefits, “Look, you know, this changed my life around. I’m no longer spending £300 a week on coke, and because of that, my family has a better standard of living”.

CL: Have you come across any issues with implementing workplace testing policies?

FB: One argument we hear is, “It’s my human right to do as I wish after 5pm on Friday until 8am on Monday”. What they try to refer to is Article 8 of the Human Rights Act – the right to a private life and privacy in your own home. Well, there’s a caveat with that – you can do anything you want, (a) unless it’s a criminal act, and (b) as long as it doesn’t impact on the human rights of others. So, the basic human right to be safe at work overrides their choice to do what they choose.

When we’re assisting in the introduction of a policy in a workplace, we’ll go and talk it through with the staff and address any concerns or other questions.

CL: Are you noticing any trends, either in the types of worker that are using drugs or alcohol, or in the substances that are most commonly identified?

FB: There are statistics that indicate it’s a myth that drug users are people on the dole, people on the Jeremy Kyle show. It’s mostly people who are in employment, because coke and other drugs can be an expensive habit.

The New Psychoactive Substances (NPS) – drugs like Spice – have also been on the increase.

Some of the younger generation coming through are more inclined to take the synthetic version of the parent drug – Spice – as opposed to cannabis itself. That’s reflected in the fact that the NPS Act was introduced in 2016 to address the emergence of these synthetic version of drugs..

More recently, all synthetic cannabinoids became Class B controlled drugs, so now they are part of the Misuse of Drugs Act with a power of arrest attached and greater penalties. Under the NPS Act, possession of an NPS isn’t an offence. Prescription drugs are also a major issue.

Whenever someone is tested, they firstly have to consent to the test going ahead (bearing in mind a refusal could be treat in the same way as a positive test). And secondly, they are asked to declare any medication they are taking.

With prescription medicines, there are also cut-off levels – so if you start self-medicating and go over the prescribed amount, you could also lose your job.

It’s the same under the Road Traffic Act: in addition to the list of  controlled drugs, there’s a further list of prescribed drugs that could see you lose your licence if you go over the limit.

CL: So, NPS are a current trend – what are your thoughts on the future of workplace drug testing?

FB: If you speak to the average teenager, they’ll know everything about NPS and the other new and trending drugs on the market. Why’s that significant? Because these are the people that are going to be coming into the workplace – they’re the pool for future employment.

Five or ten years down the line, employers are going to be faced with an additional set of problems, with a different set of drugs being added to those that are currently available. The important thing is to move with the times, and to try and keep up our understanding of the situation as it changes.

 Many thanks to Frank for his time, and his insights. If you’d like to find out more about workplace drug testing, get in touch.