The bottom line is that if you are an employer or a person in charge of a place of work, you are responsible for making sure that people are safe there,” says Pat Griffin, senior inspector for agriculture with the Health and Safety Authority (HSA).
“If you have any suspicion of a person being unfit for work, you are legally required under the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005 to do an assessment of whether or not that person is a danger to themselves or to anyone else that may be around.”
Pat acknowledges that from the point of view of a busy farmer or agricultural contractor, dealing with a situation like this can be very difficult if it is the height of summer or a busy time and there’s lots of work to be done.
If you have any suspicion of a person being unfit for work, you are legally required under the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005 to do an assessment
“In the case of agricultural contractors, you may have scrambled round to get half a dozen people to drive for you,” he says, “and one turns up and he says he is all right,but you know that he is reeking of alcohol so you have a decision to make.
“If you turn a blind eye to it and you say, ‘Ah he’ll be all right, it’s not my responsibility’, that’s fine – until something happens and you may have to face grieving relatives.
“Think about standing up in a court of law and a judge asking you were you aware that this person had any drink in them, and you say, ‘Yes, I smelled the drink’. You’ll be asked what action you took. If you say, ‘I took no action, I thought he was OK, he got to work’, then it gets sticky and people may face the rigours of the law.”
If you do suggest to an employee that they should go home as they are not fit to work other questions may arise, he adds.
“Do you allow him to get back in his car and drive home, for example? That’s another call you have to make. You can suggest he phone a friend or a taxi or you may decide to drive him home yourself. That is the decision you have to take and again, it can be very difficult on a busy day. You don’t have an intoxicant breathalyser in your pocket either, you’re just making a judgment call.”
Testing
There is no legal requirement for employers to use alcohol or drug testing kits or for employees to submit to such tests, but Pat is aware of contracts in some safety-critical workplaces across the country that include a clause that permits the employer to require employees to co-operate with drug testing if it is deemed necessary.
“It is either set out in a workplace agreement or even written into the contract of employment that workers must submit to reasonable testing. In occupations like airline pilots and in some mining operations, you can be asked to take a test.
“At the end of the day, there are certain workplaces that you wouldn’t want someone under the influence of any alcohol or other drug that would make them drowsy working beside you including underground mining, on a construction site, operating a crane or large machinery or flying an aeroplane.”
Do you allow him to get back in his car and drive home, for example? That’s another call you have to make. You can suggest he phone a friend or a taxi or you may decide to drive him home yourself
Agri employers and contracts
Given that employment in the agricultural sector often involves a lot of on- and off-road driving, should employers in the agricultural sector be including these right-to-test clauses?
“Absolutely, if they find that this is a problem in any workplace. I know that on some farmers people are taken on with just a verbal agreement – that’s the looseness of it – which can lead to all sorts of problems later. However, if the farmer – who is clearly the employer – or person in charge of the place of work is going to do his business properly he/she could have a very simple contract of employment, with simple where he/she can write it into the contract of employment.
“Where a contractor is involved, the farmer should alert the contractor to any concerns and advise him/her to deal with it. If the contractor had a breathalyser he/she could ask the employees to do the test if he/she suspects they are still under the influence of alcohol from the night before. There is nothing in law to force it but it is a sensible agreement to have between the employer and the employee.”
It would, of course, be dependent on the employer having access to drug-testing kits that are deemed reliable.
Difficulties
But would an employer be able to recognise that employees still have drugs in their system from the night before if they are not familiar with the physical effects of these drugs on a person?
Pat points out that it can be very difficult for an employer to judge the impact of drugs other than alcohol.
“In the case of alcohol, you would smell it and the worker might be displaying the signs of being under the weather or drunk. That’s more common and better understood but employers may not recognise the signs of cannabis or cocaine use,” he says.
What’s practicable?
However, employers, farmers or contractors can only be required to do what would be considered as ‘reasonably practicable’.
Younger men are the largest age group represented in positive samples
“In defence of an employer, where drugs may be involved the Act requires the employer to ensure the health, safety and welfare of persons at work as far as reasonably practicable. That is very important because is it reasonably practicable to require a farmer or an employer to be able to judge the effects of drugs or cannabis or cocaine use?
