FWC Bans Urinalysis for Drug and Alcohol Testing at Endeavour Energy

FWC Bans Urinalysis for Drug and Alcohol Testing at Endeavour EnergySubmitted by Pallavi Sharma on Mon, 01/20/2014 - 11:14 

It is a big win for unions as the Fair Work Commission has announced a ban on urine drug test carried out on workers at Endeavour Energy.
A campaign was organized by the unions to end urine test practice on workers to know alcohol and drug use. The Fair Work Commission has said that saliva swabs would be a better alternative and termed urine test as 'unjust and unreasonable'.
It has been found that urine test can show the presence of drugs and alcohol in workers' systems even if they had the same after their working hours. On the other hand, swab test is able to pick up drug use during the previous hours.
Endeavour Energy is not happy with the decision. It has affirmed that urine testing can pin-point three types of drug and alcohol users and those being regular, chronic and dependent users. They also believe that urine test is more accurate than oral tests.
"Mine workers and electricity workers both work in potentially dangerous conditions and yet different drug testing methods have been ordered by the FWC", said Vince Graham, Chief Executive of Endeavour Energy.
Employment law specialist Adrian Morris from Ashurst was of the view that till now, it has not been decided what the best method of workplace drug testing is.