Urine and breath better than saliva, AMMA says
Australian Mines and Metals Association says Safe Work Australia and the National Mine Safety Framework (NMSF) should abandon proposed limitations on drug and alcohol testing procedures under the soon-to-be harmonised OHS regulations for onshore mining operators.
The National Mining Regulations are currently being finalised and AMMA fears new regulations will prevent administration of some onsite drug and alcohol tests
The regulatory model developed under Safe Work Australia and the NMSF would require majority consent from a workforce before an employer could implement a drug and alcohol testing system based on anything other than saliva.
AMMA director of workplace policy, Geoff Bull, said expert pharmacological research commissioned by AMMA shows saliva testing is inferior to other methods. Banning these tests would be a retrograde step, he explained.
“If the regulations go ahead as proposed, mining employers would have no provision for onsite urine or breath testing without the support of workers and unions. This would be a retrograde step in ensuring safety on mine sites,” Bull said.
“We fear this will exponentially increase the risk of employees being drug and alcohol-impaired at work, posing a serious safety risk to themselves and others.”
AMMA said the research on comparing saliva testing to urine testing also revealed that only urine tests can reliably detect extreme hangover effects of drugs, that oral fluid tests are far more likely to produce false negatives and saliva testing is more vulnerable to masking techniques to prevent detection.
The AMMA-commissioned research by Prof MacDonald Christie and Dr John Lewis is available here
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