Drug testing - against my human rights?

Drug Testing – is it against my Human Rights?

Drug Testing – is it against

my Human Rights?

Richard Evers

Laboratory Manager

Synergy Health Laboratory Services


Agenda

+ Understanding why drug testing is justified

+ Knowing what regulations apply

+ Understanding the process of testing

+ Understanding the rights of the employee

+ Having confidence in the results


Understanding why

Drug Testing is

Justified


Drink Driving

+ Level of impairment linked to dose

+ Drink Drive limit 80mg/100mL blood

+ Blood/Breath alcohol linked to dose

+ 3 units alcohol – Drink Drive limit

+ Accidents statistically linked to Drink Driving


Accident Rate

+ Little firm evidence that drugs lead to accidents and absenteeism

+ 5 studies associate drug use with accidents

+ 7 studies find little or no evidence (HSE 2002)

+ Prevalence of drug use lower than alcohol

+ British Crime Survey

+ Not all accidents lead to drug tests

+ Hangovers also lead to accidents


How Common is Drug Use?

British Crime Survey 2009-2010

+ Working Age Adults in England and Wales

+ 8.6% used drugs in the last 12 months

+ 3.1% used a Class A drug

+ 6.6% used Cannabis

+ Young Adults (16-24)

+ 20% used drugs in the last 12 months

+ 10.7% used a Class A drug

+ 16.1% used Cannabis


Incidences of Positive Tests

Synergy Health Laboratory Services figures

+ Includes prescribed and over the counter medications

+ UK Energy Industry 2010

+ 6.5% positive

+ UK Leisure Industry 2010

+ 7.9% positive

+ UK Light Industry

+ 4.1% positive


European Convention on

Human Rights

Article 8

+ Right to respect for private and family life -

+ Everyone has the right to respect for his private and family life, his home and

his correspondence


Acute Effects of Cannabis Use

+ 1976 study of 7 professional and 3 private pilots

+ Flight simulator performance 30 minutes

after smoking 6mg

+ Deviation from desired height of 2,600ft

+ Placebo gave deviation of 680ft


How long do the effects of

Cannabis last?

+ 1985 study of 10 private pilots

+ 19mg THC (3x 1976 dose)

+ How close to the runway midline

can they land in a simulator


Cannabis effects last all

week


Impairment due to Drugs

+ Detection times unrelated to impairment

+ Cannabis in urine detected for up to 1 month

+ Cannabis in saliva detected for less than 24 hours

+ Urine results do NOT link to impairment

+ Tests show use, not impairment

+ Not everybody reacts the same

+ May cause drowsiness

+ Addiction

+ Withdrawal


European Convention on

Human Rights

Article 8

+ Right to respect for private and family life -

+ Everyone has the right to respect for his private and family life, his home and his

correspondence

+ There shall be no interference by a public authority with the exercise of this right

except such as is in accordance with the law and is necessary in a democratic society

in the interests of national security, public safety or the economic well-being of the

country, for the prevention of disorder or crime, for the protection of health or morals,

or for the protection of the rights and freedoms of others


So when is Testing Justified?

+ Safety Critical Industries

+ Airline Pilots

+ Train Drivers

+ Trackside workers

+ Steel workers

+ HGV Drivers

+ Forklift Operators

+ Healthcare


So when is Testing Justified?

+ Integrity Critical Industries

+ Police

+ Prison Staff

+ Drug Testing staff

+ Customs and Excise


Knowing what

Regulations Apply


Criminal Liability

+ Misuse of Drugs Act 1971

+ Offence to allow drug use, or fail to act if drug use is known to employers

+ Health and Safety at Work Act 1974

+ Health, Safety and Wellbeing of Employees

+ Reasonable care to protect Health and Safety of people affected by work

+ Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1992

+ Assess the Health and Safety to employees and the public


Civil Liability

+ Plaintiff often works for the company

+ Damages

+ No win, no fee – Blame Culture

Competent Staff

+ “your employer must ensure, to the best of their ability that the people that he employs around you

are competent in their jobs and do not put others at risk by their actions. So if an employee injures

another through a failure to use equipment properly, a drink or drugs problem or simply by messing

around then the employer is potentially liable for those actions”

www.lawontheweb.co.uk 08/03/2012


Guidelines

+ Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA)

+ US Federal Employees

+ Strictly defined criteria

+ Only covers 5 drugs

+ UK Laboratory Guidelines for Legally Defensible Workplace Drug Testing

+ Covers urine drugs only

+ Technology change

+ Cover a range of drugs

+ European Laboratory Guidelines for Legally Defensible Workplace Drug

Testing

+ More up to date

+ Saliva and Hair testing guidelines


Informed Consent

+ Is the employer justified in testing?

+ Safety critical or integrity driven?

