Employee Drug Use

Employee drug use has always been a problem. From alcohol to medications to casual marijuana use, the problems associated to drug use are as varied as the types of drugs used.

Some of the problem types associated with employee drug use are:

• Increased incidences of accidents
• Increased liability claims
• Public Relations and Investor confidence issues
• Losses associated to theft of industry drugs (such as hospital and drug manufacturer drug use)
• Misuse of company resources for the purpose of assisting trafficking (such as when company resources are diverted or used to traffick supplies, including vehicle, intelligence and computer support)
• Increased likelihood of other crimes associated to drug use such as theft
• Infiltration of services by criminal elements associated to the drug trade

These problems necessitate action by management to curb or stop drug use on site by employees. While background checks are used to minimize the risk of hires engaged in these types of behaviours, they cannot guarantee the an employee will never stray to this end. Also, law enforcement cannot always become engaged in these types of investigations, particularly if the case is too small or the force does not have available resources to conduct the case, which is a frequent occurrence.

In situations such as these, a private investigator is often the best option for the conduct of an employee drug use investigation. A private investigator will liaise with local law enforcement, bringing them in if and only when required and the PI can put together the evidence package which will allow for either criminal or employment actions as needed.

A private investigator can also work with internal security as a force multiplier when feasible to bring about a quicker resolution to a situation while ensuring third party neutrality over the course of the investigation. Call a local PI to get more information, or feel free to visit our website to ask us about the various ways a PI can help out in an employee drug investigation.

Blog post is courtesy Elemental Investigations: Private Investigator Edmonton, an Edmonton, Canada based private investigator agency. They can be found online at www.elementalpi.ca