AOD TESTING IN THE WORKPLACE WHITE PAPER SERIES ABSTRACT

Transcription

1 WHITE PAPER SERIES ABSTRACT AOD TESTING IN THE WORKPLACE Alcohol and other drug testing in the workplace is growing in prevalence and at the same time is increasingly controversial as workers and Unions worry about the potential implications and employers worry about the costs and the administrative burdens. Increasingly employees, Unions and employers are asking questions about AOD testing in the workplace, what does it mean and what are the implications? By Cathy Nutt

2 INTRODUCTION Alcohol and other drug testing in the workplace is growing in prevalence and at the same time is increasingly controversial as workers and Unions worry about the potential implications and employers worry about the costs and the administrative burdens. Recent developments at State Government level suggest the trend to wider spread AOD testing is likely to continue as first the Victorian Government announced plans for mandatory AOD testing for all Government construction contracts followed shortly by a similar move by the Queensland Government. Increasingly employees, Unions and employers are asking questions about AOD testing in the workplace, what does it mean and what are the implications? NOT DESIGNED TO CATCH YOU, BUT TO EDUCATE YOU Deployed correctly, AOD testing in the workplace is a valuable asset in ensuring a safe and productive working environment. The tone for an effective and engaging AOD program should be it s not here to catch you, but rather it s here to educate you. Crucial to this is the organisations AOD policy and the management s intent within it. AN AOD POLICY CAN HAVE A POSITIVE IMPACT A recent example of a good AOD implementation came in a recent encounter between an employee and an Alcolizer Drug Control Officer (DCO) during a routine control of entry drug and alcohol testing procedure. The employee walked up to the DCO and politely said thank you as he walked past, taken by surprise the DCO naturally enquired what for to which the employee recounted his story since he was tested positive at the very same testing station several months previously: A failed drug test was just the tip-of-the-iceberg and revealed an employee who had been suffering depression, alcohol had turned to drugs, the employee had lost contact with family, friends, was now divorced and had lost access to his children. A recent inheritance of several hundred thousand dollars had been burned half-way through by the day he was tested positive. This was a tragic and yet not uncommon case; but his employer had a supportive AOD program in place which involved support and assistance for the struggling employee who, after several months treatment, successfully returned to work and thanks to the support provided was firmly putting his life back together. So effective drug and alcohol testing can help, especially those people falling victim to their impacts, but while AOD testing brings these two together a good starting point for an AOD implementation is to understand the differences. ALCOHOL VS OTHER DRUGS Alcohol Legal drug consumed by the majority of the Australian adult population. Socially acceptable part of Aussie culture to have a drink. 80% of adult males consume alcohol 3-5 times per week. It s legal to do almost anything in our society up to certain levels of BAC, and only when we exceed drink driving limits or become a public nuisance are we deemed to have broken the law. Numerous studies have linked levels of alcohol to impairment. There is a known correlation, and BA levels are very easily measured. It is relatively inexpensive to apply blanket testing for industry every worker every shift. Other Drugs Illicit drugs fall into this category. Unlike alcohol, possession, consumption, sale of these drugs is illegal. Though becoming more acceptable, it is still fair to argue that within the broader community, taking drugs is not only illegal, but socially unacceptable. There is an age demographic for drug use. Younger adults use drugs in far greater numbers than older adults. This is no valid test for impairment caused by illicit drugs. There have been few studies in this area, and as there are so many drugs, it is a particularly complicated area to research. Unlike alcohol, drug testing is more invasive, and results less reliable at the current level of technology, and clearly more expensive to conduct, making blanket testing prohibitive.

