Random drug testing is nothing new in Canada, and it continues to be used as an effective safety measure for high-risk jobs, according to CanAmm Occupational Health.
The top Canadian industries that are conducting random testings are construction, mining, manufacturing, transportation, waste management and health care.
“What do all these industries have in common? They’re really, really dangerous,” said CanAmm operations manager Dan Demers.
Demers presented a seminar on random drug testing in Canada at this year’s recent Partners In Prevention Conference held in Mississauga, Ont.
With safety being a top priority in many of these industries, it is vital that employees show up to work in the right state of mind and free from the influence of drugs or alcohol.
Demers refers to these high-risk positions as “safety sensitive” jobs. He defines these jobs where “any temporary lapse in concentration or focus can result in serious injury or death to oneself or another.”
“If they’re not paying attention, then they can end up hurting themselves, they can end up dying,” he said.
Random drug testing has not been well-received by everyone in the industry because of the nature in the tests that are conducted. Some employees feel too controlled because most of the tested substances last in their system for multiple days.
“It’s a scary line to start crossing when you’re telling me that what I do on the weekend or weeks before is what makes me keep my job or not,” commented an audience member.
Demers understands the balancing act that employers need to keep in mind, but he still maintains that work safety is still the number one priority.
“It doesn’t really matter when they were used, but it matters if it will affect your risk profile on the job,” he said.
“You’ve chosen an industry where you need to show up to work safe.”
He also suggests companies establish a drug testing program with justifiable reasons based off of previous occurrences or if an employee has a history of drug and alcohol use, and they need to be prepared to defend their results.
“Know how to balance their risks,” said Demers.
“The risk of doing nothing when they know there’s a safety issue in the workplace against the possibility of a dispute or objection.”
CanAmm says that their focus is not finding positive test results and they hope to eliminate the “gotcha” stigma from testing positive.
“We’re focused on one thing and one thing only; we want to keep the workplace safe,” Demers added. “You don’t get fired, you’re just not supposed to be doing anything really hazardous. Remove them from the job until they’re safe enough to go back on the job.”
An initiative was launched last summer to combat drug use in the industry.
There is a list of companies including Bird Construction and Ledcor Group who are participating in the two-year Drug and Alcohol Risk Reduction Project which requires implementation of random drug tests on “safety sensitive” positions. An evaluation report of its first year will be released in July 2013, and will look at the link between drug testing and incident reduction.
According to CanAmm, the majority of drug tests in Canada are being conducted in Alberta, followed by British Columbia and Ontario.
Recent Comments
comments for this post are closed