“In my view, currently, it would not be. At present, I don’t think there is a court in the land that would uphold a prosecution of an employer for an incident where an employee turns up under the influence of a drug, the impact of which the employer knows little or nothing and where he can’t identify symptoms. There is some protection there in the words ‘reasonably practicable’.
However, this may change over time where the physical signs of impairment become more understood and identifiable and testing kits become more common, reliable and simple to use.”
Self-test drug screening kits
If you did want to test an employee for alcohol, cannabis or cocaine and it was written into their contract of employment, where would you get the tests?
We contacted the Irish Pharmacy Union (IPU) to ask about the availability and popularity of such tests. The initial answer was, “We are not aware of pharmacies selling drug testing kits”.
When we pointed out that one major pharmacy chain and a Dublin city centre pharmacy were selling home drug testing kits in store and online this was the response we received: “We do not know how popular these kits are or who is using them as they are not widely sold through pharmacies.”
The IPU referred us to the Health and Safety Authority’s booklet Intoxicants at Work Information Sheet and also stated that there is no requirement for employers to test or for employees to be tested.
Phone calls to a number of pharmacies suggest that sales of these testing kits are indeed small.
The home drug test kit information says that it offers “rapid screen of urine samples for amphetamines, cocaine, methamphetamine, opiates (heroin), marijuana, MDMA (ecstasy)”. The kits retail at around €20.
There is a wide selection of alcohol-testing kits available from pharmacies and some car accessory shops. Single-use tests retail from €3 but digital breathalysers are also available and cost €50-175. The more hi-tech ones needs to be recalibrated once a year.
General physical signs of drug use may be:
Unusual smells on breath, body or clothing.Tremors, slurred speech, or impaired coordination.Drop in performance or attendance at work.Unexplained need for money.Cocaine use:
Dilated pupils.Runny nose (snorting).Nosebleeds (snorting).Track marks (injecting).Burned lips or fingers (smoking).Over confident.Unusually excited.Poor judgment.Cannabis use:
Bloodshot eyes.Increased appetite.Relaxed state, sleepiness.Lack of motivation.Nervous or paranoid behaviour.Impaired co-ordination and judgment.Slowed reaction time.Anxiety.Drug types
There are five main kinds of drugs. Some of these are legal (eg alcohol), some are prescription/non-prescription medicines (eg valium, codeine), and some are illicit drugs (eg cocaine).
Depressants (alcohol), sedatives (minor tranquilisers such as valium), opiates (painkillers that give feelings of euphoria and sleepiness such as morphine, heroin, methadone, codeine, tramadol), stimulants (cocaine, amphetamines) and hallucinogens (LSD, acid and magic mushrooms).
Some drugs have multiple effects, eg cannabis can have depressant effects as well as causing euphoria. Ecstasy has both stimulant and hallucinogenic effects. Drugs can also affect different people in different ways.
Drug driving
While the HSA is responsible for the administration and enforcement of health and safety legislation in the workplace the Road Safety Authority (RSA) is the body responsible for enforcement of safety legislation on the roads.
Figures released at the recent RSA Annual Academic Lecture, show that drug driving is now a major problem on Ireland’s roads. They show that 68% of drivers with a positive roadside drug test, between April 2017 and July 2019, had a positive test for cannabis.
Cocaine follows closely behind as the main illicit drug detected after cannabis, with 37% of samples tested being positive for cocaine.
Professor Denis A Cusack, director of the Medical Bureau of the RSA said: “Drug driving is now a major problem in Ireland. While alcohol remains the most frequently detected drug in blood and urine specimens submitted to us by the gardaí, our figures show that cannabis is the next most frequently found drug.
“Younger men are the largest age group represented in positive samples.
“Prescription and over-the-counter drugs are also a real problem. However, this must be seen in context – the presence alone of these drugs in your system is not necessarily a problem, it is when it causes impairment in driving.
“Drivers with medical conditions should continue to take their prescribed medications in accordance with healthcare advice and medical fitness-to-drive guidelines. If you experience impairment, speak to your GP or pharmacist.”
Gardaí have reported a 15% rise in arrests for driving “under the influence” over the first four months of 2019, compared to 2018.
