Tougher Health And Safety Law Demands Tougher Drugs Policies

Main Category: Alcohol / Addiction / Illegal Drugs
Article Date: 23 Jan 2009 - 1:00 PDT

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New legislation that has come into effect this month will introduce tougher penalties on businesses that breach health and safety regulations. According to Concateno, Europe's leading drug testing company, the new legislation adds a further incentive to businesses considering the introduction of an effective anti-drugs policies and drug testing in the workplace.

The Health and Safety Offences Act 2008, which was announced in last October and came into effect on January 16th 2009, provides courts with increased sentencing powers that could include prison sentences for individuals found responsible for health and safety breaches and increase the maximum fines for offences.

Neil James, head of sales for Concateno's workplace division said: "Alongside the tougher legislation for corporate manslaughter that has been introduced in recent years, the new Act makes it vital for companies to manage down risks in their businesses, and also to demonstrate that they have undertaken due diligence to indentify and prevent causes of accidents."

He added: "Employee drug misuse can be a contributory cause of accidents at work and a company's management could potentially be held responsible if they haven't taken sufficient action. Businesses have the ability and responsibility to proactively address this situation."

To be effective, a company's drug and alcohol policy needs to include deterrents against the inappropriate use of drugs and alcohol - through education; Employee Assistance Programmes that help employee address their drugs problems through appropriate support and treatment; and through testing, whether pre-employment, at random, or following incidents.

An introduction to Concateno

Concateno brings together the leading drug and alcohol testing organisations in Europe to form a global first in the field: a service provider with the facilities and expertise to genuinely deliver test programmes to meet any requirement - from point-of-care instant tests, through to state-of-the-art laboratory analysis for any biological specimen including urine, oral fluids, hair and sweat.

Concateno's 300 staff support more than 8,000 customers globally, and the group performs approximately eight million tests annually. An integrated network of more than 500 sample collection officers, trained in-house in chain-of-custody procedures, supports clients around the world.

Committed to the highest levels of accreditation and quality assurance, Concateno works actively within the industry to improve existing best practice. This includes ISO 17025 (independently audited by UKAS), ISO9001:2000, Link-Up, and ISO13485:2003. In addition, the company is subject to a range of external and internal quality assurance programmes.

Our strategy

Concateno's goal is to be the top provider of drug and alcohol testing services in the world, providing the best expertise and testing resources in the field. With our own best-in-class products and facilities that can supply across the whole range of test requirements, our strategy is driven by customer need rather than product benefit.

Concateno has committed significant investment to research and development. Our joint development agreement with Philips (a diversified health and wellbeing company) to develop a new oral fluids system is an example of this commitment.

Excellent pedigree

Concateno is built upon the consolidation of Europe's strongest and most expert drug testing companies:

Cozart: long-established expertise in oral fluid instant testing (including its pioneering Rapiscan® and DDS® reader devices) and the manufacture of laboratory Reagents and products - largely through its wholly-owned subsidiary Spinreact, headquartered in Spain

Medscreen: Europe's most experienced workplace testing company with a 20 year track record in providing legally defensible urine testing to employees and the UK government

Altrix Healthcare: largest provider of oral fluids drugs of abuse laboratory testing to the UK healthcare market. Complemented with a blood-borne virus testing service and range of support services focused on client treatment needs

TrichoTech: Europe's largest hair testing laboratory with unrivalled knowledge and expertise

Euromed: supplies a comprehensive range of point-of-collection testing devices with a proven track record on quality assurance and technical support, underscored by its long-standing contract with HM Prison Service

Concateno