Drug testing in the Irish workplace is one of those topics that throws up a multitude of considerations for employers. In the absence of a clear statutory framework, employers must assess and grapple with overlapping and competing factors, including employee wellbeing, health and safety obligations, constitutional rights, equality concerns, data protection issues and workplace culture. 

What does the law say?
While the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005 (the “SHW Act”) envisages regulations for testing, these have never been enacted, meaning the subject remains a matter of contract and policy, not statutory compulsion. The SHW Act, does, however, place a number of obligations on employers and employees alike, including:

• Section 8 requires employers, so far as reasonably