Alcohol and Drug Testing at Work

Helping you draw a line under alcohol and drug misuse in the workplace

Alcohol and drug misuse can have a significant impact in the workplace, often resulting in higher levels of absence and reduced performance and greatly increasing risks to the health and safety of not only the employee concerned, but also their colleagues and anyone else who could be affected by their work. A robust and effective alcohol and drug testing policy can be a key component of ensuring safety in the workplace for everyone.

Part of the Medigold Health Group since 2017, Hampton Knight are one of the UK’s leading specialists in workplace alcohol and drug testing and support services, experienced in delivering robust testing programmes that are tailored to the individual needs of our clients.

We advocate a proactive and constructive approach to managing the issue of substance misuse and believe that any testing programme should be underpinned by a robust alcohol and drug policy, which seeks to educate and promote awareness and to support employees who ask for help in a non-judgemental way.

That’s why we provide an end-to-end solution when it comes to drug and alcohol screening for employment. We offer a complementary policy review, counselling and support services, alongside our flexible testing options to help you ensure that any issues are dealt with fairly and effectively.

No matter which of our services you choose to use, you can be confident that our expert team will always be on hand to provide you with the guidance and support you need from the start, so that you can better protect the welfare of your employees and maintain a healthy and safe working environment for your teams.

Get Free No-Obligation Advice from our Alcohol & Drug Screening Experts

Click on the links below to find out more about our services:

Promote compliance with your alcohol and drug policy with testing conducted by experts

Hampton Knight provide both scheduled and unscheduled testing, all conducted in accordance with European Workplace Drug Testing (EWDT) Guidelines by our UK-wide network of experienced collection technicians who have been specially trained in all types of testing protocols, including breath, urine, oral fluid and hair testing.

Our technicians are equipped with industry-approved testing products and use strict chain-of-custody protocols, so you can be confident that all drug and alcohol testing at work is accurate and legally defensible.

Random testing programmes

Annual random testing programmes can help to promote compliance with your alcohol and drug policy:
- We require just 24 hours’ notice to arrange for a technician to attend your site and can schedule visits around your operational requirements
- Should you not have suitable facilities for testing on-site, we can deploy one of our mobile units, or arrange a clinic locally
- Our independent, random selection programme ensures the fair, unbiased selection of employees for testing
- We use breathalysers and Point of Care (POCT) testing kits to provide you with instant results
- All non-negative results are immediately escalated for analysis by a UKAS-accredited laboratory
For-cause and post-incident testing

On those occasions where testing is required urgently, either following an incident or accident or because there is reasonable suspicion that an employee may be under the influence of alcohol or drugs at work, we’ll be on hand to provide the practical support and advice you need:
- Our 24/7 telephone helpline is manned by a team of experts who can offer guidance about our services and arrange emergency visits when required
- Our 24-hour collection service has a guaranteed two-hour response time across the UK mainland
- All for-cause and post-incident alcohol and drug tests are carried out under strict chain-of-custody protocols, with sample analysis carried out by our UKAS accredited partner laboratories
Providing you with everything you need to conduct legally defensible testing in-house

Hampton Knight’s rigorous competency training equips your management teams with everything they need to be able to conduct alcohol and drug testing accurately and effectively in-house.

During the training, managers and supervisors will:
- Be shown how to conduct alcohol, urine and oral fluid testing in line with UK and European Workplace guidelines for legal defensibility
- Learn about the specific documentation to use and the correct procedures to follow before, during and after testing (including Chain of Custody protocols)
- Be trained to an appropriate level of competency and provided with relevant certification
Alongside this training, we can also provide you with all required testing kits and documentation:
- The testing products we supply are the same as the ones used by our own collection technicians and are fully validated and approved
- The on-site breath alcolmeters we supply for alcohol testing are similar to the Home Office-approved instruments used by the police
- Our urine and oral fluid testing products can be used on-site but we can also provide Chain-of-Custody packs so that samples can be sent straight to our UKAS accredited laboratory for analysis
Helping employees who are struggling with an alcohol or drug dependency to access the support they need

We believe that employers should support employees who declare an alcohol or drug dependency to access the help and treatment they need and can assist you by:
- Providing initial guidance on how to manage the situation as sensitively as possible
- Arranging a preliminary, specialist assessment, either on-site or at a local clinic, to determine the most appropriate treatment approach, ensuring complete confidentiality at all times
- Helping to draw up a counselling contract between you and the employee, and arranging counselling support via one of our associate counsellors
- Supporting you to manage any counselling programme effectively, with the aim of returning the employee to normal work as soon as possible

Useful links:

https://medigoldhealth.tempurl.host/the-risks-of-alcohol-drug-misuse-at-work/

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