Page 60 - Visage Hair Employee Handbook.REV.1

3.22 ALCOHOL AND DRUGS

Alcohol and drugs testing policy

Purpose
Alcohol and drug misuse can have an adverse effect not just on an individual but on their colleagues,
customers and the public. Having a safe working environment, providing excellent customer service
by maintaining productivity levels and avoiding days being lost to illness are all critical to our
success. The Company reserves the right to require employees to undergo random alcohol and drug
tests and this policy sets out the applicable procedure.

The benefit of testing is that it provides an objective way of measuring whether an employee has
used alcohol or drugs rather than relying on the personal opinion of a colleague.

This policy should be read in conjunction with our Alcohol and drugs policy.

Relevant legislation
Under the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act, 2005 while at work, an employee is required to
ensure that he/she is not under the influence of an intoxicant to the extent that he/she is in such a
state as to endanger his or her safety, health or welfare at work or that of any other person.

An “intoxicant” can include alcohol and drugs and any combination of drugs and/or alcohol, whether
legal or illegal, whether prescribed or not.

Right to undertake testing
The Act states that if reasonably required by his/her employer, an employee must submit to any
appropriate, reasonable and proportionate test for intoxicants by, or under the supervision of, a
registered medical practitioner. The Company therefore upholds its legal right to conduct a testing
for intoxicants in the following situations:

• during the pre-employment medical check, as part of the conditional offer of employment
• where the organisation is of the opinion that the employee appears to be under the
influence while at work; this may involve an employee’s manager/supervisor or a member of
the HR team observing the employee’s physical appearance as indicating intoxication such
as: unsteady on feet, slurred speech, out of character behaviour, blood shot eyes or shaky
hands
• randomly and unannounced as per the contract of employment / for environments classified
as high risk

Procedure
Where a situation occurs whereby an employee has been observed and may be considered to be
under the influence while at work, his/her manager/supervisor or a member of the HR team will ask
him/her to leave his/her work area and he/she will be informed that there is a question over his/her
fitness for work and that a test will be conducted. The employee will be prohibited from carrying on
work duties, using machinery or equipment or driving his or her vehicle or any organisation vehicle.

The testing will either take place privately on the work premises or at the tester’s premises. If the
testing is taking place at the tester’s premises, the organisation will arrange transport for the
employee.

It is Company policy that the employee is required to sign a consent form which allows the tester to
disclose the results of the test to the Company. The employee is also required to produce

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