Safety, Environment & Legislation (SEL)

Publication Details

Guidance on Drug and Alcohol Policies: Breath Testing

Drug and alcohol testing can be a useful and necessary tool in ensuring offshore personnel are fit to fill the safety-critical roles in which they work. However, this is a sensitive subject touching on issues including rights of the individual, local customs, workforce morale and legal sensitivities. For this reason, IMCA has developed two guidance documents relating to drug and alcohol policies.

This second guide - addressing breath testing, with summaries of other types of test - is a companion volume to IMCA SEL 008, which deals with the taking of samples and the introduction and some of the supporting text is generally common.

The taking of samples, whether they are breath, urine, blood or saliva, has to be done with the utmost care and rigid attention to procedure. The procedures must, therefore, be carefully drafted. This guidance is intended to aid that process; but has not been prepared by medically qualified personnel. Wherever medical guidance is required, the reader is directed to consult an appropriate medical adviser. This guidance contains outline suggestions for a breath testing procedure. In formulating their procedures, each company might need to examine the cultural and legal backgrounds everywhere in the world in which it may work and adapt their local company testing processes accordingly.

Contents

1. Introduction
2. Reasons for testing
3. Breath testing
4. Testing following a positive test result
5. Record keeping
6. Other tests for drug and alcohol abuse
7. Cut-off levels
8. References and further information