Debra Blaze-Temple

Drug testing in the Australian workplace: overview of the issues

This paper is an overview of the issues surrounding employee drug testing programs as they apply to the Australian workplace. Drug testing may be seen within a historical context of control over workers. Its practice is most prevalent in the USA, but it is also occurring in Australia, Canada and England. It is undeniable that alcohol and other drug use causes significant problems in many workplaces, though the apparently substantial costs to industry and the prevalence of drug use among workers are difficult to estimate with any degree of precision. Drug testing programs in the workplace appear to have majority public support in the USA and are even supported by some unions in Australia and the USA; there are, however, critics of the programs. The evaluation evidence to date is sparse, but is promising in that it suggests that drug testing programs can be responsible for reducing the prevalence of drug use among workers as well as dramatically reducing company costs for absenteeism, accidents and medical insurance claims. However, due to methodological shortcomings one cannot state conclusively that drug testing programs are as effective as they appear to be. Research using more rigorous designs and generating data that can be compared across studies is needed. Distasteful though drug testing is, we may see benefits in its use, similar in concept to random breath testing on our roads. Many of the procedural and legal problems in early US programs have been eliminated, refinements which should assist Australians. The legal issues, however, are quite different in Australia. A drug testing program should not be the sole remedy for reducing alcohol and other drug problems in the workplace and such a program must also be accompanied by rehabilitation and educational components. Ethical issues are briefly discussed.

The contribution of blood alcohol concentration formulae to establishing a responsible drinking level for females

The use of formulae for calculating blood alcohol concentration (BAC) supports the recent NHMRC drinking guidelines in the establishment of a daily limit of up to 2 drinks female/4 drinks male as opposed to a 3 drink female/4 drink male ratio. BAC formulae have other educational uses as well, such as information related to alcohol consumption and drink driving BAC limits. Public health professionals are still not able to answer questions about the health damage associated with certain types of drinking patterns (number of days, length of drinking session) because of the lack of applicable research.

Is Education Enough? The Drinking and Driving Practices of 17-30 Year Old Males

Despite media and public awareness campaigns, drink driving is a major public health problem in Australia and contributes to a large number of deaths especially for males between the ages of 17–30. A total of 536 males aged 17–30 years were interviewed by telephone to ascertain information about their beliefs and practices related to drinking and driving. It was found that drink driving is a common occurrence amongst young adult males, with 58.5% reporting driving after drinking. This was despite considerable knowledge of alternatives to drink driving. Knowledge about the relationship between alcohol intake, driving ability and blood alcohol concentration (BAC) was poor. The frequency of drink driving was related to perception of the risk of being caught. The majority of the respondents believed that the chances of apprehension were quite low. The following recommendations are made in order of importance: firstly, that random breath testing be introduced into Western Australia with the provision that all ...

Alcohol consumption patterns of women in Perth, Western Australia

A survey of women aged 18-64 living in Perth in February 1987 showed that a prospective alcohol consumption diary measured a higher level of consumption (9.3%) than did a retrospective alcohol consumption diary. According to the National Health and Medical Research Council (NH&MRC) guidelines for safe and responsible drinking, 11.2% of women drank alcohol at hazardous levels (14+ drinks per week). Although on an overall weekly basis there was no significant association between age and consumption level, drinking patterns varied on a daily basis according to age. The current study may provide a conservative estimate of the percentage of women at risk. The reasons for this underestimation and the implications are discussed, together with the need to develop health promotion messages based on drinking patterns.