Is this true..................

The London Underground Limited (LUL) policy has been seen as a pioneer in
establishing a sound Drugs and Alcohol policy. LUL employs safety critical workers
and as such has a clear legislative duty to protect employees and the public alike
from workers unfit through drugs or alcohol. Random testing is in place for safety
critical workers and any worker tested positive faces disciplinary action. However,
employees who believe they have a problem with drug and alcohol misuse are
encouraged to come forward so that they can receive help in the form of
counselling, rehabilitation and detoxification programmes, without the threat of
disciplinary action.

London Underground Limited (LUL)
LUL has a Drugs and Alcohol team consisting of four staff members based within
their occupational health department. LUL has a strict Drugs and Alcohol Policy due
to its many safety critical employees. The policy states that employees will not drink
or take drugs at work, and will not turn up for work after having used drink and
drugs in a way that could put their work at risk. Uniformed employees may not buy
alcohol or go to a pub, and storing of alcohol in operational buildings is forbidden.
LUL also uses random testing programmes for safety critical staff.
Employees who have tested positive for cannabis, cocaine, ecstasy or other Class A
drugs will face disciplinary action. However, employees who come forward to seek
help will be admitted for acute detoxification, which involves residential treatment,
programmes or support sessions. Aftercare involves group sessions twice a week.
Employees who return to work after completing such a programme must sign a
formal agreement outlining the behaviour expected of them. For the following six
months the employee will be tested a couple of times a week and then reviewed.
LUL has received some criticism in the media for sending staff, including safety
critical staff, to private rehabilitation clinics for drug and alcohol addiction, which is
ultimately funded by the tax payer. However an LUL spokesman commenting for a
Times article on 7th May 2003, stated, “We are the only company in the UK which
helps employees who come forward with a drug or alcohol problem, if it is safety
critical work, they are tested several times a week for six months, their counselling is
kept up and they are free to go back to work.”