3 THE HISTORY OF ALCOHOL AND OTHER DRUGS TESTING Given the significant differences outlined above, if Governments, businesses, and Unions are genuinely intent on achieving maximum safety on worksites in terms of alcohol and other drugs, then these two categories need to be treated differently, but with a linked and co-ordinated approach that delivers maximum safety for all concerned. The history of Alcohol Testing Covered in detail in earlier Alcolizer White Papers Alcohol testing includes incident testing, random testing, and higher limits to lower limits to zero tolerance, and finally blanket testing. Importantly, competition and technological development has driven prices down and accuracy up. For example - Police grade, top quality instruments used in blanket testing programs in mining cost businesses a mere few cents per test conducted. The history of Other Drugs Testing Detection of illicit drugs for industry grew out of pathology laboratories pushing into new markets. With laboratory analysis of positives still costing hundreds of dollars, and inhouse and out-sourced drug testing ranging from $20 $100 per test, it is easy to see why labs are the drivers of this type of testing. Saliva testing is rapidly gaining acceptance over urine testing, due to the less invasive nature of the test, so costs have fallen, but with this comes an influx of cheaper test kits and questionable claims of accuracy. The reality is there but there is, as yet, no Australian Standard for saliva testing, so companies should heed the age of warning of you get what you pay for! From the above it can be seen that not only is alcohol legal and socially acceptable, and far more widely used, but it is extremely cheap to test for and results are reliable. To the contrary, illicit drugs are both illegal and socially unacceptable, costly to test for, and results are far more subject to correct test procedures and analysis. Alcolizer proposes that the logical approach to alcohol and other drugs testing is to treat them separately within a single program. What is possible under such a program? ALCOHOL TESTING It is the issue of illicit drugs that has brought about this debate and the subsequent Government proposal, not alcohol. Alcohol is a legal, socially acceptable (in moderation), and widely consumed soft drug that numerous clinical studies have proven to cause impairment. Testing for alcohol is reliable, accurate, and relatively inexpensive. Blanket testing, widely used by large companies (BHP, Rio, etc.), is available and achievable. If you test every worker, every day on-site, including management and Head Office, you eliminate discrimination and all but guarantee an alcohol free and alcohol safe worksite. As alcohol is legal, and consumption is accepted by society, workplace alcohol testing should not result in punitive action. As long as a worker is not alcohol affected at work, no-one should care about his/her personal habits. The single most effective way to deliver an alcohol free workplace is to firstly give all workers the opportunity to pre-work, self-test, and thereby have the right not to offend, then conduct mandatory, site entry, blanket testing with known, workplace agreement consequences and procedures. In this instance, if all Government construction sites had pre-test facilities, and blanket sign-on testing, no worker should present for work with a BAC. Alcohol would disappear as workplace health & safety issue. Surely this is the ultimate outcome for employers and employees alike. Alcolizer should put forward the concept that alcohol and other drugs be targeted with different approaches to maximise risk mitigation at work. OTHER DRUGS TESTING With current technology, the cost, time constraints, and proven accuracy limitations simply do not justify blanket testing as proposed for alcohol. (Another strong argument for differentiating between alcohol and other drugs). Unlike alcohol, where impairment has been proven, the level of illicit drugs needed to cause impairment cannot, at this point in time, be quantified. Impairment will likely differ drug to drug, where combination of drugs (including alcohol) are involved, person to person, etc.

4 Zero tolerance at work seems to have fairly universal acceptance by all stakeholders, so the debate centres around how best to achieve that outcome. The Unions and the Health industry strongly favour prevention through education. Whilst no-one doubts the value of such programs, they are only effective for those who value knowledge and are inclined to responsible behaviour. Those who choose to ignore the impact of their actions on others are unlikely to significantly modify their behaviour as a result of education programs. Deterrence in the form of potential loss of job has proven to be effective for both alcohol and drugs, but what is missing is the elimination of any judgement of the individual. As with alcohol, this can be achieved if workers are given the right not to offend. If workers are given a discreet opportunity to be responsible, and protect their job without fear of consequences, Alcolizer contends that many would take up the offer. One potential solution is to have a voluntary, pre-sign on screening service. This could form part of the tender and contract for Government construction. Each worker has the right and opportunity to test for alcohol (simple Wall Mount self-test) and an administered test for other drugs if they have concerns. As part of their work agreement, the worker can then make the call to sign on for shift or not. If multiple occurrences occur, mandatory counselling could be enacted before a full return to work is possible. This supports the Unions call for workers with problems to be supported. GENERATING LEFT FIELD IDEAS To ensure a safer workplace for everyone, perhaps some left-field thinking is required. Take the planned mandatory testing in Victoria for the construction industry on all Government contracts - the CFMEU will be the key to any success for this program to work. If they could be convinced to buy in and be the leader in delivering safer workplaces, then a workable solution just might be possible providing some important considerations are made: The Union has a program on AOD for which the slogan is: Drugs or Alcohol? Not at Work! They claim to be extremely pro-active in promoting safe work practices, and have had a program in place for 20 years. They deny any drug & alcohol problems on worksites over and above what exists in the general community, and are calling on the Government to produce evidence of drug selling, and for Police to be brought in to deal with issues if they exist. Whilst they speak strongly on the issue, and their Union representatives are very conscious of health & safety issues on CFMEU sites, they do not have reps on all sites, so cannot control this problem State wide. What if the CFMEU contracted a 3rd Party e.g. an Alcolizer to run both alcohol testing and drug testing programs on all CFMEU sites? If they own it they can ensure it is fair to their members, whilst at the same time satisfying the requirements of the Government and industry. As it is a contractual requirement, industry and in the end the customer (Government) will pay for the service. The outcome would be a win win with safer workplaces saving industry and the Government money in the long run. A key to getting the Union to consider such a proposal will be to broaden the test regime to cover all workers, from the office to the building site. Every worker every day for alcohol, and all subject to random drug testing. One rule for all, so everyone from the CEO to the cleaner has the same right not to offend. CONCLUSION AOD testing is growing in prevalence and becoming widely accepted, often seen as inevitable. But widespread adoption of AOD testing faces opposition when both the intent and mechanism of deploying it are uncertain. Adopting a good AOD policy with supportive measures for impacted employees is a starting point but Government mandates threaten to derail cooperative and inclusive AOD programs. So understanding the potential positive impact an effective AOD programs can have on safe working practices and the individuals involved and applying some left-field thinking to generate workable implementation programs are crucial to deploying effective programs. For more information regarding Alcolizer Technology s AOD programs and professional training, contact Alcolizer on or talk to a sales specialist.

