COVER STORY
POLICE-TRUSTED TECHNOLOGY ADAPTED FOR WORKPLACES
D.tec International examines the risks of relying on ‘with cause’ drug testing and explains how proportionate testing, clear policies and prevention can help protect safety-critical workplaces.
For many employers, drug and alcohol testing starts when somebody notices a problem. An employee appears tired, behaves unusually, makes a mistake or is involved in an incident. A manager then has ‘cause’ to act.
But what if the employee believes they are perfectly capable of working safely? Alarming research for the government’s THINK! campaign found that 41% of young men believe it is acceptable to drive after taking drugs if they ‘feel fine’.
The research relates to young male drivers, not employees generally. It should not therefore be presented as a measure of workplace behaviour. However, it exposes the weakness at the heart of relying entirely on ‘with cause’ testing.
If somebody has taken drugs but genuinely believes they are unaffected, they are unlikely to declare the risk. If they appear outwardly normal, what ‘cause’ is their workplace manager supposed to see? By the time the warning sign is a collision, injury or near miss, it is already too late.
MANAGERS CANNOT ALWAYS SEE THE RISK
‘With cause’ testing remains important. Employers must be able to act when somebody’s behaviour, performance or involvement in an incident creates a legitimate concern. The difficulty is knowing what to look for.
Tiredness, poor concentration, irritability, absence and changes in behaviour can indicate drug or alcohol use. They can also be caused by illness, stress, prescribed medication or problems outside work.
Different substances affect people differently. Some produce obvious signs. Others are much harder to detect. An experienced user may be able to conceal
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These are targeted police operations, so the figures should not be treated as a measure of drug use among all drivers or employees. What they do provide is a concentrated snapshot of real-world behaviour, how people assess their own fitness and subsequently, how they make decisions around impairment and risk.
Those risk behaviours do not stop at the workplace gate. If it exists in society, it exists in your workforce.
Employers have spent decades building strong awareness around alcohol. The question is whether workplace attitudes and controls around drugs have kept pace with what police are now encountering on the roads.
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the effects, while somebody who regularly takes drugs may genuinely believe they can judge their own level of impairment.
That leaves managers in a difficult position. Act on a suspicion and they risk making an incorrect and damaging allegation. Do nothing and they may leave a serious safety risk unaddressed.
Training can help managers recognise and respond to possible signs, but even the best-trained manager cannot identify something that is not visible.
WORRYING STATISTICS
Police data gives a stark indication of the behaviour employers are dealing with outside the workplace.
During Operation Limit, the national Christmas drink and drug-driving campaign, UK Police carried out 58,675 roadside tests between December 2024 and January 2025. Of those tested for drugs using roadside DrugWipes, 42.2% returned a positive result. By comparison, 9.7% of breath tests were positive for alcohol.
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