RANDOM DRUG TESTS OF TRUCKERS MULLED

(Illustration: Color Photo: File / Propane tank crashed on the Malahat
last year, killing the driver who was found to have been drinking.)

Mandatory drug and alcohol testing is being considered by a propane company
whose drunken driver crashed last year on the Malahat, closing the
Trans-Canada Highway for most of a day.

Martin Clough, team leader for regulation and safety for Superior Propane,
said in an interview from his office in Calgary that the company is
reviewing legal options to see if it can bring in mandatory, random drug
and alcohol testing for its drivers.

Clough's said Superior Propane started the review after receiving a copy of
the report by the B.C. Coroner's Service, released Thursday.

That report left no doubt that Philip Higgins had been drinking shortly
before he died when his truck crashed July 17. The truck slammed into the
rock face a short distance north of Goldstream Park. No other vehicles were
involved.

Higgins, 48, of Nanaimo, was driving a propane tanker truck, covered with
the ICG Propane emblem, a subsidiary of Superior Propane.

The tanker was pierced in the crash and the escaping gas raised fears of an
explosion, so firefighters and police closed the Trans-Canada Highway for
18 hours.

A subsequent autopsy revealed Higgins had a blood alcohol level of 0.28,
nearly four times the legal limit. Furthermore, the report revealed he was
on anti-depressant medication, drugs that combined with alcohol, could
intensify the intoxication effect.

Despite the coroner's clear proof now that Higgins was impaired by alcohol,
the Teamsters Union is adamantly opposed to any program of mandatory drug
and alcohol testing.

"Just because one driver has done something like this doesn't mean you
should start testing every driver in B.C.,'' said Murray Ballard, secretary
treasurer of the Teamsters Union Local 31.

"It's an invasion of privacy,'' said Ballard.

He noted B.C. truck drivers who drive across the border into the U.S. have
to be prepared for mandatory random tests for drugs and alcohol. But so far
in Canada, no company has moved to start testing.

The coroner's report is especially embarrassing for the Teamsters since it
also details how just a few months prior to the crash, in April, Higgins
was fired for suspicion of driving a company vehicle while drunk. He had
worked for the company for four years but had no history of drug or alcohol
abuse.

Following the dismissal, a grievance was filed and the Teamsters managed to
get Higgins reinstated. The company failed to produce any concrete proof of
drunken driving.

Higgins's final, fatal drive was his first upon his reinstatement. And his
family, who didn't want to believe he may have been drunk when the crash
occurred, told investigators he was happy about his return to work.

The B.C. Coroner's investigation also reveals Higgins purchased alcohol at
the B.C. Liquor Distribution Branch in Duncan on that last drive. Witnesses
also reported seeing a tanker truck driving erratically on the stretch of
highway leading up to the crash site.

Another truck driver even reported spotting an ICG Propane truck parked on
the shoulder of the road. The truck driver stopped and spoke with the ICG
driver, who he later identified as Higgins, to ask what was the matter.

Just "catching a few minutes,'' Higgins reportedly stated and thanked the
witness for stopping.