Who let the dogs in?

摘要

WE'RE ALL used to seeing sniffer dogs at the airport or at public events. But how would you feel if you came across them in your office, on the factory floor or at the gate of your construction site? Bovis Lend Lease recently called in police officers and specially trained sniffer dogs to check for drugs in an unannounced operation at its St David's 2 shopping centre construction site in Cardiff. The dogs, trained to detect all types of drugs from heroin to cocaine and cannabis, met workers as they arrived on site in the early morning in February. Bovis said it was part of a health and safety initiative to ask the police to do a random walk around with the dogs. Bringing in sniffer dogs or swabbing for drug traces may seem extreme. But if employers suspect that people are using, supplying or storing illegal drugs on work premises, they are legally obliged to do something about it, says Matt Taylor of drug and alcohol testing specialists ScreenSafe UK. If they turn a blind eye, they could get into trouble.