DOUBTS OVER DRUG TESTING

Workplace Drug Testing May Be Of Little Use In Stopping Workers
Getting Stoned On The Job

A report written by Labour Department senior medical practitioner
Chris Walls has questioned the usefulness of testing workers for
drugs such as cannabis.

Workplace drug testing is common in the forestry, fishing and
transport industries.

Occupational Safety and Health is asking for feedback on the report
before putting together a policy.

In his paper, Dr Walls said there were "no useful analytical measures
to accurately indicate the level of acute impairment" caused by
cannabis.

Urine testing "has no practical use in assessing impairment caused by
marijuana use," he says.

Urine tests showed whether someone had used drugs, but it could have
been weeks ago. He said blood serum tests, analysed by gas
chromatography, could help show those who had smoked cannabis in the
previous 12 hours. Dr Walls also recommended that drug and alcohol
testing be handled by medical professionals, not human relations
departments.

In October last year, 20 police officers raided a Carter Holt Harvey
mill in Tokoroa and, with the permission of management, had workers
sniffed by a drug dog. No drugs were found.

Health and safety officer for the Engineering, Printing and
Manufacturing Union (EPMU) Mike Ward said New Zealand employers used
drug testing in a punitive way.

Cheap urine testing was "a trendy way [for employers] to be seen to
be positive about health and safety," he said. "They use valuable
resources purely to get an answer to the question 'Have they smoked a
joint in the past week?'"

Employers Federation chief executive Anne Knowles said employers had
worked with Dr Walls in putting together drug testing guides, and
knew about the link between testing and impairment. She said
employers used testing only in a very limited and non-punitive way.

EPMU general secretary Andrew Little said even if a collective
employment contract allowed drug testing, case law supported an
employee's right to refuse. Workers with individual contracts could
also mount a good argument against it.

Fletcher Challenge Forests spokeswoman Jacqui Miller said the company
tested urine for opiates, cocaine, amphetamines and cannabis before
hiring a worker, after an accident and if they seemed impaired.
Samples were tested by the Institute of Environmental Science and
Research, which gauged impairment. If drugs were present, but not
enough to impair, ESR did not tell Fletchers.

Air New Zealand technical and flying crew are tested for drugs during
routine medical check-ups.

The chief executive of wood products at Carter Holt Harvey, Devon
McLean, said drug testing was done only before hiring a new worker
and after any accidents. None of these three companies used random
tests.