AMERICAN-BASED FIRMS MORE LIKELY TO TEST YOU FOR DRUGS IN WORKPLACE

B.C., Alta. Have High Percentage Of Firms With A U.S. Head Office

You're more likely to be tested for drugs in the workplace if you
work for an American-based company.

A University of Victoria survey of workplace drug testing found
provinces with the highest percentage of firms with a U.S. head
office -- B.C. and Alberta -- also had the top levels of drug testing
of employees. This despite what the report's author said is a lack of
evidence of testing necessity or efficacy.

"A lot of U.S conglomerates coming up to Canada . . . are trying to
adopt the same [U.S.] policies, but the laws are different here,"
said Dr. Scott Macdonald, assistant director of research at UVic's
Centre for Addictions Research. "In order to have drug testing [in
Canada], it has to be reasonably related to the requirements of the work."

The survey, published in the recent edition of the Canadian Journal
of Public Health, questioned 565 human-resources managers responsible
for at least 100 employees each. They were asked about their
workplace drug-testing policies.

The survey, conducted in 2003, discovered 10 per cent of the firms
overall had drug testing, with the highest provincial rate in Alberta
at 25 per cent. B.C. was second at 17.9 per cent and Ontario the
lowest at 4.6 per cent.

Macdonald found U.S.-run firms were twice as likely -- 18.2 per cent
to 9.2 per cent -- to impose testing as those controlled from elsewhere.

Safety-sensitive sectors such as transportation, resource extraction
and construction were the most common work sites for drug tests.

However, a major Canadian investigative agency, the Transportation
Safety Board, has not detected any recreational drug-accident link.

"We haven't found a single accident where the causal factors were
alcohol or drug related, in literally thousands of investigations,"
said the TSB's Jim Harris. "That would go back about 15 years in
marine, rail, pipeline and aviation, the four modes in which we investigate."

It's a viewpoint Macdonald said is supported by the research.

"Drug-testing programs are more ideological than evidence-based," he
said. "Urine tests detect drug users, but can't measure or identify
current impairment. Marijuana can be detected for up to 28 days
[cocaine only up to three], but that doesn't mean that person is
unsafe in the workplace today. Yet the employee may be subject to
disciplinary actions."