Cannabis was again the most common drug detected in on-site
workplace tests in the South last year.
However, the number of positive tests decreased.
The New Zealand Drugs Detection Agency (NZDDA) - the only
company in New Zealand to provide on-site workplace drug
tests - reported the number of tests it did nationwide rose
122% last year, from 13,179 in 2009, to 29,315 on-site
screening tests in 2010.
The increase was down to industry standards being updated in
2008 to make on-site drug testing acceptable, and more
companies realising that on-site testing was faster and more
convenient, communications director Nick McLeay said.
NZDDA Otago-Southland general manager John Galliven, of
Dunedin, said more employers were also seeing others
implement policies with positive outcomes and going for
on-site services as well.
Workers for about 80 companies in Otago, the majority in
Dunedin, now faced drug tests using NZDDA services as part of
their employment.
Services included staff training sessions about drug use and
periodic drug testing at work.
The number of Otago employers using the service had easily
doubled in the past year, and the Otago and Southland
branches together had experienced about 400% customer growth
in the same period, he said.
Mr McLeay said the number of tests nationwide doubled in the
past year.
The company, which started in 2005, had grown from two
offices across the country in 2008, to 14 offices, with
around 30 specialised mobile testing vehicles last year.
In Otago and Southland, NZDDA conducted on-site drug and
alcohol testing across a range of industries, including
manufacturing, forestry, construction, transport, waste,
freezing works and mining, Mr Galliven said.
The drugs they tested for included cannabis, opiates,
amphetamine, methamphetamine, cocaine and benzodiazepines.
No one industry was more susceptible to failed tests, he
said.
In the South, the percentage of positive tests for cannabis
was lower than in 2009, which indicated a cultural change in
some workplaces, he said.
However, last year's results did show an increase in the
amount of opiates being found in test results.
Most of those drugs were found to be codeine-based medication
and were deemed legitimate use, Mr Galliven said.
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