The new test could see a crackdown on lunchtime drinking (Picture: PA)

Millions of workers face routine alcohol testing using a new fingerprint device which gives instant results.

Staff in local government, the NHS and security, transport and leisure industries will be first to be targeted as the world’s first finger-touch system to detect alcohol is launched.

The device, AlcoSense TruTouch, uses a near-infrared light to measure blood alcohol content in the skin.

Users put their fingers on an optical touch pad and the reader gives a result within ten seconds, meaning 300 employees an hour can be processed.


But unions complained alcohol testing was heavy-handed while an employment lawyer said most workers had the right to refuse a test.



AlcoDigital, the company behind the device, says it could be used in anything from transport to heavy industry to office jobs such as banking.

Fingerprint scanners could be used to test employees’ alcohol levels (Picture: TruTouch)

Director Suzannah Robin said: ‘It can also be used by football clubs, cinemas, pubs and club owners and door security organisations to vet customers.

‘Operators will set their own levels and those who take the finger test will get a red or green light. It’s a straightforward pass or fail.’

AlcoDigital even raised the prospect on its website of employers ‘testing every person, every day’.

But Dave Prentis, general secretary of Unison, condemned the move as ‘a sledgehammer to crack a nut’.

He added: ‘If workers have a problem with alcohol, their employers should not be relying on a gadget to entrap them but should be providing them with proper support.’

Specialist employment lawyer Philip Landau told Metro that employers must have a ‘reasonable suspicion’ to investigate a member of staff.

‘Just because employers have new equipment doesn’t give them the right to have staff tested,’ he added.