MediNat Australia

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...........

Workers dodge positive drugs tests 26 March, 2013 Vicky Validakis Mining Australia The Article (see below for comments) Industry drug testers have raised concerns that workers are managing their illegal drug intake in a bid to escape getting caught out in tests. Kerryanne Tawhai, director of Down to Earth results, a company that tests illegal substances in resource industry workers, expressed concern that workers were managing their drug intake to avoid testing positive to drugs, including amphetamines. The comments come after Queensland Police in Gladstone raided a suspected methamphetamine laboratory in West Gladstone on Friday. "(It) goes with the territory," she said. "You've got large a congregation of people and there's nothing really to do in this town." She said most people know that these type of drugs left the body in a short-time, enabling users to adjust their usage before they go back to work on mine sites.