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Showing posts from January, 2015

Oil, Gas and Mining Drug Testing Update

Oil and gas next on drug search hit list 19 January, 2015 Ben Hagemann Drug screening is set to continue at critical transit points around West Australia as Operation Redwater gears up for a third phase of operation targeting oil and gas workers. Last week the second phase of Redwater focussed on searching airports servicing BHP and Rio Tinto mines, including the Newman Airport, but the third phase will look further afield to deal with other regional airports servicing the oil and gas industry. In conjunction with the airport searches, heavy haulage drivers were also targeted for drug screening in an operational component of Redwater, called Operation Phaeton. Operation Redwater co-ordinator Commander Murray Smalpage said the traffic stoppage took place at a strategically chosen location near Wubinn, where most traffic to and from the Pilbara must pass. “Woven is a jump off point for road trains, so that was the subject of quite intensive traffic operations, targetin

Drug tests at Immigration a waste of time and money, says expert

Drug tests at Immigration a waste of time and money Noel Towell 14 January 2015 Reporter for The Canberra Times The Immigration Department is wasting its time and taxpayers' money on forced drug tests for thousands of public servants, according to a leading workplace drug and alcohol expert. The tests will be no deterrent, enormously expensive and might even make matters worse by forcing drug users in the department on to harder substances, according to AOD workplace testing's Dr Donna Bull. But the department says that it is no ordinary workplace and that illicit drug use by government officials represents an unacceptable corruption risk to the nation's border protection system. Dr Bull, an independent consultant, says up to 5000 public servants would have to be tested each year to give the department a realistic chance of catching bureaucrats who turn up to work high. But Dr Bull says a mandatory testing regime in the British Army resulted in soldi