30 April 2008
Lucie Ponting

We're all used to seeing sniffer dogs at the airport or at public events. But how would you feel if you came across them in your office, on the factory floor or at the gate of your construction site?

Bovis Lend Lease recently called in police officers and specially trained sniffer dogs to check for drugs in an unannounced operation at its St David's 2 shopping centre construction site in Cardiff. The dogs, trained to detect all types of drugs from heroin to cocaine and cannabis, met workers as they arrived on site in the early morning in February. Bovis said it was part of a health and safety initiative to ask the police to do a random walk around with the dogs.

Bringing in sniffer dogs or swabbing for drug traces may seem extreme. But if employers suspect that people are using, supplying or storing illegal drugs on work premises, they are legally obliged to do something about it, says Matt Taylor of drug and alcohol testing specialists ScreenSafe UK. If they turn a blind eye, they could get into trouble. 

"A business is responsible for everything on its premises," says Christopher Evans, technical director at drug-testing firm Drug-Aware, citing the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971. "If it knowingly permits illegal substance use on its premises, it's committing an offence."

The problems this can cause businesses that have customers on the premises (such as casinos or nightclubs) are obvious, but the same rule applies to any workplace.

Passive v active

Drugs searches may include swabbing and testing premises or equipment; it depends on the nature of the suspicion.

Narcotics dogs can be trained to carry out either active or passive searches. In an active search, the handler takes the dog around a client's premises searching for signs of drugs in toilet areas, lockers, warehouses and anywhere people might collect to smoke. If the dogs find anything, the handlers bag the evidence, send it for analysis, and the findings are reported to the client.

Passive search dogs, which are often seen at airports, sniff passers-by and, if they pick up traces of drugs, alert their handlers. They are sometimes called in if clients are busing in temporary workers every day, explains Matt Taylor. If a firm receives reports of workers smoking drugs on the upper decks, for example, the dogs may meet the bus. As everyone walks past, if the dog recognises traces on someone, the employer can decide to refuse them entry.

ScreenSafe UK's dog-handlers are Home Office approved. "Technically, if you take possession or if drugs are found on your premises, you could be prosecuted," points out Taylor. "Our staff are usually ex-police officers or forces-trained. They are highly trained and licensed to take possession of controlled substances. When you apply for a licence, you have to prove why you need to take possession and have to meet strict protocols."

Poorly handled searches, especially of employees' belongings, could lead to allegations of intrusion into privacy or false findings. The latest guidance from the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) urges firms to set a framework for searches that lays down strict procedures.

Taylor says it's safest getting contractual agreements at the start of employment to cover both substance testing and searches and Christopher Evans from Drug-Aware agrees, pointing out that if searching is included in terms and conditions of employment, refusal would be failure to comply with a reasonable request. Of course, that kind of pre-planning assumes you can foresee the problem arising, and that's not so common. "We can ring a potential client, and they may say: 'We don't have a problem - all our staff are over 40'," says Taylor. "Then 12 months down the line, they'll ring back to say: 'We've just had a problem - we found this, that and the other here'."

Spotting the signs

Illegal substances and associated equipment (such as bongs and syringes) can turn up almost anywhere, including lockers, toilets, desk drawers, on equipment, inside overall pockets or simply discarded in areas where people have been taking the drugs.
Evans recalls one case where a firm found damage to a suspended ceiling. It turned out that people were pushing up tiles to store their drugs and paraphernalia. In another case, a client had a fleet of 20 vans where workers would take a key and borrow a vehicle as necessary. But one of these vans never went anywhere. Eventually, the firm found a load of cannabis paraphernalia inside the vehicle. The site's no-smoking policy meant the van was the only place workers could get away with it.

A typical case for Matt Taylor might involve a large office, for example a call centre, with 200 to 300 people on one level using communal toilets. "We may be contracted to come in sporadically to swab toilets and analyse findings," he explains.

Across all the premises ScreenSafe UK has been called in to check, Taylor says "we've never not found traces of cocaine on the toilets we've tested". He believes this reflects the prevalence of cocaine use as well as the obvious fact that if his services are required, then the employer already has a fair suspicion there is some drug use on their premises. 

Firms employing people working alone or unsupervised can be especially vulnerable. Taylor says Screensafe has clients whose "workers don't come onto the site for four to five weeks on end. The firm won't see them; they're out and about on the road for weeks, perhaps going into other people's premises to carry out work."

He knows of an incident where an electrician wired something the wrong way. After the man - who tested positive for cannabis use - had left the premises, it went up in flames.

Up to you

Employers are not required to report any findings to the police. "It's their [the employer's] call; it's up to them," says Taylor. "If we find tiny amounts of a suspicious substance, we analyse it and then tell the client if it broke its policy; the client may then decide to sack the person involved." But if the amounts involved are larger or if there are indications of dealing, the employer may decide to call in the police to investigate further.

"We have no requirement to inform the police either," he adds. "But we would recommend it to a customer if the amount was worthy of action..." In lots of cases - for example, where the amounts are small or there are little bits of paraphernalia or empty bags with traces - the police may not be particularly interested. But if a large amount is found in a specific locker, the police may be more interested as it may indicate dealing on the premises.

"Sometimes people are reluctant [to report a problem]," he says. "They don't want to be seen as a place with a drug problem. But you've got to look at the other side. You want to be seen to be a responsible employer, having due diligence to protect workers and others - putting out the message that you do not tolerate drug dealing or distribution within the workplace."

Christopher Evans at Drug-Aware agrees that some businesses may try to keep it as low key as possible if they find drugs on their premises because they are worried about their reputation. "I wouldn't be surprised if they did that," he says. But he also argues that a lot of employers will be underestimating the extent of the problem. A recent Narcotics Anonymous survey in the US found that 44% of callers to its helpline who had used cocaine had also supplied it to colleagues at work, he says.

The thought of systematic drug-dealing on their watch is enough to send a shiver down the spine of anyone with a duty of care to protect employees. Maybe enough of a shiver to call in the dogs.

Categories:
Drugs and alcohol, Article, Drugs and alcohol

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