ºÃÉ«ÏÈÉúTV

Employees working across Balfour Beatty's specialist divisions are to face random drug tests as part of an investigation into whether drug use is a problem on the firm's sites.

Meanwhile, it is understood that Amec, the UK's largest construction group, is considering implementing random drug tests on its projects.

Amec is thought to be in the process of informing site workers of its intention, although it was unable to confirm that this week.

The move by Balfour comes as a result of management concern that drug taking is becoming more prevalent within society. A ºÃÉ«ÏÈÉúTV article last month highlighted the problem of drug use on site (29 June, page 24).

Balfour's contract with Railtrack stipulates that those employees in the firm's Rail First maintenance division who work in "safety critical" areas be tested.

Now, after a review, Balfour is to extend this regime to all 1300 employees working in its specialist divisions.

Tony Merricks, Balfour's specialist division general manager, said the testing was the only way to discover if drugs were a problem.

The divisions to be tested include Stent, a ground-engineering specialist; Raynesway Construction Southern, a road maintenance contractor; Balvac Whitley Moran, a structural repair contractor; and Testal, a tester for the piling industry.

Merricks added that workers who tested positive would face dismissal. However, said that if a drug problem was made known to management before being discovered, the Balfour would assist workers to overcome them.

Only site safety managers will know when random testing will take place, and the testing will be conducted by an external company.

Construction unions reacted with concern to the move. Neil Moore, construction officer for the GMB, voiced practical worries about the tests.

He said the GMB had been in discussion with other unions and steel manufacturer Corus, which has been calling for random testing, but no agreement could be reached.

He said discussions had been taking place for more than 18 months with managers, employees and union officials on Corus' prevention committee and that the discussions were continuing.

Moore said the unions' primary concern was with the mechanics of carrying out the tests – that there would be no union officials present to ensure fair play.

He said: "Problems also stem from the fact that once a worker is tested, if found positive, it is difficult to have an adequate appeal procedure in place."

ºÃÉ«ÏÈÉúTV revealed last month that investigations into alleged drug abuse had occurred on the £250m SmithKline Beecham headquarters site in Brentford and the £78m Millennium Wheel site in Falkirk.

Although no evidence was found to support the allegations, police investigations took place and drug awareness programmes were launched on both sites.