It may be the festive season but drugs and alcohol definitely do not mix with road and workplace safety

The festive season brings heightened awareness of the need to ensure that anyone driving or operating machinery and process plant is not doing so under the influence of alcohol. As a senior police officer calls for the drink-drive limit to be reset to zero, Draeger Safety reminds employees and their employers of the dangers of drugs and drink driving during the Christmas and New Year festivities.

Where drugs and alcohol are involved, the morning after the office party or a lunchtime meeting with a customer could mean the loss of a driving licence and be the cause of a serious accident. For a business it could lead to the loss of a valued employee or, depending on the work involved, even the loss of a hard earned corporate reputation.

According to reports, Deputy Chief Constable Suzette Davenport, who is responsible for policing the roads of England and Wales, feels that a change to a zero limit would drastically reduce the number killed and seriously injured on the UK's roads each year. The news came as the Association of Chief Police Officers launched its Christmas drink-driving campaign. It is expected that thousands of tests will be carried out on drivers in the run up to the Christmas break and that, in particular, breath-tests will be carried out in the morning in an effort to stop people from driving after a heavy night's drinking.

Ensuring easy, quick, non-invasive testing, Draeger offers a range of hygienic drug and alcohol measuring systems. Ideal for use in any breath alcohol measuring application, the Draeger Alcotest 6810 is simple to use. Accurate and reliable, it can be operated within six seconds of start up and provides up to 1500 measurements with just one pair of AA batteries. For drugs testing, the Draeger DrugTest 5000 drug detection system detects six different substance categories and is ideal for use in screening, for cause and/or post incident applications in accordance with current health and safety legislation.

About the Draeger Alcotest 6810
Draeger has been supplying police forces all over the world with the most up to date breath alcohol devices for over 50 years. Drawing on this experience as well as user feedback, and designed to meet modern day requirements, the Draeger Alcotest 6810 combines fast, reliable breath alcohol analysis with advanced data capture and storage. With a short warm-up and retest time, even after high alcohol concentrations, it also benefits from a simple, quick accuracy check and calibration procedure.

Featuring simple, three-button operation, the intuitive Draeger Alcotest 6810 provides full text messages via a clear, back-lit LCD graphic display and, in addition, incorporates three different LED colours to provide an immediate visual confirmation of the result. Eliminating the possibility of breath sample manipulation and offering low blowing resistance, this hand held, ambidextrous instrument emits an audible alarm at the end of the testing process. Hygienic in use, the patented, secure mouthpiece is easy to both attach and remove and measurements can be taken at the touch of a single button.

Results are shown in PASS, FAIL and ALERT and ug/mL as well as mg/L, %o or %, and an efficient datalogger enables 200 events to be stored at any one time. Once stored, users are able to recall the appropriate test number and display the result as and when required. For those applications where hard copies are required the unit can also be supplied with a printer.

About the Draeger DrugTest 5000
Lightweight and portable in design, the Draeger DrugTest 5000 analyses oral fluid samples as a preliminary test for traces of opiates, cocaine, cannabinoides, amphetamines and designer drugs and tranquilisers of the Benzodiazepine group. Extremely sensitive, it is able to detect the smallest trace of drugs in oral fluid samples and virtually excludes interference from other substances. (When compared to laboratory oral fluid tests, the Draeger DrugTest 5000 achieves an overall accuracy of more than 95 per cent.)

Comprising two main components, the non-invasive Draeger DrugTest 5000 Test Kit and the Draeger DrugTest 5000 Analyser, it is straightforward in use. Once the protective cap has been removed from the oral fluid collector, the subject places the collector into his or her mouth. The built-in indicator tube will automatically turn blue when sufficient oral fluid has been collected. The test administrator then inserts the test cassette into the analyser which, after a few minutes, displays the detected substance groups via a full colour display and emits an audible signal by way of confirmation.

More discrete and hygienic for both the test subject and administrator than alternative procedures such as urine sampling, it also allows continuous observation. As a result, it eliminates the risks associated with sample manipulation and/or contamination and ensures a fast, reliable result.

The Analyser is able to store the number, progression and results of up to 500 tests. Any user and device errors can also be documented and read. In addition and for those applications where an immediate printed report is required, an infrared interface allows the system to be connected to a mobile printer.

For further information contact Customer Service, Draeger Safety UK Limited, Ullswater Close, Blyth Riverside Business Park, Blyth, Northumberland, NE24 4RG. Tel: 01670 561200, fax: 01670 356266, www.draeger.com.