Workplace drug tests challenged
A prominent festival drug-testing advocate has drawn parallels between the derailed meth house testing industry and the workplace drug-testing industry, which she said suffers from a similar lack of evidence.
Yesterday, Wendy Allison – director of drug testing group KnowYourStuff – tweeted: ‘‘Anyone who’s outraged about the methamphetamine contamination scam should probably also look at the lack of evidence supporting workplace drug testing.’’
Allison said much of the research backing workplace drug testing was either out of date or based on findings for alcohol only – not other drugs – and that claims about workplace testing needed to be critically explored.
‘‘The bottom line is – does it improve workplace safety and, if not, why are we continuing to allow it?’’ Allison said.
Ross Bell, executive director of the NZ Drug Foundation, has been sounding alarm bells over the merit of meth-testing standards for years.
He agreed in principle with Allison and said the drug-testing industry was preying on employers’ needs for a simple, silverbullet solution that did not exist and did not work.
‘‘People always want to fix a complex problem with something simple,’’ Bell said.
A report released this week by the Prime Minister’s chief science adviser, Peter Gluckman, showed there was no real risk to humans from third-hand exposure to houses where methamphetamine had been consumed.
Bell said the parallel between the meth and drug-testing industries was they both leveraged the fears of employers, landlords and authorities to create business.
The Supreme Court has said employers can require workers to take drug tests if they work in NZ Drug Foundation executive director Ross Bell ‘‘safety-sensitive’’ work, including jobs in transport (truck drivers and airline staff), labouring, primary industries (like forestry, fishing or farming), and even education.
Employment lawyer Susan Hornsby-Geluk said the idea that employers were being taken for a ride by drug-testing companies was ‘‘far-fetched’’.
‘‘That’s completely wrong. There’s a relatively high threshold for which companies can actually undertake random drug testing. There does have to be real health-and-safety issues so employers don’t, and can’t do, random testing unless there is a good reason to do so.’’