1st April 2010, 08:11 PM
Well thanks to some steering away from the original subject this thread now seems to have come to an end. It has been quite interesting to see the various opinions regarding random testing. For my part I have never seen the issue as whether or not anyone does or doesn't do drugs but rather one of further invasion into peoples private lives. All this done for a bit of health and safety window dressing. Since about 2003 (I think) when members of the board of Directors of Macalpine were on trial in the states on Corporate manslaughter charges (under a class action taken against them by families who have lost relatives in the workplace), there has been a growing paranoia in the construction industry. Many of the resulting new introductions in H&S practice can definitely be seen as a good thing. However, the real safety issues in this instance are not being addressed by random testing. Indeed it is expressive of the bad side of the H&S paranoia, where things are just seen to be done rather than real changes made to working practices. Busting a few stoners may seem to give results and indeed probably some nice statistics, but not I feel make the workplace any safer. Nuff said.