Taking Back Control from Drugs in the Workplace

Tuesday, 21 October 2008 18:17

GAIL JANSEN The Pipeline Gone are the days when someone with a substance addiction, or even someone who just dabbles in illicit drugs, can hide their usage from their families, their partners or their employers. Today more employers are seeing the value of implementing strict drug and alcohol policies and have begun mandatory drug testing for their employees. Tests that are conducted pre-employment, at regularly scheduled intervals and post-incident when there is sufficient cause. Manufacturing, construction and oilfield industries are all leading the way with this testing requirement, because those are the industries statistics show are hit hardest by substance abuse. Len Torgerson, president/CEO of Big Country Energy Service LP, whose company has offices in Calgary, Medicine Hat, Brooks and Swift Current as well as Northern Alberta and B.C., has a standard policy when it comes to dealing with employees with drug and alcohol issues. “It’s time for the employer to take back the control.  We are one of the first companies to step up our drug and alcohol policy and test absolutely everyone of our employees, whether they are near or far away in a remote location and we’re not doing it to target or capture people. We are doing it to flush it out of the work environment once and for all and to provide a safe working environment for workers, our clients and for the general public. We’re also hoping that other companies follow suit, so that the message gets out that it’s simply not tolerated.” All at great cost. “There are huge costs to the company initially to implement this policy,” agrees Torgerson. “Not only in the cost of the test, but in the cost of the licensed nurse to administer the test and the cost to keep and maintain all of the data collected. In some of our more remote areas we always like to use local people in our operations and to support the local economy. To keep up with the pre-employment mandatory drug testing policy we have to fly in a nurse who has to set up a station like a marshalling yard to administer those tests.” But Torgerson is confident the costs will easily be recouped later down the road.  “The way I view it,” says Torgerson. “There’s a prize at the end of the day. Through this policy we’ll reduce incidents which will reduce the costs associated with those incidents including Workers Compensation claims and downtime.” “There will be a pay off in cost savings over the long run, and we may even see some monetary gains.” The policy, in its infancy, still needs some refining, but once they've perfected their process, Torgerson feels they will have a good working model that they can sit down and share with other employers interested in adopting a similar policy.