Alcohol Testing

[emmie]

in the workplace, an infringement of your rights or a good idea?

http://news.sky.com/story/1165570/alcohol-testing-in-workplace-recommended

[ummmm]

//as someone also mentioned on another thread some medicines have alcohol in them, how could they get around that?//

You lower the limit.

[emmie]

you don't know who people are let alone whether they have had a drink or are ill in some way, so that would hardly work.

[woofgang]

emmie, Its very rare for the person's tolerance for alcohol to make a difference to their blood alcohol levels. Medicines with alcohol in that are necessary to a person's health, are also rare and it would be amazing if they had to take enough of the med to make it register, even on a blood test.

No one is saying that you can't have a drink in you own time, just that if you do so, it must be out of your system before attending work. I don't think that is unreasonable.

[emmie]

personally i would have no drink and driving rule, as to after work then surely it's about your evening not theirs, though i do believe if you roll in work still worse for wear then expect to be carpeted. a warning first then the sack if they are persistent in their habits.

[emmie]

but alcohol is not out your system next morning,

[emmie]

interesting

http://www.nhs.uk/chq/Pages/853.aspx?CategoryID=87

[woofgang]

then you shouldn't attend work! The average person metabolises one unit an hour, so if you are going to get 8 hours sleep before going to work, you should be able to metabolise 8 units of alcohol...is that not enough?

[emmie]

i don;t now, and hardly drink, but obviously with the coming festivities this will be a point to consider

[murraymints]

We had a bar at work.open through the day....I worked s volunteer behind it...was the safest place to be sometimes !

[woofgang]

indeed emmie and has been for some time. As I said, as someone who has lived with the regime, its really not an issue.

[emmie]

we had endless pubs almost on our doorstep and made use of them lunch time and evening, and we didn't lose much production, or people to alcohol fuelled binges, they were a way to bond with the staff. It did ease off a bit though as we got bigger as a company and indeed much much busier, but after work was getting the bugs out your system after a day of toil

[ToraToraTora]

The trouble with this is that the people making the judgement about what is misuse won't have a scooby doo. They think more than 2 pints is a walk on the wild side. They base their entire judgement on some arbitrary amount with no relevance to effect.

[jd_1984]

Next day testing will be the one that catches most people out, especially at the festive season. We sacked a employee who swore he had stopped drinking at 11pm, his shift started at 8am the following morning. He was clearly still intoxicated.

[Jeza]

Where I used to work if they tested for alcohol half the work force would have been sent home.

[Old_Geezer]

I suspect very few jobs would justify this sort of imposition. Where necessary I'd suspect/hope some form of testing already existed. For most other jobs the employer should mind their own business. If the job gets done then no justification for sticking one's nose in.

[woofgang]

The trouble with that view OG is that the job goes on getting done and no one realises the risk until something happens!

[woofgang]

Actually i am a bit amazed at this thread. I am really not sure what the issue is with an employer saying you may not have alcohol in your bloodstream while you are at work.

[paddywak]

A friend of mine who works for Railtrack has been subject to random testing for years,on the otherhand when I worked for British Coal if they'd followed that policy they may as well have just scrapped Monday day shift, the first cage into the pit would smell like a brewery.

[emmie]

paddywak indeed, and as to why people would like, need or simply enjoy a pint after work, needs surely no nosy parker to report you to the boss. If your job is so important, highly sensitive, then unlikely you would be doing this anyway.

[woofgang]

after work is no problem emmie, the issue is going to work with alcohol in the bloodstream.....