Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - January 11, 1987, Winnipeg, Manitoba Business Winnipeg free press january Page 20 drug testing on the increase by Harry Anderson los Angeles times Sally was not prepared for the for 10 she had been Secre tary to a presbyterian minister in los and for six years before that she worked As a univer sity purchasing she had not formally applied for a Job in years until she saw a recent and seeking in administrative assistant for a Bank the Job offered More Money and better so she went for an the personnel director looked Over her then do you understand that As part of this apply you must submit to urinalysis As part of our mandatory drug and that if the test results Are this application will not be considered further she could hardly stifle her amaze a drug test she for a 42yearold Mother of three who works for a minister you have got to be dogs used it was no Sally eventually submitted to the test and was but her experience is being repeated thousands of times a week across the United the drug abuse epidemic in the United states and the effects it is having in the work place Are pro from giant corporations to Corner employers Are in sisting that Job applicants take drug tests As a precondition to being once on the employees at some companies now see dogs used to find illicit drugs in cafeterias and parking a growing number of companies Are also re Quiring current employees to take drug it is estimated that More than 25 per cent of the companies on for tune magazines list of the top 500 corporations now screen applicants for drug use during hiring compared with less than 10 per cent five years a recent Survey by the National Institute on drug abuse found that drug and alcohol abuse costs companies about billion annually and is responsible for in creasing numbers of accidents and absenteeism on the and Stu Dies by the research Triangle Institute estimate that the work of four million employees across the country is impaired at any Given moment because they Are on drug users Are 28 per cent less productive than their straight the studies against that the Call by president Reagan for a War on drug abuse has Given Strong new impetus to the trend among employers to screen out drug users before they Are hired and to uncover and assist those who Are already in their if somebody smokes pot on a saturday its the employers business on Peter former director of the drug enforcement adminis has it is the Compa nys problem if its Absentee rate is two times its Accident rate is three times higher and the medi Cal costs Are out of sight because of drug faster Pace explanations abound for Why drug abuse on the Job seems to have increased the faster Pace of corporate increased pressures from foreign and Domestic Competition and the fact that Many of those now in the work Force grew up in the when so called recreational use of illicit drugs became More acceptable among Middle class whatever the those Hunting for jobs these Days will simply have to get used to drug testing if they Are to be a number of employment specialists just How does such testing work a Job candidate is not asked to submit to a drug test until he or she has been has taken preliminary written tests and is being seriously considered for a particular often the drug test is done when a prospective employee is keeping up Norway crosses line to support open sent to the company physician for an the most common form of drug testing is in which a Sample of a persons urine is tested by a professional the most prevalent test is one Deve loped by syntax and is known As chemists claim that the Emit test is 92 per cent to 95 per cent accurate and can be used to test for a variety of Legal and illegal including barbiturates and her at the a chemical that reacts to the presence of drugs is added to the urine the amount of drugs in the Sample is calculated by a computer that reads the intensity of the chemical read most Large companies Send Sam Ples to a Laboratory for although some Are beginning to use portable systems that Are the size of the portable units Are normally used at locations not close to a full where test re sults Are generally considered the most companies typically pay to per Sample for each drug and if results Are positive a More detailed second test mandatory procedure at most Labora tories May Cost As much As personnel managers say that every persons body metabolizes drugs at a different rate and that some regular drug users May test positively As Long As two months Affer they Stop using Howe some such As Amcheta May pass through the body so quickly that they go undetected in urinalysis just a Day Ironi the tests do not detect chronic alcohol which experts say causes As much or More damage in the work place As drug numbers found limited in Canada la 1986 apparently absolutely everybody snapping up by Greg Bannister there Are no reliable estimates of How Many companies in Canada have implemented or Are consider ing implementing drug testing for prospective according to business and labor spokesmen in this As far As we can Tell it is not a widespread the numbers Are very said Ray Bril director of Industrial relations with the Canadian manufacturers association in a recent we have seen a slight increase in interest among our own members we have had maybe half a dozen mainly those who Are subsidiaries of asking us for information about mandatory drug testing Brillinger said even with the slight increase in interest shown by Cana Dian manufacturers the numbers of businesses requiring drug testing before hiring is in aware Only of a couple of others beyond those that have made the he refusing to name those labor fears Susan coordinator with the Manitoba federation of said organized labor Here is not aware of any companies beyond air Canada and Canadian National which have started testing Job applicants for drug that not to say it int happen but those Are the Only two we Are aware of har Kulbaba said the Mil does not see mandatory drug testing in Canada As a serious problem at this the Mil is concerned the prac Tice