Your Business, Their Business

Drug Screening

There is an art to minding your own business, and this level of class is rarely taught in today’s schools and even our universities. In fact, there are many reasons why it might be best to mind your own business, but when you are curious, in pain, hurting emotionally, upset, or paranoid, these good reasons tend to fly straight out of the window.

By focusing all of your attention upon those with whom you really desire to associate, emulating them when you desire, and bringing their energy into your world, you are allowing yourself to be positively influenced by other people.

And that, my friend, is as far as their influence should even touch you.

It is far more classy, and retains far more power, to focus on your own business, and while you may be aware of what other people are doing, if you stick to your business only, then you will develop a high quality reputation for yourself while also keeping your energy separate from that of other people.

In fact, keeping all of your business separate from the business of other people is, indeed, what makes strong people strong and rich people rich. They retain all of their own holdings and their own desires, without diluting them by spreading them around among other people. Drug alcohol testing helps to facilitate this attitude and these energies within your own workplace.

Of course, your employees will need to engage in team activities and work together as a team. However, if they have these high quality boundaries between themselves and other people, then communication will be better facilitated and there will be a more solid foundation upon which your workers can build friendships and strong working teams.

Workplace drug testing is brought to you by Mediscreen. This is our life’s work. This is our passion. Business organization and implementation is nothing without having the right people working for you. Without these people who do not abuse drugs or alcohol, your company is compromised from the inside out.

Instead, use Mediscreen for all of your onsite drug & alcohol testing needs.

This article has been taken from : http://www.mediscreen.net.au/your-business-their-business/

Safe and Warm

Drug & Alcohol Testing

Safe and warm are words typically associated with a nice cozy home which is secure within, barricading cold weather and unsafe people without. Safe and warm has to do with the human need to be well provided for and loved and taken good care of. Well, fortunately, now that workplace safety practices have increased in quality over the past sixty years, people can experience being safe and warm in their jobs, as well. Drug and alcohol testing is part of this safety and warmth, because it brings employers to a level of understanding of their employees which protects the best interests of everyone in the company, even the people who are abusing substances.

Employee assistance programs are meant to help people, not hurt them or pass blame from one of them to another. EAPs are part of a company’s protection of and care for its workers. In addition to that, requiring that your employees seek help from professionals in order to retain their employment status can not only change their lives but it can dramatically change what they are able to do for your company down the line. Keep in mind that the second process may take months or years to really show, but you’ll be helping your employee to become a loyal company worker, as well as helping them find peace from their destructive addictive behavior.

Safe and warm is relative. Some people don’t want that. They don’t want warmth and safety. They just want danger and excitement and risk. Keep in mind that these risk oriented people are not completely risky. In fact, they are only risk oriented because they already have a nice solid foundation of safety within themselves. They are not likely to match the above scenario.

Workplace drug testing and alcohol testing is part of keeping your company maintained and healthy. Implementing onsite drug and alcohol screening on a regular basis brings your workplace to a place where it can steadily, but safely, grow and expand over many years, rather than suffering chaotic cutback and downsizing coupled with new hiring and rollercoaster effects. Alcohol drug testing is a part of this peace.

This article has been taken from : http://www.mediscreen.net.au/safe-and-warm/

Lean, Mean, Competitive Star

Drug Testing Australia

Everyone knows that whichever fighting champion is in the best shape is the one who is most likely to win against their opponent. It’s not about all of the fancy moves they know. In fact, very few champions became champions by knowing a thousand different hits, but rather they became that way by being very fit and by knowing a few good moves really well.

Businesses do not succeed by knowing a thousand little tools and shortcuts to getting things done. Companies are successful when they employ a few basic tools really, really well. It means that they must keep practicing those basic moves over and over, even after they have mastered them completely. It is the skill and talent with which you wield a tool that you become a master of it, not all of the different ways in which you can lift it.

For your business to become a competitive star, you must have assets which your competition doesn’t have. Chances are, many of other businesses in your field also employ workplace drug testing as part of their employee evaluation standards. However, you can have a competitive edge over them by using Mediscreen, a company which specializes in onsite drug and alcohol testing. We come to your place of business, nobody has to travel or wait long hours in a lab waiting room, and we test your employees for you.

We are a NATA accredited collecting agency, and we do both drug screening and alcohol testing in our work. We are really impressed with the quality of the business marketplace in Australia and we want to make your company a leading competitor by giving you a little bit of edge through the use of onsite drug and alcohol screening. That is what we provide: high quality screening at an affordable price and in a convenient setting.

