QUARTER OF STAFF FAIL DRUG TESTS

Almost a quarter of staff randomly tested in about 50 firms have been found
with drugs such as cannabis and amphetamines in their urine, the Employment
Court has heard.

Dr Susan Nolan, a forensic toxicologist and client manager at the
Government's Institute of Environmental Science and Research (ESR), told
the court in Auckland that drugs were found in 22 per cent of samples taken
randomly over two years.

But she disclosed that just two per cent of 480 samples taken in the past
five months from applicants for jobs at Air New Zealand showed drugs from
any of five target classes, which also include opiates, cocaine and
benzodiazepines such as used in sleeping pills.

That was under a pre-employment screening contract which the airline now
wants extended to random and other forms of drug and alcohol testing for
its 10,000-strong workforce, against a legal challenge by six unions.

Airline deputy chief executive Craig Sinclair testified earlier that drugs
or alcohol were not endemic problems at Air NZ but mentioned two
cannabis-related cases, one of possession by a flight attendant and another
of supply at an engineering base.

He also pointed in a four-day hearing to "isolated" reports of pilots
stopped from starting work while possibly affected by alcohol or drugs, and
of one who allegedly completed a duty before being found out.

The Airline Pilots' Association is not involved in the legal challenge but
issued a statement outside the court saying it was unaware of any proven
case where a pilot was impaired by or under the influence of illegal drugs
or alcohol while at aircraft controls.

Chief Judge Tom Goddard has meanwhile, with Judges Graeme Colgan and Barrie
Travis, adjourned the drugs-testing case until December for other
interested parties such as the Privacy Commissioner and Business New
Zealand to prepare submissions.

Although the case represents the first big challenge to workplace
drug-testing in New Zealand, Dr Nolan disclosed that the ESR analysed
12,000 urine samples last year from about 630 work sites of 350 companies.

Most tests were for pre-employment screening, but she said random testing
had spread to about 50 firms representing "safety-sensitive" industries
including forestry, fishing and road haulage.

Union witnesses have questioned the effectiveness of drug tests as a
measure of impaired performance, saying they are no substitute for
effective performance management to detect unsafe workers, and risk
distressing and alienating loyal staff for no good purpose.

But Dr Nolan, who is also an observer for the World Antidoping Agency, said
numbers of drug-tainted workers tended to fall significantly within 12
months of random testing.

A positive result demonstrated recent use of a drug "and accordingly an
employee is more likely than not to be an at-risk employee".

She added that passive inhalation of cannabis could not produce positive
results above an accepted cut-off level.

An American toxicologist involved with drugs programmes at organisations
such as General Motors and the US federal courts, Dr Leo Kadehjian, said
occasional cannabis users were rarely likely to stay positive for longer
than one to two days.

He said Air NZ should not have to wait for an aircraft crash before being
allowed to test workers.