Royal Mail to start drug and alcohol testing?

[nuisance]

If RM are seriously interested in addressing people working impaired then they ought to be revisiting their current sickness policies, which have people attempting to keep operating whilst suffering all sorts of injuries and ailments. It's not just intoxication that poses safety issues for ourselves, our colleagues and the public.

If they are just exploring another avenue to dismissing some staff, well it serves that purpose.

[GRS]

Yes those blue cards were in the system for postmen living in our delivery office area a couple of days ago. Looks like they’re offering some confidential contact if you’re suffering from addiction of drink or drugs.

I imagine this is part of the testing program, so that if anyone is caught they can say that they’ve been offering counselling and support to those who need it thus making it dead easy to remove anyone failing a test.

Saying that if anyone does fail a test you’ve only got yourself to blame. After all if you fail a roadside test given by the police there’s very little if any recourse, you can’t say “oh I’ve got an addiction problem etc etc” and get let off. To be honest I’m surprised that some at our place haven’t ever been caught coming into work - they absolutely stink of booze!! No matter how much we want to castigate RM (if they do bring testing in) would we feel the same if someone we know and love was maimed or killed by someone under the influence? No we would be questioning as to why the company was letting someone out on the roads with drink or drugs in their system.

[Deadly]

I can imagine a number of people will be seriously thinking about handing in their notice in if the testing becomes widespread to avoid being rumbled. But where would they go as testing looks to be becoming more common in other businesses too?

Oh well...

[Seymour Buts]

Would you be under the influence of drink after say 3 pints at say 6 oclock in the evening followed by say 8 hours sleep.

This depends on many factors, but rough calculation is 1 pint = 2 units; so 3 pints = 6 units. It takes around 1 hour for the body to digest a unit of alcohol, and it doesn't start until 1 hour after you've stopped drinking. So after 3 pints it will take around 7 hours for that to be out your system.

[thefox]

What if it isn't out your system and your a walker people keep saying if your over the limit then your in bother but over the limit for what...walking.

[LouBarlow]

They must be sending out different cards then as the ones I delivered last week made no mention of testing, merely offered help to people who think they might have a problem, which is fair enough. If they think I’ll be performing some kind of test though, they can get knotted. They don’t own me, they employ me, and what I choose to put in my body remains at my discretion as long as I am performing the task I am being paid for satisfactorily.

What next? Weighing people and telling them they have to lose weight? Banning people from smoking at home? They’ve got no chance.

[Barnacle]

They must be sending out different cards then as the ones I delivered last week made no mention of testing, merely offered help to people who think they might have a problem, which is fair enough. If they think I’ll be performing some kind of test though, they can get knotted. They don’t own me, they employ me, and what I choose to put in my body remains at my discretion as long as I am performing the task I am being paid for satisfactorily.

What next? Weighing people and telling them they have to lose weight? Banning people from smoking at home? They’ve got no chance.

I followed a link on the card to the company they are using to offer this ‘help’ and part of the service is testing.

[LouBarlow]

They must be sending out different cards then as the ones I delivered last week made no mention of testing, merely offered help to people who think they might have a problem, which is fair enough. If they think I’ll be performing some kind of test though, they can get knotted. They don’t own me, they employ me, and what I choose to put in my body remains at my discretion as long as I am performing the task I am being paid for satisfactorily.

What next? Weighing people and telling them they have to lose weight? Banning people from smoking at home? They’ve got no chance.

I followed a link on the card to the company they are using to offer this ‘help’ and part of the service is testing.

Yeah, but that is different to ‘random testing’ though. If you are addicted to drugs or alcohol and are part of a rehab program that you requested, then you leave yourself open to it as per the requirements. You know what you sign up for in advance.

[Barnacle]

They must be sending out different cards then as the ones I delivered last week made no mention of testing, merely offered help to people who think they might have a problem, which is fair enough. If they think I’ll be performing some kind of test though, they can get knotted. They don’t own me, they employ me, and what I choose to put in my body remains at my discretion as long as I am performing the task I am being paid for satisfactorily.

What next? Weighing people and telling them they have to lose weight? Banning people from smoking at home? They’ve got no chance.

I followed a link on the card to the company they are using to offer this ‘help’ and part of the service is testing.