Now, in addition to using workplace drug testing, Mediscreen stores your employees’ records right in your workplace, providing less opportunity to lose confidential records and so you keep control. That is both convenient and a bit more humane and privacy oriented.

This article has been taken from : http://www.mediscreen.net.au/lean-mean-competitive-star/

Irrational Humans and the Prevention of Loss

Drug Testing Australia

In Dan Ariely’s book, Predictably Irrational, he discusses how humans are affected by irrational behavior when confronted with things which tug at our emotions. When presented with a potential loss of something we’ve made, we believe that we should keep it, even if it is in fact trash. When presented with a “free” deal by the advertising industry, we love to pick it up, even if it will only end up as clutter around our homes.

When presented with different prices, we actually make very rational decisions. However, those “free” signs are so enticing to us because we don’t actually want to lose anything. We just want to pick up something with a guarantee of no loss and to run off with it.

Humans are irrational when it comes to prevention of loss. Often, we are so scared of loss that we cannot see it reasonably. Even if a bigger savings deal could be made by kicking out some money, we still go for the “free” thing. Sometimes, this ends up costing us more in the end, like a free month’s membership to a gym or some other free item which will be a monthly cost in the future.

Employees who deal with the pain of the loss of a loved one still don’t like to have this loss. They would rather mask this pain, this loss, and some of your workers may even resort to drug or alcohol abuse. Fortunately, workplace drug testing is part of a vastly reliable evaluative method which helps you to know if any of your employees are abusing substances. Mediscreen, a NATA accredited company, brings you onsite drug alcohol testing and we are proud to be one of the few companies in Australia which serves the entire nation.

Onsite drug and alcohol screening must be tended to, and Mediscreen is one of the best companies to help you with this. Yes, humans can be irrational when presented with loss, but you can make sure that your employees stay rational, at least when it comes to substance abuse. Do your workforce a favor and use onsite drug and alcohol screening.

This article has been taken from : http://www.mediscreen.net.au/irrational-humans-and-the-prevention-of-loss/

Drunken Roommates

Drug Testing Australia

When you live with an alcoholic, you suffer perhaps not to the degree in which they suffer, but you still suffer a good thirty percent, at the minimum, as much as they do. Well, that is just not good enough. Al-Anon, another program known worldwide almost as much as Alcoholics Anonymous, exists to help those who live with or have a personal connection with alcoholics. The program teaches people to not engage in their own version of the alcoholic cycle, but to pull out and to assess the situation, identifying healthy connections with their alcoholic, and separating themselves emotionally and physically from them at other times.

It is important to always maintain a nice, safe healthy distance from any drunken roommates at all times of the day or night, not associating with them too heavily, even when they ask for help. You see, it is in the nature of the disease of alcoholism to pull in as many people as it can get and to destroy them all, from the inside out. It is truly a social disease, and it spreads by emotion and close physical proximity. Treat it as a disease and inoculate yourself against it on a regular basis. Workplace drug testing can correctly identify this disease and give you the details on who may have it and who does not. There is a direct correlation between substance abuse on the worksite and job related accidents and fatalities. We must watch this on a regular basis.

Alcoholism infects a lot of people, and anger from alcoholism is spread far and wide. The drunk is angry and those who are hurt by the drunk are angry. There is no reasoning with them, so this anger spreads and accumulates over time, becoming even more sinister and apparent as time goes on, at least within the mind of the person living with the alcoholic.

Mediscreen is part of bringing this movement out of the shadows and into the light where it can be seen. Drug and alcohol testing in the workplace is necessary. Therefore, you must be prepared to deal with a lot of problems and solutions concerning workplace drug testing. That is why you have Mediscreen. We are NATA accredited for onsite drug testing, and we are here to help you. We make the process simpler and more efficient for you, and more thorough for us. To order your onsite drug & alcohol testing.

This article has been taken from : http://www.mediscreen.net.au/drunken-roommates/

In A Team of Two

Drug Testing Australia

Okay, your company has two employees. There is no earthly reason why you should use alcohol and drug testing, is there? After all, if someone is not doing their job properly, then it is evident to their partner in business that they cannot handle the tasks at hand and may need some downtime and perhaps some counseling or substance abuse therapy of some kind.

When you have a team of two, there is not a great deal of worry about whether the two of you can pull off handling the business. You know that each of you has a great deal invested in being able to start and continue this business, so there is a great deal of sacrifice which is put on the line when two partners are the only ones currently in the company.

