Drug tests run of the mill

For JNL's Masterton mill, drug screening is part of the safety culture.

Health and safety adviser Rodney Fraser said the company carried out drug tests as part of pre-employment checks, after an incident, or if it had reasonable cause to believe someone was under the influence.

Since 2010, it has also used NZ Drug Detection Agency to provide random drug testing about once a month.

JNL provides the company with a list of employees, and NZDDA randomly selects a sample to test, sometimes in the early hours of the morning, as the mill runs nearly 24 hours a day. With 350 personnel on site, he said the company had never had an issue with employees refusing tests.

"Our philosophy is clear-cut, and we have a 14-page policy which outlines it. But it can all be summed up in one sentence: We don't want anyone at increased risk because they or any other person working around them is influenced by drugs or alcohol."

Mr Fraser said that while the firm's injury rates had been dropping in the past 10 years, it cannot draw a direct relationship between that and drug testing as it was one of a mix of safety-promotion activities.

"I'd take the stance that our policy is a prevention policy rather than a detection policy."

He said JNL tried to take a common sense approach, using reasonable cause and post-incident tests only when the circumstances give cause to think drugs or alcohol impairment may have been a factor. If a test comes back "non-negative", the sample is sent to ESR in Wellington to be re-tested and confirmed as a positive test. The process takes about two days and employees are off-site until results come back. JNL's preference was to support the employee to go through rehabilitation, he said.