WOMAN FACES JAIL FOR THEFT OF MAIL - RANDOM DRUG TESTING ?

[brothermagrew]

As a business Royal Mail have since about 1997 had an alcohol and drug policy in force. Royal Mail have stated that this policy is not a fundamental change but it is a development of its established approach. The normal provisions of the Royal Mail Conduct Code will apply.

In the main the policy contains 'Five Standards' affecting staff. It emphasises throughout the support which will be available to staff (including the roles of OHS and Employee Support).

The 1st of the 5 expected standards is below. I will put the other remaining 4 standards on when time permits.

Standard One:
It is every employees responsibility not to come to work or return to work adversely affected by alcohol or drug use. This Means - When you come to work or return from a break you must be able to do all aspects of your scheduled work safely and effectively, unaffected by alcohol and drugs. If there are clear risks to your own safety, the safety of your colleagues or the public this is especially important. If (for example) you are scheduled to undertake driving duties, or operate a vehicle of any kind, use machinery or handle heavy loads you will need to take particular care.

REMEMBER - In addition to Royal Mail's responsibilities as your employer we all as individuals have a legal duty not to endanger our own safety and that of our work colleagues and members of the public. Being under the influence of alcohol and drugs at any time while at work or on Royal Mail business breaks Royal Mail standards and may result in application of the conduct code. It could also mean you are breaking the law!

Thank you Brother. My question would be do we take people on trust under their own recognisance NOT to abuse alcohol or drugs or should there be a check before something goes wrong.

dvbuk55
I remember you well from the old posting days on the now extinct CWU members forum. Are you advocating for RM to introduce random alcohol or drug testing? IMHO the role of management is vitally important in this area. By this I mean if for example a work colleague signed on and commenced work and was for better words very merry or drunk as a skunk or as high as a kite and was for that days duty scheduled to do a driving duty then as the health and safety of all RM employees is paramount the DOM or line manager in my opinion as a CWU safety rep should not allow that person to drive any RM vehicle whatsoever.

[dvbuk55]

As a business Royal Mail have since about 1997 had an alcohol and drug policy in force. Royal Mail have stated that this policy is not a fundamental change but it is a development of its established approach. The normal provisions of the Royal Mail Conduct Code will apply.

In the main the policy contains 'Five Standards' affecting staff. It emphasises throughout the support which will be available to staff (including the roles of OHS and Employee Support).

The 1st of the 5 expected standards is below. I will put the other remaining 4 standards on when time permits.

Standard One:
It is every employees responsibility not to come to work or return to work adversely affected by alcohol or drug use. This Means - When you come to work or return from a break you must be able to do all aspects of your scheduled work safely and effectively, unaffected by alcohol and drugs. If there are clear risks to your own safety, the safety of your colleagues or the public this is especially important. If (for example) you are scheduled to undertake driving duties, or operate a vehicle of any kind, use machinery or handle heavy loads you will need to take particular care.

REMEMBER - In addition to Royal Mail's responsibilities as your employer we all as individuals have a legal duty not to endanger our own safety and that of our work colleagues and members of the public. Being under the influence of alcohol and drugs at any time while at work or on Royal Mail business breaks Royal Mail standards and may result in application of the conduct code. It could also mean you are breaking the law!

Thank you Brother. My question would be do we take people on trust under their own recognisance NOT to abuse alcohol or drugs or should there be a check before something goes wrong.

dvbuk55
I remember you well from the old posting days on the now extinct CWU members forum. Are you advocating for RM to introduce random alcohol or drug testing? IMHO the role of management is vitally important in this area. By this I mean if for example a work colleague signed on and commenced work and was for better words very merry or drunk as a skunk or as high as a kite and was for that days duty scheduled to do a driving duty then as the health and safety of all RM employees is paramount the DOM or line manager in my opinion as a CWU safety rep should not allow that person to drive any RM vehicle whatsoever.

Well I would have to be honest and say that I would not trust managements judgement and I think random drug testing would be an infringement on peoples privacy - but I do think that to trust peoples own sense of responsibility not to abuse that trust is also problematic. I would ask you if you consider that there are people who have had a "good" night out and drive to work and operate machinery who under current legislation would be over the DD limit.
It would seem to be a conundrum and one that thankfully I do not have find a solution to.