Why on earth would you need drug and alcohol testing? Well, you may not right away, but if you want to grow your business into something substantial, then you may consider talking to your team member or business partner about what it would take for the two of you to become more than what you are.

As long as your partner agrees, then the following may be possible.

In order to have a business of more than two employees, you will need to prepare to have more than two employees, and acting like this is already true has been one of the founding techniques of the greatest minds in history.

Really, Mediscreen wouldn’t be doing you a service, really, if you did not have employee retention and high quality growth in mind. We are specialists in onsite drug alcohol testing, and we are accredited by NATA for onsite drug & alcohol testing, so we certainly know a little bit of we are discussing.

Acting like there are more employees is a great way to start planning to bring more people on board. You and your business partner can talk about all of the ways in which you would interact with the third, fourth or fifth person in your team. By scheduling drug screening.

This article has been taken from: http://www.mediscreen.net.au/in-a-team-of-two/

Changing the Way Your Everyday Life Runs Its Course

Drug Test Perth

Every day, we each get into our own routines of observance and procrastination, and of strictness and laziness. Every day, we set patterns for ourselves which we will look at later on and further our previous decisions. We will observe, almost unconsciously, our previous behavior and since it seemed to be beneficial to us, we will repeat the same behavior, whether or not it improves our future circumstances.
The problem is rewiring the brain.

There are just too many tiny habits which in turn form into large habits for us to keep track of them all. Sometimes, people get the in the habit of thinking things over slowly, and this causes them to think of all of the little things as being as important mentally as the big things. Sometimes, if you have the habit of putting family matters first, a small family matter can be more important than a large work problem.

The point is that the brain is a flexible organ, and you can train it over time to think and act and get in the habits that you want. It’s pretty cool, when you think about it. Unfortunately, if an employee is abusing drugs or alcohol, then they are automatically rewiring their brain for failure. The kind of rewiring that goes on includes, but is not limited to, not feeling emotionally strong enough to handle problems, feeling isolated and alone, taking things personally, and being very touchy and angry all the time.

In business, of course, the above behavior is unacceptable. You must be able to be flexible, which is why drug screening and alcohol testing your employees is so vital to the health of your business. Not only that, but Mediscreen is NATA accredited for onsite drug & alcohol testing, and so we will bring hope and efficiency back into your company in no time at all. Onsite drug and alcohol screening really is the best way to do things. If you are going to be open to changing the way your everyday life runs its course, you must have mentally and emotionally flexible employees, as well.

This article has been taken from : http://www.mediscreen.net.au/changing-the-way-your-everyday-life-runs-its-course/

Advertising Dilutes Profits

Drug Testing Australia

First of all, we know that advertising does not necessarily dilute profits. We just needed to get your attention. The truth is that advertising can bring in more accounts and long term clients, but if there is not additional profit from these accounts to cover all of the advertising costs, then there is not a great deal of benefit from this.

Whether your employ an independent advertising agency or not, whether you pay a lot for your advertising or your company’s reputation spreads by word of mouth, having a strong reputation among your clientele is the most important factor in business retention.

No, this is true.

This is really true.

The best advertising for your business are your employees. We cannot stress this point enough. Your workers describe to their friends what it is like to work for you. They describe what kind of boss you are to them. They talk about the benefits their company provides other people. They talk about what their jobs are like.

And, if any of your employees are abusing substances, then it really speaks poorly for you. Word of mouth is not powerful if it is spreading bad words. You must have workers who are ethical, professional and who abuse substances on their own time, outside of their job, if they do so at all.

Workers who engage in substance abuse are far more likely to complain about their employers than workers who do not. This is because the mind of a drug abuser or alcoholic has been warped to see the world as something which is “out to get them.” This is a dangerous employee to have around.

Advertising must be strong, and your business must be able to really back up what your advertising says. Word of mouth is important at this time. If you use workplace drug testing, then you will be able to identify any potential problem makers. Drug and alcohol testing is part of your importance as a business owner, because it means that you are great leader. Protecting your employees by using drug & alcohol testing employee evaluation techniques is one of the ways in which you protect your people and your company assets. We know you’re responsible.

This article has been taken from : http://www.mediscreen.net.au/advertising-dilutes-profits/

Workplace Drug Testing and the Age of GMOs

Drug Screening

In the age of genetically modified organisms, or GMOs for short, there is a great deal of outcry against the use of chemistry to “perfect” things which we deem to have more life giving material if left in their natural or organic state. Of course, GMOs are said to possess a lot of other health risks, but these are rarely expounded upon, so that many people hate GMOs without specifically understanding why they do.