5 ABOUT ALCOLIZER TECHNOLOGY Alcolizer Technology is a world-leader in the field of Alcohol and other Drugs (AOD) testing and is recognised as one of Australia s most innovative and forward-thinking company s. Headquartered in Brisbane, Australia, we have been one of the world s leading manufacturers of alcohol breath testing equipment for almost 25 years; law enforcement agencies, industry and personal users trust Alcolizer to keep themselves and their employees safe. Alcolizer is the largest provider of Breath Testing devices to Australian Police and the largest provider to the Australian Resource sector. Our products are built in Australia, for Australia, but shipped around the world wherever people value quality, reliability and innovation! As our company name implies, we started out in alcohol breath testing and quickly became a leader in the field. In 2012 Alcolizer continued its track record of innovation and launched Druglizer, an industry leading drug testing service designed to complement its financial investment in Oxford University startup company OxTox. At Alcolizer, we believe alcohol and drug testing is critical for personal safety and a safe and productive work place. So whether you are a law enforcement agency, need industrialscale testing or are a personal user, you can trust Alcolizer Technology to be at the forefront of alcohol and other drugs testing technology, with world class products and services to support you wherever you are. As a technology company focussed on Alcohol and other Drugs testing, our dedicated R&D teams keep us at the forefront of the AOD industry, our in-house manufacturing expertise gives us full control over product quality, and our dedicated and professional sales team is focussed on meeting the individual needs of our customers. We complement this with tailored education programs to help our customers meet the challenges of AOD program deployment and our factory certified technical support & service specialists providing the industry s best support when, and where, you need it. With leading-edge products and services, we are a world leader in our field. ABOUT THE AUTHOR Cathy Nutt is the National AOD Operations Manager for Alcolizer Technology based in Brisbane and reporting directly to the General Manager. Cathy is responsible for nationwide delivery of Alcolizer s drug testing service and works directly with the sales team on preparing proposals and coordinates Alcolizer s Drug Control officers (DCO s) nationwide to ensure service delivery to agreed customer service levels. Prior to joining Alcolizer, Cathy spent eight years at the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority (ASADA), as a Doping Control Officer (DCO) responsible for the testing of elite Australian athletes undertaking the location and collection of samples from athletes across all sports and competition levels, including international competitors, from one on one collection to testing entire teams. In 2007, Cathy was the Casual Education Office at ASADA responsible for the provision of concise Anti- Doping information and the delivery of the ASADA message to groups of athletes and their support personnel across all sports subject to anti-doping legislation. The role included liaising with trainers and coaches to determine their specific requirements and expected outcomes for each session. The education arm forms a component of the doping deterrence program in addition to providing information to athletes assist in preventing inadvertent doping. Her background in Drug education and awareness continues today as she helps Alcolizer to develop its comprehensive range of Education & Training programs in AOD.