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Solid Energy is planning one-off drug and alcohol testing of about 700 workers at Stockton opencast mine, on the West Coast, but it has given them a month's warning.
The company wrote to staff and contractors in mid-November, advising them it planned one-off screening some time after mid-December, to improve health and safety performance at Stockton.
The company said the screening aimed to help assess the extent and impact, if any, of drug and alcohol use among people working at the sites.
Asked why it had warned workers of the tests, communications manager Bryn Somerville said the purpose was not necessarily to catch people out.
He said Solid Energy wanted to show that drug and alcohol impairment at work was unacceptable.
"We believe this programme of testing is a very effective way of reinforcing that message."
An independent testing agency would carry out the screening, to take place at the Ngakawau coal load out facility and Solid Energy's Westport office, Mr Somerville said.
The Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union (EPMU) had been consulted and supported it.
Anyone with a positive reading, confirmed by a laboratory test, would be supported through a rehabilitation programme as appropriate and in line with Solid Energy's drug and alcohol policy, Mr Somerville said.
Solid Energy was considering company-wide, random testing, but would make no decision until after the New Year.
Stockton mine is Solid Energy's biggest income earner but has the worst health and safety record of all the company's work sites.
- NZPA
