Why Drugs and Safety Don't Mix
Communication and documentation are two of the keys to creating a successful testing program.

It's a fact: 10-14 percent of the U.S. workforce abuses drugs.¹ That's 10-14 percent of workers in any company, so if you think drug abuse doesn't affect your place of employment, you're probably wrong. Research also shows 65 percent of all on-the-job accidents can be linked to drug use. While these findings might surprise safety managers and CEOs, what's more surprising is that few corporations have programs in place to mitigate the problem.

Illicit drug use in the workplace costs the U.S. economy more than $110 billion a year.² That cost is attributed to workplace violence, employee theft, employee turnover and absenteeism, increased health benefit utilization rates, and worker's compensation. And it isn't just marijuana that employees are abusing. Findings show employees are abusing a wide range of drugs, including methamphetamines, cocaine, opiates, and prescription pain relievers, including Oxycontin.

Companies that have implemented drug testing programs using best-practice, process-based approaches have seen impressive results. These innovators have documented reductions in illicit workplace drug use. A large multinational organization saw test positive rates drop from 7 percent to 0.8 percent after introducing its drug testing program. In addition, testing significantly reduces accident rates and provides a safer and more positive work environment.

Factors to Consider when Implementing a Drug Testing Program
When it comes to implementing a drug-free workplace program, organization is key. Not only do ad hoc approaches not work, but also they can cause serious employee moral and legal issues. Drug testing is a strategic corporate issue that affects employee safety, the bottom line, and an organization's overall competitiveness. Therefore, communication, company-wide involvement, and buy-in are needed across all levels, including CEOs, CFOs, COOs, HR, loss prevention, risk management, occupational health and safety, and employees.

When implementing any drug testing program, it is recommended that the following areas be considered:

Legal Issues
There is a general lack of awareness and misinformation about the legal issues surrounding drug testing. This stems in part from lobbying activities of groups attempting to legalize marijuana and a lack of attention to the drug abuse problem by senior corporate executives. Drug testing is being practiced in the U.S. workplace; however, drug testing programs must be fair, fully documented, professionally administered, and clearly communicated to all employees.

The federal government supports drug testing programs in the workplace sector and mandates that federal employees in safety-related fields be drug tested on a regular basis. Many states have drug testing guidelines that outline what an employer should and should not do. It is important that employers determine which laws, if any, exist in the states where they conduct business to ensure their testing rules and procedures comply with state regulations.

Lawsuits involving drug testing can generally be broken down into two categories: those that originate from unhired applicants or employees who refuse to take the test are discharged or disciplined for positive test results, and those from members of the general public who may be injured or affected by a drug-using employee. Settlements in the former category are typically in the low thousands of dollars, while those in the latter are often in the millions. Overall, courts are holding more companies responsible for mistakes made by poorly trained testing personnel operating without well-conceived guidelines. As courts have declared, there is enormous liability when a company does nothing or does the wrong thing in the face of clear evidence of drug and/or alcohol abuse.

Legal action related to maintaining a drug-free workplace has so far been concentrated in the following six areas:

Cases brought under the first three categories usually involve public employment, although there have been exceptions. Private companies need not be as concerned about those issues if they already exercise good personnel practices. However, the last three--negligence, contracts, and discrimination--clearly apply to all employers.

Types of Testing
There are five common types of testing for drugs of abuse in the workplace: pre-employment, random, post accident, return-to-duty, and reasonable cause.

While companies have been practicing pre-employment testing for more than 20 years, it has been only marginally effective at reducing drugs in the workplace for two reasons. Pre-employment testing, by definition, only addresses a small part of the workplace and ignores the fact that more than 75 percent of drug abusers are currently employed and more than 10 percent of workers currently abuse drugs.

Random testing of the full workforce, while currently practiced by a subset of corporate innovators, has proven to be the most effective deterrent to illicit drugs in the workplace. Post-accident testing has become the norm for larger businesses; most states allow employers to deny worker's compensation benefits to employees who test positive for drugs of abuse.

Return-to-duty testing is a means of enabling employees to come back to work after testing positive for drugs of abuse and subsequently completing an employee assistance program and/or similar substance abuse recovery program.

The second half of this article will be made available in your SIG Alert’s November issue. In the second part of this article we will review

References
1. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, Results from the 2002 National Survey on Drug Use and Health: National Findings, September 2003.
2. National Institute on Drug Abuse

Safety Tips: Lead Poisoning

Lead poisoning, caused chiefly by the inhalation of dust and fumes, is a common hazard in the construction industry. Employees involved in demolition, salvage, removal, encapsulation, cleanup and renovation operations are particularly at risk. Lead dust can also be carried home from work on clothing, skin, or hair, so it is important for everyone to take proper preventive measures against exposure. Here are some pointers from OSHA:

Quick Tip - Agriculture

Agriculture is one of the United States' largest and most important industries, employing around 20 million people across the country, including more than 2 million teenagers.

Unfortunately, several hundred employee deaths occur in the agricultural industry every year. Most of these fatalities involve heavy machinery, but there are several other common agricultural hazards, such as chemicals and asphyxiation in confined spaces, to which employees working on farms are often exposed. To counter these hazards, here is some advice from OSHA:

Never work in a silo or manure pit unless you are using a self-contained breathing apparatus-equipped respirator.

OSHA on Parking Lot Injuries: Record Them

Employers must record incidents in which employees are injured in company parking lots, according to a letter of interpretation posted on OSHA's Website September 3, 2008.

The letter addresses two scenarios in which workers were injured when they fell to the ground while climbing out of their personal vehicles parked in a company lot. Keith Goddard, director of OSHA's Directorate of Evaluation and Analysis, said in the letter that the incidents do not meet exceptions to the agency's recordkeeping rule (29 CFR 1904), and advised employers to record the incident if it meets other criteria for recording, such as days away from work.