The bottom line is that if you are an employer or a person in charge of a place of work, you are responsible for making sure that people are safe there,” says Pat Griffin, senior inspector for agriculture with the Health and Safety Authority (HSA).
“If you have any suspicion of a person being unfit for work, you are legally required under the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005 to do an assessment of whether or not that person is a danger to themselves or to anyone else that may be around.”
Pat acknowledges that from the point of view of a busy farmer or agricultural contractor, dealing with a situation like this can be very difficult if it is the height of summer or a busy time and there’s lots of work to be done.
If you have any suspicion of a person being unfit for work, you are legally required under the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005 to do an assessment
“In the case of agricultural contractors, you may have scrambled round to get half a dozen people to drive for you,” he says, “and one turns up and he says he is all right,but you know that he is reeking of alcohol so you have a decision to make.
“If you turn a blind eye to it and you say, ‘Ah he’ll be all right, it’s not my responsibility’, that’s fine – until something happens and you may have to face grieving relatives.
“Think about standing up in a court of law and a judge asking you were you aware that this person had any drink in them, and you say, ‘Yes, I smelled the drink’. You’ll be asked what action you took. If you say, ‘I took no action, I thought he was OK, he got to work’, then it gets sticky and people may face the rigours of the law.”
If you do suggest to an employee that they should go home as they are not fit to work other questions may arise, he adds.
“Do you allow him to get back in his car and drive home, for example? That’s another call you have to make. You can suggest he phone a friend or a taxi or you may decide to drive him home yourself. That is the decision you have to take and again, it can be very difficult on a busy day. You don’t have an intoxicant breathalyser in your pocket either, you’re just making a judgment call.”
Testing
There is no legal requirement for employers to use alcohol or drug testing kits or for employees to submit to such tests, but Pat is aware of contracts in some safety-critical workplaces across the country that include a clause that permits the employer to require employees to co-operate with drug testing if it is deemed necessary.
“It is either set out in a workplace agreement or even written into the contract of employment that workers must submit to reasonable testing. In occupations like airline pilots and in some mining operations, you can be asked to take a test.
“At the end of the day, there are certain workplaces that you wouldn’t want someone under the influence of any alcohol or other drug that would make them drowsy working beside you including underground mining, on a construction site, operating a crane or large machinery or flying an aeroplane.”
Do you allow him to get back in his car and drive home, for example? That’s another call you have to make. You can suggest he phone a friend or a taxi or you may decide to drive him home yourself
Agri employers and contracts
Given that employment in the agricultural sector often involves a lot of on- and off-road driving, should employers in the agricultural sector be including these right-to-test clauses?
“Absolutely, if they find that this is a problem in any workplace. I know that on some farmers people are taken on with just a verbal agreement – that’s the looseness of it – which can lead to all sorts of problems later. However, if the farmer – who is clearly the employer – or person in charge of the place of work is going to do his business properly he/she could have a very simple contract of employment, with simple where he/she can write it into the contract of employment.
“Where a contractor is involved, the farmer should alert the contractor to any concerns and advise him/her to deal with it. If the contractor had a breathalyser he/she could ask the employees to do the test if he/she suspects they are still under the influence of alcohol from the night before. There is nothing in law to force it but it is a sensible agreement to have between the employer and the employee.”
It would, of course, be dependent on the employer having access to drug-testing kits that are deemed reliable.
Difficulties
But would an employer be able to recognise that employees still have drugs in their system from the night before if they are not familiar with the physical effects of these drugs on a person?
Pat points out that it can be very difficult for an employer to judge the impact of drugs other than alcohol.
“In the case of alcohol, you would smell it and the worker might be displaying the signs of being under the weather or drunk. That’s more common and better understood but employers may not recognise the signs of cannabis or cocaine use,” he says.
What’s practicable?
However, employers, farmers or contractors can only be required to do what would be considered as ‘reasonably practicable’.
Younger men are the largest age group represented in positive samples
“In defence of an employer, where drugs may be involved the Act requires the employer to ensure the health, safety and welfare of persons at work as far as reasonably practicable. That is very important because is it reasonably practicable to require a farmer or an employer to be able to judge the effects of drugs or cannabis or cocaine use?
