Pubdate: Tue, 27 Dec 2005 Source: Tennessean, The (TN) Copyright: 2005 The Tennessean Contact: http://www.tennessean.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/447 Author: Natalia Mielczarek, Staff Writer Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/testing.htm (Drug Test) WILSON MAY FORCE WORKERS TO TAKE DRUG TESTS AFTER ACCIDENT IN COUNTY CAR Repairs, Reports Lead To Plan To Beef Up Policies About 500 Wilson County employees are likely to join scores of others in the Midstate to undergo mandatory drug tests after being in a car accident - -- even if it doesn't result in injuries or vehicle damage. A proposal to beef up the county's alcohol and drug-testing policy comes in light of expensive repair bills and consistent reports of accidents, especially by sheriff's deputies and emergency management employees whose jobs require them to drive government-owned vehicles daily, county officials said. "If they've got some kind of impairment, whether it's from alcohol or medication -- legal or not -- they're an at-risk factor that the county doesn't need to be financially responsible for," said Debbie Green, deputy finance director and risk manager in Wilson County. "Since some people take these vehicles home, you could very well be at a dinner party, get a call and everything be legitimate, and you need to think twice before you get into a county vehicle to respond to the call. I just want to make sure that nobody gets hurt and that it doesn't cost the county." Wilson County is one of several in the region to have a uniform post-accident drug and alcohol testing policy that applies to all nonschool employees. It spells out that a person who drives a county-owned vehicle who's in an accident must be tested if the accident results in an injury or if the vehicle is too damaged to drive. County school departments are usually considered separate from the rest of the county government because they have their own budgets and risk management staff. In Williamson and Sumner counties, individual departments craft their own internal post-accident drug- and alcohol-testing policies, officials said. Still, some Midstate county governments participate in the state Drug Free Workplace Program, which offers steps to remain sober and clean on the job and insurance premium discounts for compliance. The tightened post-accident testing policy that Wilson County is considering was adopted in Robertson County for its 350 nonschool county employees about nine months ago. That county also participates in the state drug-free program, which offers an annual discount of $21,000 to the county on insurance premiums, County Mayor Howard Bradley said. "Now every county employee is subject to random testing, and we have a mandatory testing anytime there is an accident of any kind, regardless of the scope of damage." He couldn't recall how many after-accident drug and alcohol tests have been performed in the last couple of years and he couldn't say whether the employees, if any, who failed those tests were disciplined. "I'd assume that we had none because we have a policy of instant termination, and I'm sure I would have know had that happened. To my knowledge, no one has tested positive. We're an intolerant workplace." Green said she doesn't have a reason to suspect that any Wilson County employee who's been in an accident was under the influence of either alcohol or drugs. "I'm trying to be proactive. If they want to get into their own personal vehicle, that's one thing. The message we're trying to send is: You're not allowed to get into a county vehicle. You've got to be responsible." An average vehicle repair cost that Wilson County pays for after a fender-bender is $1,500-$3,000, Green said, adding that from July 2003 until now, 28 accidents have been reported in the county. Wilson County administered 468 drug and alcohol tests in the past two years, said Andrea Pitt, the county's employee benefits coordinator. Of those, one person tested positive for alcohol and four for drugs. It was unclear yesterday whether any of the employees were terminated. Those who fail an alcohol or drug test must be retested before returning to work. It's up to individual departments to discipline those employees, Green said. Wilson County Sheriff's Department's general maintenance budget last year was $80,000, with about $20,000 spent on fender-bender repairs, Green said. The county emergency response team spent about the same last year. "It may be a minor accident where no one was physically hurt, but it is not minor to county property damage," she said. "We're growing, and we have more and more vehicles on the road. I'm looking at the cost factor." About 60% of Cheatham County's 200 nonschool employees drive a government vehicle on the job, said Clyde White, director of the county's human resources and loss control. Although the general policy is to test drivers only after accidents that result in injuries or damaged vehicles, the county has been testing all employees who are in any kind of an accident. "We test, and all of our employees have always come back clean," said White, referring to seven or eight post-accident drug tests performed in the past couple of years. "We've always gotten negative results, which is a good thing, because nobody likes to realize that they have employees with problems." - --- MAP posted-by: Jo-D