The main reason for being against GMOs in any form is the fact that, when organic food grows upon the plant, if there is any harmful bacteria in the air, the food may die in the process, but it will develop antibodies or anti-infection agents which kill off the new, harmful organisms attacking the plant.

Furthermore, there is a great deal of time and effort put into the thought of keeping food in a state where it will naturally be able to aid our bodies when it enters them. Of course, people who support GMOs counter with the argument that the genetically developed chemicals and energies of the plants are helping the plants to sustain weathering by blight, drought, and many other forms of food starvation which can easily come upon a land.

Naturally, it is to be expected that not all drugs are harmful.

However, when it comes to workplace drug testing, people often equate ANY form of drug use to be abuse. Of course, we know that this is not the case, but there have been many cases of people who overdose on their prescription medicine because they were abusing the power that these medicines had upon their bodies.

Mediscreen is NATA accredited for onsite drug  & alcohol testing, and we give a great deal of thought to how we are going to screen your employees in the most effective way possible. We don’t want anyone to get past our screenings, and our onsite drug and alcohol testing services can only hold up under rigorous testing. If you are looking to put workplace drug testing into your own business, remember that Mediscreen is part of a complete cycle of business self care.

This article has been taken from : http://www.mediscreen.net.au/workplace-drug-testing-and-the-age-of-gmos/

The Absence of Fear

Drug Testing Australia

When someone brings alcohol or drugs to the workplace and abuses them, they can cause a great deal of fear to spread throughout their coworkers. These people are, indeed, out of control, and they seem to see themselves as being above any fear or relatively mutual understanding between workers.

This is not the case, however.

If anything, self abusers suffer from more fear than you or I could ever imagine. It could be fear of failure. It could be fear of success. It could be fear that they will never be internally strong to support their lifestyle. It could be fear of losing something, whether it is family or friends. Whatever the case, people who abuse substances are far more likely to be afraid and, if they live with this fear long enough, they may even overdose on their drug of choice or they may emotionally snap and do a lot of harmful things to a lot of innocent people.

It is therefore of paramount importance for you to regularly make use of Mediscreen’s onsite drug and alcohol testing services. We are accredited by NATA for onsite drug testing, and we bring drug and alcohol testing to your business in a friendly, easy, and affordable way.

No, you don’t have to jump through any hoops with us.

No, you don’t have to fill out thousands of forms to bring drug screening and alcohol testing to your place of business, directly.

No, you don’t have to spend a lot of extra money on making things more convenient on yourself and your employees.

Instead, just let Mediscreen take care of everything. Drug & alcohol testing comes easily to us, and we know that onsite screening is one of the ways in which you can save time and money, bringing your business to a whole new level of efficiency and skill level.

And skill pays the bills, boys, skill pays the bills.

Furthermore, if all of that wasn’t enough to convince you, remember that you can always contact Mediscreen either through our website or by phone and ask us any questions you may have. In fact, go ahead and let your accounting department draw up a budget for your drug screening requirements. We can work within just about any limit.

This article has been taken from : http://www.mediscreen.net.au/the-absence-of-fear/

Mental Trash and Physical Trash

Drug Testing Australia

Imagine for a second that you are at the symphony. Now, I don’t know what kind of music you like, so it may be playing something familiar and exciting, or it may be playing something soft, haunting and soulful.

Whatever the case may be, be sure that you imagine how the music makes you feel. You are warm and safe in the concert hall with all your friends or by yourself in a dark corner, whichever your preference happens to be, and the music fills the space around you and your head buzzes with the way it makes you feel inside. Bright colors from the stage shine in the distance and, up close, the soft velvet chairs enfolds you in luxurious splendor.

Then, you go home with the music still in your head, you walk into your home, and someone has turned the television onto a really skanky, trashy pop media show. This is something that even you, in all of your worldliness, find to be very distasteful, and you try to block it out of your mind. But, the trashy show still continues and drowns out the dulcet sounds of the symphony.

The same thing applies when you take care of your body really well and when you abuse drugs or alcohol to try to forget something or soothe yourself. Before, your body had plenty of good healthy sleep, lots of delicious meats, seafood, fruits, vegetables, and water. Before, your soul was satisfied when you stood outside in the gathering sunlight of morning.

