Should Drug Testing Be Mandatory?

Australian workplace culture is becoming more accepting of drug testing and the safety narrative around why this is necessary, and as a result less of an intrusion of privacy. Let’s first establish that workplace testing is actually not mandatory in most workplaces, but it is becoming more widespread. For some workplaces such as government civil operations you must comply with drug and alcohol testing.

However even though it is not mandatory the Health and Safety Work Act of 2011 requires employers so far as is reasonably practicable to provide and maintain a safe and healthy work environment for their employees.

To endorse a healthy work environment for employees regarding a testing program, a reasonable solution would be to create a committee that includes management, employees and even independent contractors. This committee would then create the drug & alcohol policy for the organisation, with all parties fairly represented, including the impartial expertise of the consultants.

But to be fair, even this does not mitigate the question: is it fair to drug test employees for periods that inevitably cross over into their own personal time outside of work?

There are some industries that most certainly require drug testing. Regulated industries for instance such as mining or aviation, transport and construction. Safety sensitive industries where one careless misstep could have serious consequences to either employee safety or that of the public. The facts remain that high risk industries with a lot of pressure can often lead to recreational drug use. Depending on the drug, that can mean serious come downs and affected performance in the ensuing days post consumption. Some drugs leave your system relatively quickly such as meth or even cocaine. If you were to have a cocaine or methamphetamine binge say Friday night, stay awake that night and possibly onto the next, then get a few hours sleep Sunday, are you fit for work Monday or even Tuesday? You may even return a negative result if you were to be drug tested Monday but are you fit to operate heavy machinery or fly a passenger plane?

These are the questions we need to be asking ourselves more and more. With fair and equitable drug & alcohol policies that all employees have agreed upon when commencing work at any given organisation, then surely the safety of everybody concerned is the key element we need to focus on? Not to mention secondary issues such as absenteeism, reduced turnover, loss of productivity or employee confidence in management. So even though we have established that workplace testing is NOT law in most instances, the argument for it being a necessary compliance for maintaining a safe work environment and in the best interest of public safety, is certainly a discussion worth having.

For more information or consultation on effective drug & alcohol policies or workplace testing kits contact medinat on info@medinat.com.au