Drug and Alcohol Testing at the Workplace

An employees’ drug taking choices could be jeopardising your business and compromising the safety of those who work in it.

Employers are legally bound to provide a safe workplace.

WHS legislation states that employers are to “secure the health and safety of workers and workplaces through the elimination or minimisation of risks” and “workers and others are to be given the highest level of protection from hazards and risks”.

Failure to do so compromises the safety of your workers and leaves company owners and directors exposed to the risk of litigation and losing
everything they have worked hard for.

As Australia’s Drug Epidemic worsens the chances of a drug or alcohol related incident occurring at your work site are increasing.

Facts About Alcohol and Other Drugs in the Community

As a company at the forefront of alcohol and other drug (AOD) solutions in the workplace, Drug-Safe Australia has always sought to create better understanding of the issues around substance abuse within our unique and treasured Australian society. Some of the more startling statistics we’ve discovered include…

facts-1 Almost 70% of Australian illegal drug users are employed.

facts-2 Lost productivity due to alcohol and other drug abuse has been estimated to cost employers in Australia $16 billion annually.

facts-3 Alcohol is the second greatest cause of drug-related hospitalisations in Australia.

facts-4 About six million Australians aged 14 years and over have used an illegal drug.

facts-5 The most commonly used drugs, in descending order are: cannabis, ecstasy, methamphetamine/amphetamine, and painkillers/analgesics. However, the use of “ICE” or methamphetamine is increasing dramatically with the result of destroying families and young lives. It is a catalyst for violence and extremely difficult to end addiction.

facts-6 Methadone is a synthetic heroin. Methadone users are not cured heroin users but maintaining a highly dependent addiction through a controlled programme.

facts-7 80% of heroin users who wish to end their addiction and go through a detox programme will relapse. Successful heroin detox is approximately 20%.

facts-8 According to Workcover statistics, in serious workplace accidents where alcohol or other drugs are present, 80% of the injured are non-users.

facts-9 26% of Australian psychiatric patients have a dependency on marijuana.

facts-10 80% of the crime committed in Australia is drug related.

fact-11 Mixing marijuana with alcohol increases the risk of having an accident from 3 to 48 times.

fact-12 Two out of three drug users will find it difficult to abstain for a whole day and will ‘top-up’ at work.

Why Drug-Safe And
Not Drug-Free?

The reality of 21st Century society is that it is an impossible dream to focus upon a Drug-Free Community. So, trying to create a 100% drug-free workplace is a pointless goal when many people require medication or prescribed drugs to lead a normal, productive and pain-free life.

The drugs in the Australian Standards for testing, and alcohol, are ones that are known to effect a person’s behaviour and fitness for duty. Through education and training programmes we are able to demonstrate why taking these drugs is not acceptable either at work, in sport, at school or generally within the social fabric of the Community.

Our Complete Drug-Safe Solution has been proven over and over…

Our innovative approach gives your workplace, sports facility of Community a comprehensive solution and includes

policy development,
educational workshops,
certified training course,
products for testing,
on site screening in house or in our mobile clinics
Comprehensive testing and results analysis.

We pride ourselves on having the experience and knowledge to manage the launch period and subsequent testing stage so that objections are professionally handled with minimal problems or objections.

Why You Should (Or Shouldn’t) Implement Workplace Drug Testing

August 28, 2020

Implementing workplace drug testing isn’t as simple as it seems. Employers naturally want to hire staff who do not use illegal drugs. However, workers claim that such a program violates their right to privacy.

As a business leader, it’s your job to find a balance between these equally valid points. You have to fully understand the advantages ad disadvantages of workplace drug testing before you can adopt any programs.

Here are some reasons why you should or shouldn’t implement a workplace drug testing:

Seven Major Reasons for Drug Testing at Work

July 28, 2020

Having employees who use illegal drugs is never good news for your company. Drug users can lower the productivity and revenue of your business and even put other employees at risk.

The use of illegal drugs at the workplace can have fatal consequences. But there are many other reasons for implementing a workplace drug testing scheme.

Here are the top seven reasons why your company should implement compulsory drug testing at work:

Drug Use trends in Australia 2020

June 2, 2020

Drug users spent $11.3 billion on substance abuse last year, based on drug use trends in Australia in 2020.

The Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission (ACIC) released the latest results of its National Wastewater Drug Monitoring Program. The 9th NWDMP report revealed a growing problem regarding illicit drug use in the country.

COVID-19 Update: Your Drug-Safe Workforce is Ready

April 9, 2020

Our Drug-Safe team takes customer support very seriously.

We want you to know that we’re here for you in the good times and even through pandemics.

Why is Drug Testing Crucial in the Australian Workplace?

March 7, 2020

There is no such thing as a 100% safe working environment.

But, you can manipulate all of the controllable factors to increase the chance of providing a safe environment and decrease any threats before they become to big too contain.