Now, you are abusing drugs or alcohol, and your body is starved of sleep while you spend your resting hours out on the town or at home self medicating. Since your body naturally repels nutrition when in a drunken or high state, you stop eating all of that healthy delicious food that made you feel so good. No more high quality meat, no more fruit, and no more water. All of these have been replaced with chips, rum, and frozen lasagnas ready to be microwaved.

Workplace drug testing determines which of your employees are following company policy and which are doing things to their bodies which none of us really wants to think about. Workplace alcohol testing laws exist in certain industries to protect high hazard workers at their jobs, but drug & alcohol testing can be obtained from Mediscreen by any company in Australia for any reason whatsoever. We know that you care about your workers.

This article has been taken from : http://www.mediscreen.net.au/mental-trash-and-physical-trash/

Mediscreen’s Purpose

Drug Testing Australia

Mediscreen is one of the leading AOD screening companies based in Perth which provides services for all of Australia. No matter where your workplace is located, our mobile onsite drug and alcohol testing provides you with the leading edge in employee testing. Mediscreen’s purpose is to bring people in contact with workplace drug testing and to ensure that everyone feels safe and confident during the screening process.

Of course, it is an added benefit to you that it is more cost effective for your company finances. Naturally, you will want to know if there are any comparable companies out there which offer the same services. Onsite drug and alcohol testing is only provided by a very small number of companies throughout Australia.
Mediscreen provides the kind of drug and alcohol testing which helps workers cut down their time spent on work related activities…when they’re not even on the job. Mediscreen focuses on the beauty of time saving and the simplicity of testing employees onsite.

Our purpose here at Mediscreen is to take the drug screening process, a process which many people find tedious and annoying, and to break it down into its functional parts and to make it mobile and easy to use…not to mention easy to implement.

How many times have you found yourself irritated with the seeming complexity of drug screening? Of course, it doesn’t have to be that way, at all. Mediscreen reveals the truth: the truth that onsite drug and alcohol screening is so much better than the alternative.

There is an appearance of complexity and time consumption and complicated paperwork, but appearance is not always the truth. The truth is that many people find themselves dreading the workplace drug testing process, when they admittedly have no reason to fear it.

It is not exactly a violation of privacy, after all. It is the invariable choice of companies to make the most out of themselves. It’s natural.

So, when you are looking for a high quality drug & alcohol testing company, look no further than Mediscreen. We are the right stop on your way to greatness.

This article has been taken from : http://www.mediscreen.net.au/mediscreens-purpose/

An Inherent Need to Produce

Onsite Drug And Alcohol Screening

Do you know what the highest motivation for a human is? A human being’s highest motivation is to be productive and to make more of themselves through skill, repetition, experimentation, and practice than they already are.

Really. Ask anyone who is in a job they hate, or is working in a job for which they are immensely over qualified or under qualified.

The mismatch between ability and performance is what creates most of the frustration in people, and this has been true for eons. If you are looking for a high quality drug and alcohol testing company, then look no further than Mediscreen. We are NATA accredited for onsite drug testing, and our mobile services make it possible for you to have all of your business locations and jobsites screened while the employees are at work, rather than sending everyone to a single central location.

Drug testing equipment is provided by our sister company, CMM Technology, but we here at Mediscreen provide the actual onsite drug and alcohol screening services. Humans have an inherent need to produce. Make sure your employees are producing, not waiting around for the workday to be over and for the production of everyone else to stop. People who only work for the money and not also for the love of accomplishment are people with whom you do not want to work. In fact, these are people with whom you probably shouldn’t associate at all.

Onsite drug & alcohol testing is part of a vast network of business services provided to the Australian workforce. Mediscreen is the pinnacle of flexibility and professional and technical skill. We are so proud of our abilities to give our clients everything they need, and we always work with different businesses to ensure that they receive all that they have asked for, all that we anticipate for them, and all that they will begin to need in the future.

Yes, our drug screening services can be a bit comprehensive, and we are so excited about the prospect of bringing in your business, no matter what size it is or where in Australia it is located! Call Mediscreen today.

This article has been taken from : http://www.mediscreen.net.au/an-inherent-need-to-produce/

Acting on Faith

Drug Testing Australia

Faith is one of those things that we all know that we should have in some respect, but since it’s not taught at school, we rarely know the exact way to put it to use or to leverage it on our behalf.

Here is the primer.

