MediNat Australia

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

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 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

Saliva Drug Testing Saliva Tests for drugs is the least invasive and fastest way to test for current impairment from drugs in the workplace. As with any rapid test method including urine drug testing, a Non Negative result needs to be confirmed by a laboratory i n order to obtain a confirmed analytical result. Gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS) or Liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry (LC/MS) are the preferred confirmatory methods. Here are some Questions and Answers regarding issues some have with Saliva Testing: Q: I had a candidate submit a negative test when the person appears to be under the influence of drugs or something else. A: There are a number of possible explanations:       1. I assume the candidate was tested for Alcohol       2. If the Saliva Test did not have a Benzodiazepine test strip this could be the cause.       3. There are very few substances or adulterants that can provide a false negative test            with saliva. MediNat will s

Mining drug raids continue in WA 4 December, 2014 Vicky Validakis FMG’s Cloudbreak mine has been the target of a police drug raid as the industry-wide crackdown continues. FIFO workers were searched as they disembarked from planes landing at the site "This is part of a community and industry-wide crackdown, to reduce the incidents of illicit drugs/substance possession," WA Police said. "This is a community issue and the community can expect to see more of these police actions in the near future." So far the searches have resulted in one summons for possessing prescription drugs without a prescription. Another worker is set to undergo further testing after returning a positive result for THC, a compound found in cannabis. Australian Manufacturing Workers Union secretary Steve McCartney said the searches over-the-top as workers are already subject to drug and alcohol testing. "To bully and harass people at the airport is o

An article written by Georgina Bartter   - Daily Mail see article here Introduces the issue! 'Way too good, the best I've had in years': How users rated Ecstasy pills known as 'The Speaker' before the drug caused the death of teenager Georgina Bartter at a dance party  Georgina Bartter, 19, died from a suspected ecstasy overdose  She collapsed at one of the summer season's first dance parties, Harbourlife, in Sydney An MP has warned Australia's summer of music festivals could prove 'lethal' for young people. The Greens David Shoebridge says police sniffer dogs don't stop drug trade Mr Shoebridge, a critic of sniffer dogs, says their use may lead to deaths because people swallow drugs to avoid detection. He proposes no fault drug tests at festivals measure strength of ecstasy and other drugs But NSW Police drug squad boss Tony Cooke says sniffer dogs reduce drug taking Superintendent Cooke has slammed 'money hung

The updated AS4308-2008 Standard has made fundamental changes in sample collection and Laboratory confirmation testing. Here are some of the key points: Summary: The standard requires collectors to have completed a nationally accredited course in drug screen collection and/or onsite testing. What is evident is that clients performing their own collections will need to have their staff sign off if they wish to collect samples and/or do onsite tests in accordance with Section 2 of the new standard. The standard and NATA also requires laboratories to state unequivocally on the report the status of collections and their compliance to Section 2 Where a collection is not performed by a registered WDP collector the following will appear on the WDP report. ‘This sample has not been collected by a registered WDP collector. Cannot be verified compliant with AS4308:2008Section 2’. The New Collection Procedure The changes to collection are to do with the mandatory splitting of samp