Yeah, but that is different to ‘random testing’ though. If you are addicted to drugs or alcohol and are part of a rehab program that you requested, then you leave yourself open to it as per the requirements. You know what you sign up for in advance.

First I knew about this was someone posting on FB that at their office there had been random testing and that the people doing the testing said it was the beginnings of a nationwide rollout. A week later and we’re all receiving the blue cards.

[LouBarlow]

They must be sending out different cards then as the ones I delivered last week made no mention of testing, merely offered help to people who think they might have a problem, which is fair enough. If they think I’ll be performing some kind of test though, they can get knotted. They don’t own me, they employ me, and what I choose to put in my body remains at my discretion as long as I am performing the task I am being paid for satisfactorily.

What next? Weighing people and telling them they have to lose weight? Banning people from smoking at home? They’ve got no chance.

I followed a link on the card to the company they are using to offer this ‘help’ and part of the service is testing.

Yeah, but that is different to ‘random testing’ though. If you are addicted to drugs or alcohol and are part of a rehab program that you requested, then you leave yourself open to it as per the requirements. You know what you sign up for in advance.

First I knew about this was someone posting on FB that at their office there had been random testing and that the people doing the testing said it was the beginnings of a nationwide rollout. A week later and we’re all receiving the blue cards.

Yeah I don’t see it. Random testing leaves RM open to all kinds of discrimination legal actions. There already exists managerial discretion when it comes to this. They can take you off delivery if they think you are intoxicated. I’m not convinced that there needs to be any more done than that. Ultimately we are posting letters through doors not performing brain surgery.

[Tman]

Why do so many other companies do random testing if it's supposedly open to legal discrimination accusations?
Not brain surgery maybe, but drivers of RM vehicles. You haven't really thought this through, have you?

[reddevils]

It is legal unfortunately as long as it is random. If there was evidence it was calculated and targeted at an employee then there would be grounds to not only to challenge it but to take the business to court. Though it is legal and in theory sounds justifiable I think it is just another turn of the screw from the employer that wants to exert more pressure and control on its employees.
Whether its a concerted effort to make people leave as a scare tactic or whether it is designed to further reduce its work force I don't believe it is to further the health and safety of its workforce unfortunately.

My current circumstances in my office stands at, CCTV in the depot and outside watching my every move. A PDA that monitors my every move on delivery. Not the employers fault but ring bells that are recording when not even touched when on delivery. Added to this a depot layout, delivery 2.0 where we are stood facing the wall at frames and a manager observes the whole room from a distance.

Oppressive control and intimidation to conform and deliver is the policy here.

I would also like to know whether managers are going to be randomly tested too? Surely that is the only fair way to implement this policy.

[LouBarlow]

Why do so many other companies do random testing if it's supposedly open to legal discrimination accusations?
Not brain surgery maybe, but drivers of RM vehicles. You haven't really thought this through, have you?

No I’ve not thought this through. Have you? I mean, being overweight means you are more likely to have a cardiac episode at the wheel of a RM vehicle. Should we all be made to lose weight as well? Let the police actually police and let RM concentrate on the business of delivering mail not managing the lives of the people working for them.

[2chorizon]

It is perfectly legal and happems in almost all industries now, you won't get on a building site these days without passing a drug & alcohol test.

Just like SISO where it is easy to see the people who have never punched the clock, it is now easy to see the people who have never worked in other industries where regular random drug and alcohol testing takes place.

Its coming in.

Aquarius solutions or something was the company mention on the blue card, they will be doing the testing along with RM occ health provider.

If your smoking weed prepare to be fired, you will not surivive for long.

(Alcohol is usually set at the uk drink drive limit and is a breathalyser test, the drug test is a piss test and all sinks and taps will be secured in the sample room, and you wont get to smuggle in a pot of your clean mates piss either)

[reddevils]

It is perfectly legal and happems in almost all industries now, you won't get on a building site these days without passing a drug & alcohol test.


You are a wind-up. Most building sites are full off labourers that are intoxicated by at least some substance. I know lots of labourers and professionals on building sites and it is rife within the industry and there is little challenge to it. Whether its the culture or the hard work or the impoverished people that work on these sites that need a substance to get through the day I guarantee that you will get on most building sites intoxicated. Plus most are self employed and have rights to challenge.
Stop writing false posts!