Image: YLE
Drug testing in the workplace is becoming more widespread. The National Institute for Health and Welfare (THL) estimates that the number of drug tests carried out by employers in Finland has risen to over 100,000 per year.
Employees are tested for drugs particularly in the transport, surveillance, security and healthcare sectors.
The law regulating workplace drug testing has been in force since 2004. The law permits drug testing during the recruitment process and also when there is a reason to suspect an employee of drug use.
At first, some 10,000 employees were tested annually, but the number has increased tenfold, according to Chief Physician Kimmo Kuoppasalmi from the THL’s Drug Research Unit.
Kuoppasalmi says that the number of workplace drug tests is almost at its peak.
“I think that the number will not increase much from this point. A very small proportion of these tests turns up positive in practice—about 1-2 percent. The preventive effect and the message that the workplace does not tolerate substance abuse are perhaps the most important factor,” Kuoppasalmi notes.YLE