Yes the old CWU forum had some really amusing posters and of course some serious content too, I understand many of those posters are no longer with RM
and I thought it wasn't too controversial. Billys Blog is still going though you can no longer comment except under your breath.

[brothermagrew]

The 2nd of the 5 expected standards is below:

Standard Two - Drinking alcohol during working hours is prohibited. This does not include meal breaks but consumption of alcohol during breaks will be unacceptable (and will be in breach of the first standard above) if it is excessive or inappropriate given the work to be done.

This means that - Consuming alcohol during a break will be excessive and in breach of the standard if you do not remain able to undertake all aspects of the work you are scheduled to do, safely and efficiently, when you return to work (and throughout your working hours). Consuming any alcohol immediately prior to undertaking work with a high safety component (driving, using machinery, etc.) may be considered inappropriate and a breach of the standard.

Your Line Manager must place safety considerations first and therefore, is obliged to take a cautious line (safety first) and to intervene if for example he / she is aware of any evidence that you have been drinking (such as the smell of alcohol on your breath) immediately before commencing driving or other higher risk work.

REMEMBER - Drinking during working time is prohibited in all circumstances. You must be fit to undertake all aspects of your work at all times when on duty including when returning from meal breaks. Your chances of an accident of any sort are greatly increased well before you reach the legal limit for driving.

[andy2007]

I wouldn't want anyone near me who was a drug user. Are people using drugs and driving & using machinery? It should be zero tolerance on any drug because to me there is no difference.

We'll see what happens if you take some OTC drug and get a positive test (or eat certain foods witch also give false positives). In todays RM with all the foot, ankle, knee, hip and back problems most of us will be on strong painkillers and then we'll end up sacked because of attitudes of people like you.

Rubbish! Any results subject to controversary would be able to be brought into question, there are absolute positives for cannabis and the other so called "recreational" drugs.

And you really think RM are going to review the results, have you been asleep for the past few years whenever they just ignore anything that is not what they want to hear.

Plus what I or anyone else do in our spare time is entirely our business and has nothing to do with RM but you seem to think that it has and how long before having a pint at the weekend will be grounds for dismissal (of course in your little world that would be fine)

Breaking the law is everyone's business and so is health and safety. As a matter of fact I neither smoke nor drink. My world is the same size as yours I chose to use it in another way.

Maybe you should have a drink or a smoke and stop worrying about what anyone else gets up to in their own spare time.

The only people you seem to want to exist are tea totaling religious fanatics who do nothing wrong or illegal, well I for one would hate that kind of world. we have lost enough freedom with this government and I don't want to lose anymore to my employer.

Actually, I wouldn't want anyone under the influence of drink or drugs working with me, either. The problem, is that we need to be able to distinguish between those who ARE still under the influence, and those who have FALSE POSITIVES.

For example: if someone has smoked weed at the weekend, and is tested during the week, he/she would be completely free from it's effects. But that wouldn't prevent a positive result.

The more this discussion progresses, the worse this seems to get. How do we prevent people working with us, whilst on drink or drugs, without making false accusations. How many athletes have had their reputation tarnished by false positives?
I seriously doubt that RM could do better. In fact, they'd probably do a worse job.

[spoodoo]

a guy in a friends office is pi ssed at work a lot,management turn a blind eye cause he always works his day off,,norm pissed ! wrong wrong wrong

[norbert]

what I have seen elsewhere is drinking off duty in uniform stamped on from a great height . They'd purges on the p*** heads ...seen one " ambitious " manager rooting through someone's bag and finding cider in his flask ...he got potted . There used to be horror stories about stupidvisors and managers following people home which didn't need embellishing . One said I'll let them follow me as long as I've asked a favour from bouncer friends of mine in the bar that'll I go to

Before anyone says anything bullying Management was openly hostile and vindictive ...all to soften people up & knock the stuffing out of them for privatisation , union busting too . Problem was concentration camp management which even the CBI said was inefficent .

RM's problem is the command and ignore as always .