Research has shown that expectations about our reality are almost as potent as the reality itself. Why is this? When we expect certain things to happen, we immediately begin to look for evidence that what we believe is correct. Then, we support our beliefs even further by acting upon those expectations. This means that, if your parents always told you that you were clever and really intelligent, you looked for evidence of this, such as your school exam grades or your friends being impressed with you, and then acted upon this belief by making yourself even cleverer through study and observation of the world around you.

Unfortunately, all of the above scenario can be turned negative, too.

If someone sees you abusing drugs or alcohol, and they comment that they think you must be a loser who cannot accomplish anything in life, you next move will be predictable. Instead of examining all of the things you have accomplished, you begin to remember all the things you have left undone or unfinished, and you believe that you have support for their statement. Once you’ve confirmed this to yourself (whether or not it is true), you can then feel even more free to abuse drugs or alcohol in the future, do even less with your life than you are doing right now, and feel like it is actually normal for you to behave this way.

Obviously, you don’t want any of your hired help to feel like the above scenario, or they will get very little accomplished. Drug screening helps to prevent this from occurring, not because it can stop anyone from abusing drugs while at work, but because it sets a standard by which you can hire, fire, or evaluate your employees. If someone cannot successfully get through workplace drug testing, then can you really count upon them to get through a productive work day successfully, either? Mediscreen is a NATA accredited onsite drug & alcohol testing company, and we are here to help.

This article has been taken from : http://www.mediscreen.net.au/acting-on-faith/

Workplace Messages on Substance Abuse Influences Community

Drug & Alcohol Testing

Employers have a duty to provide a safe workplace, and the drug and alcohol programs instituted in the workplace are one of many strategies instituted to fulfil that duty. Employees also have a duty to exercise reasonable caution to protect their own health and safety and that of co-workers. What is missing in this description is the impact substance use and abuse in the workplace has on families and communities. Workplaces have a direct impact on the health of society in general by influencing the physical, mental, social, and economic well-being of employees. In turn, the health of families and communities is affected when employees are not working. That means drug and alcohol programs in the workplace, which promote healthy living, have the ability to bring a multitude of benefits across Australia.

There are all types of people in the workplace, including substance abusers, infrequent substance users, and abstainers. When the employer holds a health workshop to communicate drug and alcohol policies, the audience may include people covering the entire spectrum from abstainers to the addicted. For this reason, there is growing focus on the workplace as an ideal point of intervention. When employees hear the zero tolerance message, and have the opportunity to learn about the ways drugs and alcohol impact health, productivity, and relationships, many will apply the information in their personal lives and not just in the workplace.

Something for Everyone

People getting high at work are not likely to suddenly abstain from using substances at home or in social settings. Approximately 90 percent of employed Australians consume alcohol.1 However, there are also employees who do not use drugs or alcohol but live or associate with family and friends who do. A third category consists of people who want to learn as much as possible about the physical and mental problems associated with substance abuse so they can better serve as role models in the home, especially where children are involved, or in their communities. In each case, information sessions on substance abuse may have a positive impact that extends far beyond the workplace boundaries.

Imagine a workshop that all employees must attend. Some people will continue using drugs and alcohol even after attending training, emphasising the importance of random and for-cause testing to identify who they are. It is always hoped that people needing help will recognise that it is available through an EAP or some other referral system. Anyone who is a casual substance user can learn how infrequent substance use can easily lead to eventual long-term addiction and will hopefully stop illicit drug use. People who abstain from drugs and attend workplace information sessions will find reinforcement of good decision-making.

In each case, there is a chance for something very good to come out of the worker training. The harm caused by drugs and alcohol concerns the entire community.  Each person who decides to seek treatment for substance abuse gets personal benefits, of course. But everyone in that person’s life benefits also, including family members and the community. Drugs and alcohol abuse increase social costs associated with crime and health care. Substance abuse increases the number of motor vehicle injuries, incidences of domestic violence, and cases of diseases like mental illness and cardiovascular disease. When people decide to quit using drugs or alcohol to avoid problems at work, it means they are generally more aware of the harms associated with drug use, addiction, binge drinking, and alcoholism and are much more likely to become advocates for healthy living. Advocacy can be demonstrated in a variety of ways. For example, it may be following a healthy lifestyle at home or refusing to binge drink at holiday parties.

A Whole Life

Behaviour at work often reflects behaviour at home and in the community. Employers should not take a narrow view of drug and alcohol programs because they have enormous influence on workers. The messages delivered concerning drug and alcohol harm minimisation or prevention reach into the community as workers interact with their social networks.2 The D&A policy and testing programs should be consistently communicated and enforced within a broader context to increase awareness that making good decisions is not just about the work or co-workers. It is about living a safe and healthy life in and out of the workplace.

