Unlike in the United States, the legal scope on drug testing at work in the United Kingdom is more lax. According to the 2004 report from the Independent Inquiry on Drug Testing at Work (IIDTW), facilitated by Drug Scope and funded by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation and the Network of European Foundations, there is no direct legislation on the interpretation of a range of provisions in health and safety, employment, human rights and data protection law.
In the UK, drug testing in the workplace is a major issue of privacy. And as a rule of thumb, employers must not take on the role of policing their employees unless their behaviour or ability to do the job is affected. Except for industries where drug testing is a matter of personal and public safety or security rather than productivity, UK employers who force employees to take drug tests could expose themselves to a legal battle under the Human Rights Act 1998 and the Data Protection Act 1998.
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