Hiring the Right Way...Pre-Employment Alcohol Testing

The Civil Aviation Safety Authority has a policy on pre-employment drug & alcohol testing that states, “Some job roles will have a statement contained in the position description “This is a safety sensitive position”. Candidates for safety sensitive positions may be requested to undertake a pre-employment alcohol and drug test.”1 The policy goes on to say that pre-employment testing is considered an “essential requirement” of their obligation to provide a safe workplace. Clearly, pre-employment testing for the presence of drugs or alcohol plays an important role in maintaining a substance free workplace. However, it is only the first step.

Someone who regularly uses illicit drugs has two courses of action to choose from in order to land a job. The first is to seek employment from a company that does not do pre-employment drug testing. The second option is to stop taking drugs long enough to pass a drug test, and then resume taking them once employed. Of course, this option assumes that the job candidate knows approximately when a job opening will become available. Therefore, pre-employment screening is most likely to detect the severely addicted persons or those who are uninformed about pre-employment drug testing.2

Message Sent Loud and Clear

However, despite the growing sophistication of drug users, pre-employment drug testing is an important screening tool for the employer. As more Australians choose to use illicit drugs, the pre-employment drug testing will detect chronic drug users, but just as importantly it supports a drug-free workplace culture. A powerful message is sent loud and clear before the person is hired: Employee drug use is unacceptable, and the employer will use available technology to keep drugs out. That still leaves the problem of dealing with people who pass pre-employment drug screening and have every intent of resuming drug use once employed.

In fact, it is no secret that there are online forums people use to teach other methods that will supposedly help them hide drug use. Employers using high quality saliva and urine tests are not likely to be tricked by these methods, but the forum messages indicate the desperate steps people will take to pass initial drug and alcohol screening.

However, pre-employment screening is just a first step in maintaining a drug free workplace. Since it is given with notice, pre-employment testing does not replace the need to institute post-employment drug and alcohol testing. The workplace testing procedures are then implemented on a random, post-accident, and for-cause basis. The random procedures are needed to ensure that testing is administered without prejudice and that workers are unlikely to be able to manipulate the process.

Transparency Attracts the Right Job Candidates

The key to successful implementation of drug and alcohol testing policies is transparency. Employers should use their pre-employment drug testing policies to promote their dedication to maintaining a substance free workplace, making the company more likely to attract job candidates who do not use drugs. In addition, the business brand benefits from the socially responsible policies. Drug and alcohol testing can be a contentious issue, but pre-employment testing has been almost uniformly accepted by job candidates and unions as reasonable and necessary. However, it should not stand alone because behaviours can change once people are employed.

Mediscreen (mediscreen.net.au/) offers flexible and high quality drug and alcohol screening services. The adaptability of the screening services means employers can get results on an as-needed basis for pre-employment and post-employment purposes. 

This article has been taken from http://mediscreen.net.au/articles/?p=2222

Screening and Dehydration

Drug screening is important when it comes to protecting the health of your employees. One of the common workplace hazards on a hard labor jobsite is dehydration. Of course, in warm weather, many employees drink a lot of water, anyway, but it still may not be enough. In air conditioned dry weather, your workers may still not be getting enough water?

How can you tell?

Water is necessary to hydrate the tissues, but all humans need both oil and water in their daily hydration consumption. So, does this mean you should pass out a lot of French fries and onion rings? Not necessarily. Fortunately, there are other ways of making sure they get both oil and water for their bodies while at work.

First of all, set a good example in both areas. Natural, unsaturated fats like butter, cream, milk and cheese help the body to absorb the oils it needs to offset all the water it will be drinking. This is always a good way to get the oil side of oil and water. Filtered water out of a dispenser is how many offices take their water, although people are starting to buy flavored water and spritzers in bottles now, so sometimes even that can be customized. Setting an example by consuming both oil and water around your employees helps them to feel okay about treating their bodies better.

Secondly, providing a combination of water and juice encourages healthy drinking throughout the day. In addition to that, you can provide snack foods, like biscuits and fried toast which possess real butter and other healthy fats which will combine with the water to develop optimum tissue health and cell flexibility. This suppleness and flexibility of the cells is what keeps us young and what helps us withstand injury and sickness without any long term effects.

Drug screening also helps, since it identifies employees who are sick in the body as well as sick in the mind. Addiction cuts into all parts of a human, from emotions to physical wellbeing to mental clarity and perspective. Workplace drug testing evaluates which employees are truly taking care of themselves and which are harming themselves. Look into our services today: (+61) 1300 79 70 40.

This Article has been taken from http://mediscreen.net.au/articles/?p=2170

Poseidon

Poseidon, the god of the seas, is one of the most glamorous figures in mythological history. The sea has always been an untamed mistress and that is evident by its many moods and absolute lack of feeling for how many sailors are lost at sea. Poseidon was often revered by people living on or near the ocean, because surely there was a god in control of the wind and the waves. Surely, humans had some control over their fate on the ocean if they acted a certain way or paid obeisance to the right deity.

It’s nice to have hope, isn’t it?

When abusing drugs or alcohol, addicts almost feel the same way. If they can just get one more go at the drug, then they will feel in control enough to let go of it. Of course, the pain of withdrawal is so great that they only make these worthy goals when they are actually high on the drug itself. When they are at their lowest, it is not very often that you find an addict planning for the future or feeling perky enough to go outside and do some yard work.

Workplace drug testing, while extremely effective in businesses, is still very hard on individuals who just want to fund their addictive and self destructive habits more and more until they’re broke. Drug screening is the addict’s bane, and they always protest loudly or become defensive when they are asked to follow company policy. Of course, those who feel that their privacy is being invaded protest just as loudly, but the truth is onsite drug and alcohol testing really does get the job done. Well, it does not do your firing for you, but it gives you the information you need so that you can make complete employment decisions based upon all the facts. Even if your employed addict is one of the hardest working and most enthusiastic hires, it only takes one little slip up to leave you with an accident, a fatality, and/or a lawsuit. That is just not worth the risk involved. To find out more about onsite drug andalcohol screening, visit our website today or just give us a call any time: (+61) 1300 79 70 40.

This Article has been taken from http://mediscreen.net.au/articles/?p=2167