First published by OHS Alert on 20 October 2016
A survey of resources employers has found that convincing workers to “make sensible lifestyle choices” is a major challenge to mitigating the impact of drugs and alcohol on the workplace.
The survey of 53 employers, released by the Australian Mines and Metals Association yesterday, found it is an ongoing challenge to ensure employees understand that drug and alcohol use can affect workplace safety.
According to the survey report, many employers believe societal prescription and recreational drug use is becoming more prevalent, and it is difficult to step up their testing regimes to match the increase.
One employer said that as it can’t control what worker’s do when they leave the site at the end of a shift, it can do little more than provide education to them.
“Despite most resource employers recording low instances of positive or non-negative tests, convincing employees to make sensible lifestyle choices outside the workplace remains a significant challenge in managing the potential impact of drugs and alcohol,” AREEA workplace relations director Amanda Mansini says.
“Employers are communicating the message but find a small portion are not taking into account the risks that using drugs outside the workplace presents to their safety and their colleagues’ safety once on site.”
The survey also found a major concern is the ability of testing to keep up with new illicit substances, such as synthetic cannabis.
It found only 40 per cent of surveyed employers test for synthetic cannabis, and that testing is difficult because of the limited number of accredited labs.
An employer said that while it hasn’t had a positive result for synthetic cannabis to date, it is unsure whether this reflects actual workforce usage or because the test isn’t effective.
Other major issues identified in the survey include:
- Ensuring the disciplinary outcomes of drug testing are consistently applied, fair and commensurate with the risk posed by the substance being tested for.
“While 65 per cent of respondents reported taking a ‘zero tolerance’ approach to drug and alcohol use, 26 per cent focused instead on ‘harm minimisation’,” the report says.
“We will support employees who seek assistance in dealing with an alcohol and or drug dependency,” one employer said;
- Maintaining education and awareness in a “transient contractor workforce”, with 96 per cent of surveyed employers including contractors in their onsite drug and alcohol testing protocols;
- “Uncertainty around Australian Standards for saliva testing, raising practical, legal and sensitivity concerns”;
- Workers not realising the importance of declaring their prescription medication; and
- The cost of testing, confidentiality issues, handling protocols and workers trying to “beat the system” with fake urine samples or masking agents.
Mansini reported the survey results to the Ports Australia Conference in Melbourne yesterday, saying “resource employers clearly take the health and wellbeing of their employees incredibly seriously, with drug and alcohol policies a critical part of achieving a ‘zero harm’ workplace”.
“This rapidly evolving area requires a multi-pronged approach involving community education and awareness, effective testing, and laws and regulations that support employers’ decision making,” she says.
