Is drug testing in the workplace a case of ‘big brother’ or a legitimate measure to improve safety? While alcohol and drug testing in heavy industries such as mining and construction is widely accepted, the prospect of white-collar professionals such as your doctor, lawyer or hairdresser being under the influence is alarming.
It’s a provocative request. How would you respond to being handed a sample cup and asked to undertake workplace drug testing when you arrived at work on a Monday morning?
Chances are it would depend entirely on your responsibilities, where you worked and whether you had been engaged in your employer’s drug and alcohol policy.
If sitting inside a 249-tonne mine truck the height of a double-storey building (with a multi-million dollar pricetag) is all in a day’s work, it’s likely you’ll be unfazed by an onsite drug and alcohol test.
You may in fact welcome workplace drug testing – especially when your safety depends on co-workers who are also in charge of monster machinery or working with you underground.
The same can be said for construction workers, perched precariously on scaffolding at work sites or handling high-speed tools. It goes without saying that you would expect those in the aviation industry to have strict workplace drug testing laws.
Yet even in white-collar professions, the risk of mistakes from drug or alcohol use could ruin lives. Former lawyer Andrew Fraser told Channel 7 current affairs program Today Tonight last year that he had been jailed for five years for using cocaine on the job.
“I didn’t do it before I went to court but I would use after court and that then leads into the evening and into the night and into the morning,” he said.
“One thing that really does terrify me is the fact that doctors, judges, airline pilots and architects (can work) while off their faces. What if they make a mistake?”
Queensland Legal Society’s industrial law committee chair Ann Milner told ABC Radio that it was a complex issue.
“I think it is harder to justify certain random testings in industries like retail where people are working in shops or law firms where people are sitting at their desks,” she said.
“But then I think that if there’s a suspicion held that a person’s capacity to perform their job is actually impaired, I think that can be a basis for testing but I think random testing in those sorts of circumstances is still really to be tested in the courts in terms of whether that’s justified in all industries.”
While experts offer different opinions over the parameters for onsite drug and alcohol testing, the practice is here to stay.
Developing a drug and alcohol workplace policy is the first step to implement drug tests. Perth-based drug and alcohol testing service provider Mediscreen can provide more information. Call 1300 7970 40 or email admin@mediscreen.net.au.
Sources:
http://au.news.yahoo.com/today-tonight/lifestyle/article/-/10067412/workplace-drug-tests/
http://www.abc.net.au/local/stories/2010/03/15/2845810.htm
http://blandslaw.com.au/uncategorized/drug-alcohol-testing-at-work/