There is agreement that the growing number of Australians using drugs or alcohol or both is a trend that must be reversed. Mediscreen (mediscreen.net.au) can help businesses in their efforts to develop healthy workplaces and to be a good influences in worker lives by delivering reliable and accurate drug screening tests.

This article has been taken from : http://www.mediscreen.net.au/workplace-messages-on-substance-abuse-influences-community/

Mental Health and Substance Abuse...Why Employers Should Care

Alcohol Drug Testing

Most Australian employers are well aware of the fact that people use drugs and alcohol for many reasons. It is generally agreed that the employer will implement a drug and alcohol testing program in conjunction with other efforts to manage working conditions, improve safety, and increase employee well-being. Despite tremendous efforts on the part of employers and unions to help workers maintain healthy lifestyles and avoid using drugs and alcohol, researchers found that there is still a, “...lack of understanding about factors that influence employees’ alcohol and drug consumption patterns.”¹ In other words, employers understand substance abuse is associated with a variety of factors, but they do not necessarily know what those factors are.

Work stress is one of the factors influencing drug and alcohol consumption patterns, and mental stress is caused by a variety of conditions including tedious or boring work, irregular hours, dangerous or intense work, job insecurity, and other.² Stress is a physical and mental condition, therefore employers need to be concerned with employee mental health as much as physical safety. Mental health is not just a topic for health professionals, though many shy away from recognizing it or dealing with its causes out of fear some well-intentioned action or statement could be misinterpreted.

Addressing Whole-Person Issues

Let’s face it - It is easier to address physical health than mental health because physical problems are usually measurable and visible. When someone is injured, it is obvious. Mental health, on the other hand, is more subtle. Whilst it is obvious when unsafe physical conditions exist, how does an employer identify intangible mental health factors like successful social networks, the type of workplace subcultures, or employee attitudes towards drinking or use of illicit drugs?

What does this have to do with drugs and alcohol? It is generally accepted that people with mental health disorders are more likely to be substance abusers. The National Drug Strategy Household Survey 2004 found that two out of five people who used illicit drugs during the past 30 days said they were experiencing high levels of psychological distress. The two most common forms of distress were mood disorders and anxiety.³ Since high stress can destroy a person’s sense of well-being and mood, it is clear that mental health is not just a topic for psychiatrists. When people are mentally stressed, they will often turn to amphetamines because they restore a false sense of well-being.

The growing awareness that mental well-being and substance abuse are closely tied together is leading to increasing discussions concerning the role of employers in substance abuse intervention strategies. Since most people who are drug abusers are also employed, employers can integrate their drug and alcohol policy and alcohol testing programs into a broader company-wide wellness program. The broader wellness program can address the many issues that create mental stress.

Keeping D&A Programs in Context

There are obvious advantages to this approach. Two of the most important are that workers learn how to develop healthier lifestyles and are less likely to use drugs and alcohol. In addition, employers demonstrate greater understanding of what it takes to develop overall well-being and that mental health is as important as physical health in the workplace. Drug and alcohol policies and procedures should be placed in context to reflect the fact they address life issues as much as workplace issues.

Mediscreen offers drug screening services and a Workplace Health and Wellness program. As a NATA accredited provider of onsite drug and alcohol screening system, Mediscreen offers state-of-the-art technology so employers are ensured of accurate and reliable results.

This article has been taken from : http://www.mediscreen.net.au/mental-health-and-substance-abuse-why-employers-should-care/

Importance of Specificity in D&A Policy and Procedures

Drug Screening

Developing a drug and alcohol policy and set of supporting procedures is important to workplace safety and health. When correctly written and communicated, they establish employer and worker rights and give employers the basis for defending actions taken should workers file labour complaints. Writing and enforcing drug and alcohol policies can be a complex process and even employers with the best of intentions may discover during worker appeals that the policies or methods of enforcement have flaws. Borrowing an old adage for a moment, “The devil is in the details.”  In other words, employers must understand the law, how it will be interpreted, and include specificity in drug and alcohol policies and procedures so there is no way anyone could misinterpret the intent.

