Companies push for random drug, alcohol testing

Two current high-profile legal cases, in which companies want to implement random testing of their employees for alcohol and/or drugs, may determine whether such testing expands in Canadian workplaces. At the centre of both cases is the need for a safe workplace versus privacy and human rights.

In New Brunswick, Irving Pulp and Paper wants employees at its mill operations to undergo random alcohol tests but the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union (CEP) is opposed. On Friday the case reached the Supreme Court of Canada.

In Alberta, Suncor Energy is trying to bring in a random drug and alcohol testing program for employees and contractors at its oilsands operations in Fort McMurray. The CEP is resisting Suncor's efforts, with an arbitration hearing scheduled for today.

Calgary lawyer Birch Miller, who specializes in this area of law, writes that these cases will indicate "whether random alcohol and drug testing policies have a future in Canada."

Random drug testing arrived in Canada from the U.S., first for cross-border commercial truck and bus operations, as required by the U.S. government. In the U.S., where drug testing is federally regulated, random testing is prevalent everywhere, according to Peter Deines of CannAmm Occupational Testing Services, the largest occupational drug testing company in Canada.

Although they do have some clients in the U.S., as a Canadian company CannAmm can only long for the business opportunities in the U.S.

Drug testing is prevalent in only a few industries in Canada. In an addition to cross-border transport, there's energy production, heavy industrial construction, potash and industrial engineering, Deines explained in an interview with CBC News.

He explains that in Canada the testing is mostly limited to "very safety-sensitive oriented workplaces," whereas in the U.S. there is no similar safety limit. Even in retail, financial, manufacturing, education, and health, American workers undergo random drug testing.

"The amount of testing Wal-Mart does in the United States greatly exceeds the entire number of tests that are done in the Canadian market," Deines says.

In the U.S. companies say they test for reasons other than safety to identify theft risk, employee reliability, improve productivity while in Canada the courts have only accepted workplace safety as a legitimate reason to do drug testing.

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Companies push for random drug, alcohol testing