could spread to More employ ers it will All depend on what Hap pens with the big National compan ies like air Canada and Canadian she said organized labor fears the Canadian Federal government sup ports the concept of mandatory drug screening for we do have that fear based on the comments made last year by Mulroney about the drug epidemic in this the Canadian labor Congress has spoken out in opposition to Manda tory drug testing of new she the Csc is also developing a policy paper on the Issue and will distribute it to provincial federations unlike the Falcio in the which has been relatively quiet on the Issue of drug Harkul Baba predicted Canadian labor unions will react quickly and negatively if the Federal government takes any action which might be interpreted As promoting Manda tory drug testing of new employ the is quite a differ ent movement from the she noting the labor body tends not to involve itself in social issues or politics to the same extent As its Canadian the Canadian chamber of com according to spokesman Roger has not taken any position on the Issue of mandatory drug testing of we have not taken an official line on the Issue said Stanion in an interview from he said he was not aware of any other firms in other than air Canada and which have instituted drug screening Karen a spokesman for the Canadian Centre for occupational health studies in said no figures exist yet totalling the number of employers testing for drug its not something we Are keep ing track of at this Only employers we Are aware of Are those who have been mentioned in the Media she caution advised Brillinger said the Cha has been advising its members to be cautious and consider the Impact of testing on their employees before implementing mandatory drug weve always Felt employers should base their treatment of employees on evidence of a he said the Cha has advised against a Blanket approach in drug it drug abuse is not a new Issue with our members have been aware for years that there is a drug and alcohol problem in the he said the Cha has always advocated Good detection and Assis Tance programs for employees with by Robert Burns Norway a for the first 15 of its 16 years As an Oil Norway stood in the Shadow of its North sea Brit Content to follow the Freeman Ket ways of a Friendly Oil then came the collapse of Oil prices last Spring and a decision by a new norwegian government to break ranks with Britain and other Western countries and assist the organization of Petroleum Export ing countries in pushing prices Back this Rush to the forefront of global Oil politics reflects no ways divided while it sees a possible payoff in the future from cooperating with the open Norway is a Mem Ber of the North Atlantic treaty organization and the Oil Consumers the International Energy Agency both of which have viewed open As a this As it approaches a decision on whether to strengthen its ties to Norway at least As the cartels most coveted it is the Only Western industrialized nation to Side openly with for the last four months of Norway withheld from the Market about 10 per cent of its Normal Oil exports by putting Oil into govern men owned emergency Al though the cutback was of major political significance to open and the world Oil bolder move now Norway is considering the even bolder move of forcing norwegian and other Oil companies that operate its North sea Fields to either Cut production or reduce planned the government says a final decision is Likely by and indications Are that it will go ahead with some production by intervening in its Oil Industry to help open tighten supplies and raise Norway has crossed a political line that seemed impenetrable in the when the Western economies were reeling from the effects of rapid open Price in we in a making their specs policies legitimate in the eyes of the Western norwegian Oil minister Arne Oseien said in an whose first significant Oil Field began pumping in currently produces about one million barrels of Oil a putting it in the Middle ranks of world producers and ahead of some open no ways output is scheduled to Peak at about million barrels a Day in and it expects to continue exporting Well into the 21st Cen Oseien stoutly defends his govern ments decision to Side with open but stresses that Norway has no intention of becoming an open the present depressed Oil Price is a threat to future Oil supplies to the Western he we think a higher Price would be better for the West Over the Long he said Norway needs a stable Oil Price of at least us a compared with current Levels of to in order to continue develop ing its North sea Oil and he said cooperation with open would not change no ways status in the International Energy a 21nation group created in 1974 to coordinate a Western response to the quadrupling of Oil prices by open during the Arab Oil we Are supporting open policies in the present Oseien but that Doest mean a last ing Alliance with if we at a later stage should get again very High Oil prices and open is actually trying to push that Price up then they will get no support from that open gets any support from Norway is cause for a great Deal of irritation among some of its nato according to a Western Diplo who discussed the Issue on condition he not be most concerns have been kept quiet so when Energy Secretary John Herrington visited Oslo last september he offered no criticism of no ways decision to divert Oil exports into emergency Oseien the americans even had some Good things to say about increasing our emergency he of it we should go for limitation of production then that has a different charac so it you a major step for in a speech to an Oil conference in London in late Herrington made it without mentioning that the administration of president Ronald Reagan opposes Oil Industry the United states View is that the reestablishment of dominance Over production is unhealthy and he need Money for your business see the specialists at Buke and associates commercial banking consultants Tor assistance in arranging Bank financing in excess of 9499383 Lor a tree consultation word of aunt it i ;