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breathalyzer test at work

Paige

Hi,

I'm hoping someone can provide me with some advice about using a breathalyzer test at work on employees.

We have an employee who is a delivery driver and had an car accident today (the other party's fault)

When the other party phoned up with his insurance details, he said that our driver stunk of alcohol.

This is not the first time we have had a complaint about this specific driver smelling of alcohol, however no management have ever brought it to our attention that they think the driver is under the influence of alcohol.

He does not seem like he is to us, but we can not ignore 3 complaints about the same issue.

Our company policy is that we have a zero alcohol and drugs tolerance policy and anyone found under the influence of either would be subject to disciplinary action as it will be deemed as gross misconduct.

How do we stand with buying a breathalyzer and doing random tests on the drivers to try and eliminate this issue, is it legal?

Or how do I act on the complaint as he said he only drank 2 pints last night and he hasn't drank anything today.

If someone could give me any advise i would be grateful!

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  • Where I worked previously (driving based company) there was a policy of monthly random alcohol tests plus spot tests where there was a suspicion (all covered within the drugs and alcohol policy). No issues in terms of staff compliance (beyond the odd positive test because of mouth wash) and everyone both on the road and in the office was required to should their name come out.

    I wouldn't have thought it would be a difficult thing to implement given that it is (as far as I'm aware) quite common place within the industry.

    You would need to do a full investigation of today's events but I would suspect that without evidence he was under the influence there is no direct action you can take beyond implementing mandatory testing? For me given the number of complaints I would certainly want to make sure he was subject to regular random tests until you are satisfied he is not working under the influence.
  • in reply to Annette
    Thanks for your response Annette,

    I'm looking into implementing a policy reading this.
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