+ Staff participation essential

+ Consultation prior to implementation

+ Staff information sessions

+ Junior Manager/foreman buy-in

+ Discrimination MUST be avoided

+ External Randomisation

+ For-Cause guidelines defined

+ All staff on all shifts


Understanding the

Process of Testing


Reasons for Testing

+ For-Cause

+ Testing may be carried out if an accident/incident occurs and there are reasonable

grounds to suspect the accident was a result of substance misuse

+ Pre-Employment

+ Employers may request that prospective employees undertake substance misuse test

before employment commences

+ Random

+ Employers may wish to randomly test a selection of their workforce to discourage

substance misuse


Methods of Testing

+ Urine Testing

+ The mainstay of drugs of abuse testing as the sample is easy to collect and analyse

+ The process is well controlled and is legally defensible

+ Retention time of drugs in urine is mostly between 2-4 days

+ Saliva Testing

+ Newer Technology

+ Smaller Sample size

+ Less invasive

+ Hair Testing

+ Very small sample size

+ Difficult to test

+ 3 month drug history

+ Shows abuse levels only, not use


Testing Process

+ Privacy required

+ Toilet facility

+ Interview room

+ Translator present if required

+ Company representative

+ Identify donor

+ Decide on actions


Informed Consent

+ Donor must: -

+ Understand the process

+ Understand why they have been selected

+ Be assured that confidentiality is maintained

+ Be given sufficient opportunities to ask questions

+ Understand how to appeal against a test result


Sample

+ Freshly voided urine

+ Toilet not flushed

+ Temperature measured

+ Split between ‘A’ and ‘B’ bottles

+ Tamper evident seals applied

+ Initialled by donor and Collection Technician

+ Sealed in Tamper Evident bag with Chain of Custody form

+ Posted by Royal Mail or courier


Laboratory Analysis

+ Primary Screen

+ Chain of Custody checks

+ Adulteration checks

+ Negative or non-negative

+ Quickly eliminate negative results

+ Negative samples discarded

+ On Site Testing

+ Primary screen may be undertaken on site

+ Provides instant negative

+ Allows donor to return to work


LC-MS Analysis

+ Sensitive

+ Can identify very low levels of drug

+ Specific

+ Does not cause false positive results

+ Can identify illicit and legal drugs

+ Compares against defined threshold

+ Reports as Positive or Negative

+ Medication

+ Consistent with medication declared

+ Further information required

+ Not consistent with medication declared


Understanding the

Rights of the

Employee


Privacy

+ Anonymous Collections

+ Synergy Health staff inconspicuous

+ Staff I.D number used, not names (if required)

+ Collection Process

+ Private room

+ Informed Consent

+ Observed collections not routine

+ Collections completed and sealed before next collection starts


Confidentiality

+ Drug History on Chain of Custody form

+ Only recent medication use requested

+ Reasons for medication not asked

+ Medications withheld from company

+ Medical Review Officer (MRO)

+ Company Doctor or external reviewer

+ Doctors confidentiality of results

+ Can change positive results to negative


Informed Consent

+ Cannot give Informed Consent for mandatory procedures

+ Staff consultation

+ Union consent

+ Consequences of positive results

+ Drug and Alcohol Policy

+ Communicated to all staff

+ Universal in operation

+ Amnesty period


Having Confidence

in the Results


Chain of Custody

+ Ensures protection of donor and company

+ Prevents allegations of interference

+ Provides legally defensible results

+ Follows sample through laboratory process

+ Ensures the reported results come from the donor named on the form


Laboratory Quality

+ Quality Control sample with every batch

+ Known sample must produce results within a specific range

+ Validated Methods

+ Tests for interferences, reproducibility and accuracy

+ Authorised, Trained and Qualified Staff

+ External Proficiency Tests

+ Test whole laboratory performance

+ Results of unknown samples compared with other laboratories


ISO 17025:2005

+ United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS)

+ Independent of Laboratories

+ Annual assessment of quality systems

+ Audit of methods to ensure ‘fit for purpose’


Challenges

+ ‘B’ Sample Challenge

+ ‘B’ sample stored as ‘A’ sample

+ Analysed by independent laboratory

+ Chain of Custody checked

+ Cost of challenge met by donor

+ Test costs around £150-£200

+ Reduces timewasting

+ Often leads to admission of drug use


Summary

+ Drug testing may be justified where safety or integrity are paramount

+ Drug testing is covered by a number of regulations and the justification will

depend on the risk

+ The process is designed to ensure accurate results that are traceable to the

donor and to international standard materials

+ The employee has the right to privacy as far as it does not compromise

safety or integrity

+ Quality is integral part of the drug testing process and laboratories spend a

significant amount on maintaining quality


Questions

Thank you for listening

+ Does anybody have any questions?

Drug testing - against my human rights?

Recruiting & HR

Transcript of Drug testing - against my human rights?