A policy which has been well researched and clearly documented is an important part of any workplace drug and alcohol program.
A good drug and alcohol policy will:
- demonstrate that the employer is committed to workplace safety, particularly where issues involving drugs and/or alcohol are concerned
- include a drug and alcohol education program
- describe the circumstances under which drug and alcohol testing may be done
- outline the processes to be followed should drug and alcohol testing be required
- describe how drug and alcohol testing results will be managed
- define the obligations and responsibilities of all parties covered by the drug and alcohol policy
- offer employees access to an employee assistance program
A drug and alcohol policy provides a legal framework to support both employer and employee when a person has been found to have substances in their system while at work.
A drug and alcohol policy that has been developed collaboratively between employer and employees. It provides opportunities for constructive conversation and ensures buy-in among all levels of staff.
If a drug and alcohol incident occurred and an employer did not have a policy, it can be difficult to progress follow up actions. For an employee it can make it harder to understand their rights in the workplace and what support is available.
ToxLogic Pty Ltd is a NATA-accredited collection agency. This accreditation means that ToxLogic has demonstrated compliance with the relevant requirements of:
- AS ISO/IEC 17025:2018 “General requirements for the competence of testing and calibration laboratories”
- AS/NZS 4308:2008 “Procedures for specimen collection and the detection and quantitation of drugs of abuse in urine” Section 2, Appendix A
- AS/NZS 4760:2019 “Procedure for specimen collection and the detection and quantification of drugs in oral fluid” Section 2
There are numerous Australian laboratories accredited to these standards for the laboratory testing of samples. ToxLogic, as a collection agency, is responsible for collecting the samples, and performing on-site tests if required. It is important for the validity of results that collection agencies are appropriately accredited.
NATA accreditation provides assurance to the client that the collection agency:
- Has appropriately trained staff to collect and / or test samples.
- Uses testing devices which have been verified by Australian laboratories to perform according to the stated claims of the manufacturer.
- Performs internal quality control testing as required by the relevant standards.
- Participates in external quality assurance programs (QAP) where the collection agency must test samples containing unknown levels of drugs and return their test results for assessment by the QAP.
- Continually assesses its own performance through a program of internal audits and reviews.
If appropriately collected and tested, drug and alcohol results are legally defensible.
NATA-accredited collection agencies and laboratories follow documented procedures that are externally validated and reviewed.
Samples are collected and tested under a chain of custody. This tracks the sample from start to finish to ensure the sample integrity is maintained throughout.
Testing in the workplace usually involves:
- A breathalyser test for alcohol (we only use breathalysers certified to the current version of AS 3547)
- A urine test or an oral fluid test
Samples of urine and oral fluid can either be tested on-site or collected and tested off-site at an accredited laboratory.
If the sample is tested on-site and the result is negative, the result of the test may be reported by the collector.
If the result of the on-site test indicates the sample requires further testing, the sample will be securely sealed and packaged, and sent to an accredited laboratory for confirmatory testing.
The cut-off levels for the different drug groups in the Australian standards indicate a particular class of drug has been detected. It is not appropriate to relate the presence of drugs in urine or oral fluid to a level of impairment.
A false negative result is when a testing device has not identified a particular drug that was in the specimen at a level above the specified cut-off.
This can occur where the drug levels in the sample are very close to the cut-off levels of the device being used for testing. The devices used by ToxLogic require a visible line to develop on the device test panel for the sample to be reported as not detected for each drug group. If this line does not develop at all, or the collector is in doubt as to the presence of a distinct line, the sample will be reported as “requires further testing.” The sample is then sent to an accredited laboratory for analysis.
A false positive result is when a testing device has identified a drug group in the sample at a level above the specified cut-off. However, later confirmatory testing reports the result for that drug group as not detected.
This is most likely to occur with particular drug groups e.g. opiates, where a number of substances have a similar chemical structure. The screening device will recognise the combined value of all the substances belonging to the target drug group. In these cases, the sample would be reported by the collector as “requires further testing.” It would then be sent to an accredited laboratory for confirmatory testing.
Once the laboratory testing is completed, the final report will indicate which of the different substances was detected at levels above the confirmatory cut-off level. It is possible that none of the different substances will be present at levels above the cut-off level and the final report will be not detected. While the sample contained similar chemical substances that, when grouped together, were above the cut-off level, none of the individual substances were detected at a level above the confirmatory cut-off level.
ToxLogic is enrolled in quality assurance programs (QAP) for both on-site urine testing and on-site oral fluid testing. These programs involve periodically testing a sample containing unknown levels of drugs. Through this the accuracy of on-site testing devices can be checked. The results are reported back to the QAP and can be compared with other laboratories and collection agencies enrolled in the program.
