NEW DRUG POLICY COULD SIDELINE BUILDING TRADES LABOUR

Unions And Business Draft Policy To Test For Drug And Alcohol Abuse On
The Job In The Construction Sector

The B.C. construction industry's new drug and alcohol policy could
inadvertently exacerbate an already chronic labour shortage if
substance abuse is found to be widespread.

The policy, which affects only unionized workers, allows employers to
test workers based on a reasonable suspicion of impairment on the job,
an accident or a near miss.

Employees who test positive are suspended and given access to a
rehabilitation program until they can prove they're clean.

Mark Olsen, president of BCBCBTU (Bargaining Council of BC Building
Trades Unions) and a proponent of the policy, said he doesn't know if
there's a problem among construction workers.

"I don't know the statistics," said Olsen. "All I know is if any kind
of issue is important to the clients or owners, it's important to us."

The unions and business owners created the policy to answer concerns
over on-site safety. The tests search for on-the-job impairment rather
than recreational drug use.

According to Jim Sinclair, president of the BC Federation of Labour,
the unions' proactive approach on the issue is evidence that there
could be a problem.

"I think that when you have workers who are organized, sit down and
negotiate it with the company, then they both know how bad the
problems is," said Sinclair. "I think it's pretty common knowledge out
there that people understand that there is a problem."

Olsen doesn't believe the policy will affect worker availability. He
added that he has only anecdotal evidence of on-the-job drug or
alcohol abuse.

According to WorkSafeBC, there are no statistics that point to a
relationship between workplace accidents and impairment because the
drug-testing policies have just been introduced.

Philip Hochstein, president of the Independent Contractors and
Businesses Association, said a shortage of available workers could be
an issue if it turns out there's a problem. But he added that the
construction industry is more concerned with having able workers than
impaired ones.

"I think the shortage is an issue ... [but] the construction industry
wants quality not quantity, and to the extent that impairment affects
the quality of the labour, then we prefer not to have them."

Hochstein couldn't say if the industry had more impairment problems
than others, but he acknowledged that the consequences of impairment
on a construction site can be more severe because the work places are
more hazardous than many other jobs.

The policy also allows workers to volunteer for testing. If they pass,
they'll have access to job sites for up to three years and be subject
to random testing thereafter.

If workers test positive for drugs or alcohol, their job is protected
by the policy as long as they follow the rules until they're given a
clean bill of health.

A Construction Sector Council report estimates that B.C. will need
another 47,000 construction workers from now until 2016 just to keep
up with projects.

Employment in the industry continues to grow in Metro Vancouver.
According to Vancouver Regional Construction Association analysis of
recent Statistics Canada data, the number of industry jobs increased
12.1% year-over-year in August: to 129,500 from 115,500 in August 2007.

Meanwhile, a 1996 U.S. Department of Health and Human Services report
found that the construction sector had some of the highest rates of
drug and alcohol abuse among U.S. industries.

It reported that more than 12% of full-time construction workers
between the ages of 18 and 49 regularly used illicit drugs and more
than 25% had used drugs in the last year.

A 2004 StatsCan report focusing on alcohol and illicit drug dependence
showed that 60% of Canadians between the ages of 20 and 24 reported
monthly bouts of heavy drinking, and more than 50% reported monthly
episodes of illicit drug use.

In 2007, WorkSafeBC reported that construction, with costs totalling
$109.5 million, had the highest injury claims total among the
province's industries. While it's hard to calculate just how much
impairment affects B.C.'s construction trade, Sinclair acknowledges
that the industry has some of the province's best worker
rehabilitation programs.

"I think it's unfair to pick on construction workers. [But] I think if
you go to any site that's worth its weight in gold, they have an
employee assistance program and they have rehabilitation because they
all need it."

According to a September 8 article in the Journal of Commerce, Ontario
has no plans to follow B.C.'s lead on drug testing in the construction
industry. David Surplis, acting president of the Council of Ontario
Construction Associations, told the Journal that "labour and
management appear to be diametrically opposed on the issue."