“In my view, currently, it would not be. At present, I don’t think there is a court in the land that would uphold a prosecution of an employer for an incident where an employee turns up under the influence of a drug, the impact of which the employer knows little or nothing and where he can’t identify symptoms. There is some protection there in the words ‘reasonably practicable’.
However, this may change over time where the physical signs of impairment become more understood and identifiable and testing kits become more common, reliable and simple to use.”
Self-test drug screening kits
If you did want to test an employee for alcohol, cannabis or cocaine and it was written into their contract of employment, where would you get the tests?
We contacted the Irish Pharmacy Union (IPU) to ask about the availability and popularity of such tests. The initial answer was, “We are not aware of pharmacies selling drug testing kits”.
When we pointed out that one major pharmacy chain and a Dublin city centre pharmacy were selling home drug testing kits in store and online this was the response we received: “We do not know how popular these kits are or who is using them as they are not widely sold through pharmacies.”
The IPU referred us to the Health and Safety Authority’s booklet Intoxicants at Work Information Sheet and also stated that there is no requirement for employers to test or for employees to be tested.
Phone calls to a number of pharmacies suggest that sales of these testing kits are indeed small.
The home drug test kit information says that it offers “rapid screen of urine samples for amphetamines, cocaine, methamphetamine, opiates (heroin), marijuana, MDMA (ecstasy)”. The kits retail at around €20.
There is a wide selection of alcohol-testing kits available from pharmacies and some car accessory shops. Single-use tests retail from €3 but digital breathalysers are also available and cost €50-175. The more hi-tech ones needs to be recalibrated once a year.
General physical signs of drug use may be:
Unusual smells on breath, body or clothing.Tremors, slurred speech, or impaired coordination.Drop in performance or attendance at work.Unexplained need for money.Cocaine use:
Dilated pupils.Runny nose (snorting).Nosebleeds (snorting).Track marks (injecting).Burned lips or fingers (smoking).Over confident.Unusually excited.Poor judgment.Cannabis use:
Bloodshot eyes.Increased appetite.Relaxed state, sleepiness.Lack of motivation.Nervous or paranoid behaviour.Impaired co-ordination and judgment.Slowed reaction time.Anxiety.Drug types
There are five main kinds of drugs. Some of these are legal (eg alcohol), some are prescription/non-prescription medicines (eg valium, codeine), and some are illicit drugs (eg cocaine).
Depressants (alcohol), sedatives (minor tranquilisers such as valium), opiates (painkillers that give feelings of euphoria and sleepiness such as morphine, heroin, methadone, codeine, tramadol), stimulants (cocaine, amphetamines) and hallucinogens (LSD, acid and magic mushrooms).
Some drugs have multiple effects, eg cannabis can have depressant effects as well as causing euphoria. Ecstasy has both stimulant and hallucinogenic effects. Drugs can also affect different people in different ways.
Drug driving
While the HSA is responsible for the administration and enforcement of health and safety legislation in the workplace the Road Safety Authority (RSA) is the body responsible for enforcement of safety legislation on the roads.
Figures released at the recent RSA Annual Academic Lecture, show that drug driving is now a major problem on Ireland’s roads. They show that 68% of drivers with a positive roadside drug test, between April 2017 and July 2019, had a positive test for cannabis.
Cocaine follows closely behind as the main illicit drug detected after cannabis, with 37% of samples tested being positive for cocaine.
Professor Denis A Cusack, director of the Medical Bureau of the RSA said: “Drug driving is now a major problem in Ireland. While alcohol remains the most frequently detected drug in blood and urine specimens submitted to us by the gardaí, our figures show that cannabis is the next most frequently found drug.
“Younger men are the largest age group represented in positive samples.
“Prescription and over-the-counter drugs are also a real problem. However, this must be seen in context – the presence alone of these drugs in your system is not necessarily a problem, it is when it causes impairment in driving.
“Drivers with medical conditions should continue to take their prescribed medications in accordance with healthcare advice and medical fitness-to-drive guidelines. If you experience impairment, speak to your GP or pharmacist.”
Gardaí have reported a 15% rise in arrests for driving “under the influence” over the first four months of 2019, compared to 2018.
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