Pubdate: Mon, 13 Oct 2003 Source: New Zealand Herald (New Zealand) Copyright: 2003 New Zealand Herald Contact: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/300 Author: Mathew Dearnaley QUARTER OF STAFF FAIL DRUG TESTS Almost a quarter of staff randomly tested in about 50 firms have been found with drugs such as cannabis and amphetamines in their urine, the Employment Court has heard. Dr Susan Nolan, a forensic toxicologist and client manager at the Government's Institute of Environmental Science and Research (ESR), told the court in Auckland that drugs were found in 22 per cent of samples taken randomly over two years. But she disclosed that just two per cent of 480 samples taken in the past five months from applicants for jobs at Air New Zealand showed drugs from any of five target classes, which also include opiates, cocaine and benzodiazepines such as used in sleeping pills. That was under a pre-employment screening contract which the airline now wants extended to random and other forms of drug and alcohol testing for its 10,000-strong workforce, against a legal challenge by six unions. Airline deputy chief executive Craig Sinclair testified earlier that drugs or alcohol were not endemic problems at Air NZ but mentioned two cannabis-related cases, one of possession by a flight attendant and another of supply at an engineering base. He also pointed in a four-day hearing to "isolated" reports of pilots stopped from starting work while possibly affected by alcohol or drugs, and of one who allegedly completed a duty before being found out. The Airline Pilots' Association is not involved in the legal challenge but issued a statement outside the court saying it was unaware of any proven case where a pilot was impaired by or under the influence of illegal drugs or alcohol while at aircraft controls. Chief Judge Tom Goddard has meanwhile, with Judges Graeme Colgan and Barrie Travis, adjourned the drugs-testing case until December for other interested parties such as the Privacy Commissioner and Business New Zealand to prepare submissions. Although the case represents the first big challenge to workplace drug-testing in New Zealand, Dr Nolan disclosed that the ESR analysed 12,000 urine samples last year from about 630 work sites of 350 companies. Most tests were for pre-employment screening, but she said random testing had spread to about 50 firms representing "safety-sensitive" industries including forestry, fishing and road haulage. Union witnesses have questioned the effectiveness of drug tests as a measure of impaired performance, saying they are no substitute for effective performance management to detect unsafe workers, and risk distressing and alienating loyal staff for no good purpose. But Dr Nolan, who is also an observer for the World Antidoping Agency, said numbers of drug-tainted workers tended to fall significantly within 12 months of random testing. A positive result demonstrated recent use of a drug "and accordingly an employee is more likely than not to be an at-risk employee". She added that passive inhalation of cannabis could not produce positive results above an accepted cut-off level. An American toxicologist involved with drugs programmes at organisations such as General Motors and the US federal courts, Dr Leo Kadehjian, said occasional cannabis users were rarely likely to stay positive for longer than one to two days. He said Air NZ should not have to wait for an aircraft crash before being allowed to test workers. - --- MAP posted-by: Beth