Drug and alcohol services

What does the service include?

Development of a drug and alcohol policy Hide

Drug and alcohol screening cannot take place unless you have a suitable drug and alcohol policy. We work with you to design the most appropriate policy for your business and help you implement it seamlessly.

We do this by working with you to:

• understand your organisational culture and assess the nature and hazards of your business
• assess previous incidents and identify the likely risks of problems in the future
• create a strategy to reduce future risks and create a formal policy
• plan and implement your new drug and alcohol policy
• communicate the policy to staff including the health benefits of a sensible lifestyle, the support services available and the penalties for failure to comply

Employee briefing and training for managers Hide

When you implement your new policy you'll need to brief all your staff on the new procedures and train key staff to identify and deal with drug and alcohol misuse.

We’ll work with you to develop and design training modules for managers and staff. A typical training course for key staff lasts one day and is designed for groups of 12-15 managers.

Management training is available to help:

• identify the signs of potential substance misuse
• understand the manager’s role in the implementation of the policy
• ensure the agreed procedures for instigating screening can be followed with confidence

Screening services Hide

As a leading UK provider of drug and alcohol screening, we offer a highly flexible range of services to meet your organisation’s recruitment, random-testing or incident-related needs.

It is important to note that screening will only identify recent drug use. It cannot confirm intoxication, addiction or fitness for work.

Screening must be performed according to ethical principles and be legally defensible. We cannot provide screening services unless the employer has a policy for dealing with the results.

The usual screening medium is urine. This has the advantage of long experience in use but can be inconvenient to collect. Other media, such as oral fluid, offer ease of sample collection, particularly in the workplace. Hair testing is another possibility but is mostly used in forensic settings.

We are able to offer a range of sampling methods and are happy to advise our customers in detail on the relative merits of the different media.

Pre-employment drug and alcohol screening

Many companies use drug and alcohol screening as part of their recruitment process. Pre-employment screening can confirm whether prospective employees have used drugs shortly before their assessment. Specimen collection may be done on Bupa premises or where facilities are available in the workplace.

Unless the employer's policy addresses a specific legal obligation, a substantial safety risk or a public expectation of probity, then denial of employment on the basis of a positive screening may be challenged and found to be unfair.

Unannounced testing

Staff screening may be used as a deterrent to drug or alcohol misuse. Workforce acceptance of such a programme is highly desirable before its introduction and it is unlikely to be obtained unless the process is non-discriminatory. Again, the reservations above in respect of pre-employment testing apply.

Once in place, we can manage a random screening programme to provide demonstrable independence in the selection process, ensure plans for specimen collection are not divulged in advance and that the dignity of donors is respected.

"For cause" and "post-incident" related screening

This kind of screening is vital in safety critical workplaces, such as the railway industry to identify whether drugs or alcohol were a causal factor in an accident or incident. This may also be justifiable where an employee appears to be under the influence of drugs or intoxicated at work. Again, this should only be performed under an employer's policy.

Our network of collection officers covers mainland UK. We operate a 24-hour call-out service and someone can usually be at your site within just two hours.

Support, treatment and rehabilitation Hide

People with dependency problems can have complex psychological and social issues as well as physical problems.

Successful treatment requires a multidisciplinary approach that aims to return an individual to full function in work and life.

In working with a respected healthcare company you can feel confident in the discretion and quality of the care its employees will receive.

We can provide a confidential assessment of a problem to a person, while providing their employer with advice on fitness for work and the individual’s motivation, engagement and treatment progress.

Working with GPs, the NHS or voluntary agencies, we can recognise treatment needs and ensure appropriate treatment is available at the best time. When the individual is fit for work our aim is to ensure all those involved are aware of the plan for the restoration of work ability and employment retention.