Indisputable Evidence

A good way to understand these types of issues is to review actual situations that occurred in Australian workplaces. The first example is the case of Mr. Shane Jeffrey Ley v Macmahon Contractors Pty Ltd [2011] FWA 694.1 In March 2010, a leading worker for Macmahon, Mr. Ley, tested positive for alcohol. He was given a warning and informed he had violated the drug and alcohol policy. The warning said that he would be dismissed from employment should he test positive for alcohol again. He signed the warning acknowledging he had read the D&A policy. In October 2010, Mr. Ley tested positive again.

Mr. Ley attributed the positive reading to drinking the day before at a rugby match.  He was dismissed the day of the second positive reading, having violated the D&A policy by testing positive twice within a 12-month period. He took six BAC tests on that day, and the employer used three different testing machines. One machine tested negative on the second test. Mr. Ley brought unfair dismissal proceedings because the policy states that, “If a reading greater than 0.00% BAC is received the first result shall be entered to the positive BAC record sheet and a re-test shall be conducted 20 minutes following the initial test, but no longer than 30 minutes. If the result is 0.000 BAC no further action required.”

Since six tests were given, the employee believed the employer should have stopped testing when the second test showed 0.000 BAC compared to .039 percent on the first test. Macmahon said it was clear that someone’s BAC could not drop that quickly in 20 minutes so the second test had provided a false negative. Fair Work Commissioner Cloghan agreed, and said it was indisputable that the worker had alcohol in his blood and had directly violated D&A policies.

Clearly Stated and Clearly Communicated

In the second situation, a Fair Work Australia Commissioner decided to reinstate a worker who had been fired for failing a random alcohol test. The Commissioner decided the employer’s drug and alcohol policy was not clearly stated, not properly communicated, and was not specific enough. The worker had recorded a BAC of .018 and .011 on two different tests at a mine work site. After the second positive test, the worker was terminated. Fair Work Australia found a number of wording problems in the policies. They included a failure to mention cut-off levels, confusing wording about what positive results include, vagueness about company premises, and lack of effectiveness in the D&A testing process. In addition, the first and final warning letter states that similar behaviour occurring again will result in a final warning letter. The employee was reinstated due to the confusion in the policies and procedures.2

The Ley v Macmahon case shows the importance of having specific policies in place that are defensible and reasonable. The second case demonstrates the need to have policies and procedures that are unequivocal and cannot be interpreted in different ways, depending on who is reading them. Employers must write specific, definitive, legally clear drug and alcohol policies and procedures and then clearly communicate them to workers in terms of wording and meaning. Employees should also understand the consequences of testing positive for drugs and alcohol.

Mediscreen (mediscreen.net.au) is a NATA accredited company that helps employers ensure testing is completed using the highest possible standards. Employers can rely on the quality of Mediscreen’s services for onsite collection, storage, and dispatch of saliva and urine samples.

This article has been taken from : http://www.mediscreen.net.au/importance-of-specificity-in-da-policy-and-procedures/

The Laws of Nature and the Workplace

Drug Testing Australia

Nature has many laws, which are in order of importance and can overrule natural laws below them. We have the law of gravity, which overrules many things, but not the law of lift. The law of lift allows airplanes and birds to fly. The law of abundance causes trees to grow and little shoots to put pressure on rocks and to spring forth from stone. The differences between the speed of sound and the speed of light can help us tell how far away a thunderstorm is if we count from the lightning flash to the thunder roll.

In the workplace, there are also laws which both help and guide us. Professionalism and respect for our coworkers and clients causes us to dress nicely in clothes that fit and that are in good condition. A need to show self respect causes us to brush our teeth, deodorize our bodies, and wear perfume or cologne. The need to keep all of our clients causes us to bite our tongues when a client is chewing us out and to respond in a calm, professional, and lighthearted manner.

Workplace drug testing is another law of the business which allows you to use scientific data to help yourself and your customers know, for sure, that everyone in your office is drug-free. That is not a full guarantee, but it is as close as you can get. When it comes to other humans, there is very little any of us can have in the way of guarantees about anyone. However, we can still make sure that our workers are not abusing substances while on the jobsite. It’s only reasonable, after all.

Workplace drug testing laws are even in place for entire industries where the hazardous working conditions make substance abuse that much more dangerous for everyone involved. Drug screening acts as a law of nature by giving your objective, impassive results, rather than opinionated subjective reviews from managers and overseers. The scientific nature of drug screening makes the whole process that much more effective, not to mention the fact that Mediscreen is accredited by NATA for onsite drug & alcohol testing.

This article has been taken from : http://www.mediscreen.net.au/the-laws-of-nature-and-the-workplace/