Corporates target workplace drugs

By ALISON HORWOOD

Workplace drug and alcohol testing - traditionally restricted to dangerous industries such as forestry and mining - could soon be commonplace among corporations.

Overseas research shows abuse is high among professionals and that testing of them is on the rise.

The Institute of Environmental Science and Research - New Zealand's leader in off-site testing, claiming 85 per cent of that market - plans to actively market its breath and urine-testing service to corporates.

"Drug-testing is becoming more acceptable and we are seeing a steady increase in the demand for it," says an ESR spokesperson.

"It has always been part of the safety sensitive industry, but we intend to market the service to a wider range of people.

"We follow trends overseas, and the results seem to point to a high incidence of alcohol and drug abuse among the professions."

In the United States, drug-testing programmes have increased markedly over the past decade, largely because of Government initiatives and legislation for drug-free workplaces.

ESR, a Crown research institute, says an increasing number of New Zealand companies are introducing policies for pre-employment, accident, reasonable-cause and random testing.

It has about 200 clients, mostly in the forestry, mining, manufacturing, leisure and fishing industries. That client list is growing by about 15 per cent a year.

ESR collects and analyses samples for a comprehensive list of drugs, including cannabis, hashish, cocaine, amphetamines, and, for some companies, prescription drugs such as tranquillisers and sedatives. It matches results against international standards and legal requirements.

ESR also offers companies drug-testing expertise such as policy advice and training seminars. Drug testing, it says, is not just a safety issue, but one of health.

Companies are not only introducing policies to meet the Health and Safety in Employment Act 1992 but they are often looking at workers' overall health and well-being.

Employees who fail tests may be referred to a rehabilitation programme.

But Mike Ward, national health and safety officer for the Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union, calls the increase in workplace drug-testing a "real concern".

Far more widespread than ESR-style, off-site testing is the kitset urine test carried out in the workplace by managers, he says, where accuracy can be an issue.

Ward says the union, the country's biggest with 56,000 members, opposes workplace drug-testing because it tests the symptoms and not the problem.

"Drug and alcohol testing detects use of those substances, and not impairment as a result of them," he says.

"We are not saying drugs and alcohol are not a safety issue - we are the first to say a worker adversely affected by those substances is a safety issue. However, testing is not the best way to manage it."

A positive test does not necessarily mean that a worker is unsafe. Issues such as shiftwork and fatigue can also impair performance and create danger, he says - but such issues are not given the same attention as drug and alcohol abuse.

Ward supports a programme developed in the early 1990s by the Australian construction industry, which advocates education, individual responsibility, and peer support, rehabilitation and job security.

Staff who notice behavioural changes in a colleague can send the worker home. A meeting then examines reasons for the apparently impaired performance. The incident, if drug-related, is followed up by assistance and support.

Each incident appears on a work record, and three incidents within a 12-month period can affect future employment.