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Showing posts with the label at work drug testing

Make sure you’ve got a Drug Testing Policy in place

Drug testing employees? Make sure you’ve got a policy in place John Salter / Thursday, April 6, 2017 SmartCompany You suspect one of your staff members is regularly turning up to work affected by their drug intake. Or there’s been an incident at work, and an investigation has uncovered that the staff member involved was impaired by alcohol at the time. What do you do? For many SMEs, their initial reaction will be to discipline and perhaps dismiss the employee. But before you go ahead and make any rash decisions, you need to understand exactly where you stand legally if you want to minimise the chance that an unfair dismissal or other relevant claim is brought against you. The case of the Sydney ferry driver One of the most notorious unfair dismissal cases in Australia involving drug and alcohol use was that of a Sydney ferry captain who tested positive to cannabis in 2013, after being called in to work on a day off to cover an unexpected absen

NSW Police overlooked scientific advice about hair sample

NSW Police overlooked scientific advice about hair sample and sacked drug-tested sergeant Eamonn Duff  March 12 2017  A single strand of hair that destroyed the life of a long-serving Sydney police officer has the potential to influence the future of not just the entire NSW Police Force but all workplaces across NSW. Sergeant George Zisopoulos insists he has been wrongly dismissed due to one of his hair follicles which returned a positive drug test reading. But while the state's top cop, Commissioner Andrew Scipione, has determined that, on the "balance of probabilities", the officer knowingly consumed drugs, scientific opinion suggests otherwise. Leading forensic experts have cast doubts over the decision to sack Sergeant Zisopoulos, concluding there is "no evidence" the substances found on his hair were ingested and that the minute readings may have been caused by "external contamination". ergeant Zisopoulos, who is the first NSW

What Are the Penalties for ‘Drugged Driving’ in Australia?

What Are the Penalties for ‘Drugged Driving’ in Australia? Joe Wilson - Leafly Mobile drug testing, or MDT, is on the rise in Australia. Police in all states and territories can now require drivers to provide a saliva sample to be tested for cannabis and amphetamines. In the country’s most populous state, New South Wales, authorities boast that by 2017 there will be three times the number of tests on the state’s roads. At the same time, a number of “drugged driving” campaigns have drawn criticism and stoked confusion. To help clarify, this article sets out penalties that accompany a positive roadside drug test in various Australian states. Note that all penalties are for first-time offenses. State of Queensland (QLD) Police in Queensland are able to test drivers for cannabis in conjunction with so-called random breath testing (RBT) or as a standalone test. The presence of any cannabis whatsoever in a sample is an offense, carrying a maximum penalty of

FWC orders employee to pay the company for fake Drug Test

Toll awarded $18,000 from drug-test faking employee by Victoria Bruce HC Online Logistics giant Toll Holdings has scored a win from the Fair Work Commission as a former employee has been ordered to pay the company $18,000 after falsifying drug test results to support an unfair dismissal claim. The commissioner ordered the former Toll Holdings employee, who was fired in June 2015 after a positive drug test, to pay the company $18,000 in compensation, AFR reported. The employee had tested positive for amphetamine and methamphetamine in his system after a workplace drug test, yet before his dismissal the worker told Toll urine sample tested by a doctor had showed up negative to the drugs. But at subsequent proceedings to hear the worker's unfair dismissal claim, the doctor gave evidence that the test had been "manipulated", and the original test showed the former employee had tested positive.   Read the full article here. Comment: It

Drug Driving Advice On Australian Roads

Hazy Drug Driving Advice On Australian Roads                                   HuffPost Australia  |  By Eoin Blackwel Very interesting article by Eoin Blackwell as follows: If you’re a little dazed and confused about Random Drug Testing on Australia's roadsides, it’s probably not just because of what you’re smoking. RDTs are being rolled out across the country at an increasing rate, with as many as 200,000 drivers to be tested in Victoria and 100,000 in NSW by 2017. Prompted by a recent NSW court case, where a Lismore man was acquitted after being pinged nine days after having cannabis , The Huffington Post Australia decided to investigate the state of play in each state. Cannabis is, af

Master Builders Australia welcomes phased approach to enforcement of drug & alcohol fitness for work amendments

The new fitness for work amendments under the Building Code 2013 will commence on Friday, 16 October. Master Builders Australia welcomes the phased approach to implementing the drug and alcohol fitness for work amendments for the building and construction industry under the Building Code 2013. The new fitness for work amendments under the Building Code 2013 will commence on Friday, 16 October. This will require contractors to have a comprehensive policy for managing drug and alcohol issues in the workplace which includes mandatory drug and alcohol testing on Commonwealth funded projects. Fair Work Building and Construction will be responsible for monitoring compliance and will have a three stage approach to auditing the drug and alcohol testing requirements. FWBC will initially help industry understand the implications of the policy through education. The second stage will consist of audits with a view to providing feedback on their compliance with the requirements

Compulsory drug and alcohol testing to be introduced on building sites

New drug and alcohol tests for building sites In an attempt to improve workplace safety standards on construction sites, the Federal Government has announced plans to introduce compulsory drug and alcohol testing on building sites. Mr Abetz on Friday introduced amendments to the Building Code to improve workplace safety standards on construction sites. Fair Work Building and Construction will be responsible for auditing contractors to ensure they have a fitness for work policy in place within 28 days. "It is essential that workers on construction sites do not present a risk to themselves, their co-workers, and the public by having drugs and alcohol in their systems," Senator Abetz said. "Safety is a paramount consideration on construction sites. It is simply an unacceptable risk to the health and safety of employees and the public to have workers affected by drugs or alcohol on construction sites." For further information and to access th

Private Lives v Saving Lives

Privacy Intrusions and When Drug Testing in Australia National Law Review 19 May 2015 There has been a long running battle in Australia about whether an employer, when testing for drug use, can ask employees to provide a urine sample. Many unions have resisted the introduction of urine testing, arguing that saliva testing is sufficient and, as such, the process of sampling urine is an unjustified invasion of privacy. Employers, however, want to have both methods available, arguing that saliva testing has recognised limitations. Last month, the Fair Work Commission ( Commission ) sided with an employer by granting them the right to perform both saliva and urine testing on its employees for drug use. More...........

Drug use in the workplace

Staying drug-safe at work By Staff Writers - Government News Continued recreational drug use in Australia presents an urgent challenge for local governments to show leadership to ensure all their staff have a safe workplace, according to testing expert Michael White. A recent United Nations report on worldwide drug use showed that, per capita, Australia has the highest rates of dangerous and illicit drug use in the world. In effect, Australians are the world’s highest users of Ecstasy, Ice and Cannabis, and many of those drug-using Australians work in local government jobs. The variety of potentially dangerous roles carried out by local government employees is of significant concern to Michael White, who says that local governments need to get serious about drugs in the workplace, and develop procedures and protocols to ensure local government worksites are drug-safe. “Council workers are driving trucks, operating heavy machinery, in charge of roadside mowers, bu

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