Safety, Environment & Legislation (SEL)

Publication Details

Guidance on Drug and Alcohol Policies: The Collection of Samples

IMCA has published the first of its guidelines intended to assist companies when drawing up drug and alcohol policies.

As legislation and cultures vary globally on this issue, companies have a range of different views on how their policies and procedures are formed. Any guidance can, therefore, only be generic and try to indicate the type of problems and issues that might be encountered when implementing particular parts of such a policy.

One of the most difficult aspects in this regard is that of taking samples for testing for drugs or alcohol. This is perhaps why the first subject IMCA has chosen to tackle under this heading is specifically that of taking samples.

The guidance describes reasons for testing and the different types of test that a company might instigate, such as 'reasonable cause' testing or 'testing following incidents and accidents', etc.

It describes the procedures, location and the sorts of equipment needed to take a sample, the need for attention to forensic detail and the importance of full and accurate record keeping. It also attempts to cover some of the problems that might arise.