Pubdate: Fri, 06 Jun 2008 Source: Toronto Star (CN ON) Copyright: 2008 The Toronto Star Contact: http://www.thestar.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/456 Author: Tess Kalinowski Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/testing.htm (Drug Testing) ON-JOB DRUG TESTING DEFENDED AS DETERRENT Transport Officials, City Politicians Say Public Safety Paramount As TTC Considers Screening Practice It may be unpopular with workers and human rights advocates, but testing employees for drugs and alcohol deters on-the-job use of both, say some experts and employers. "It clearly does act as a deterrent. It's just like (tickets for) speeding down the highway - you can lose your licence," said Jim Devlin, president of Coach Canada, which uses both random and pre-employment tests on drivers and others in its 800-employee workforce. Devlin was defending the practice in light of the TTC's plan to consider testing for its workers as part of a broader safety review this summer. The issue has taken on new urgency in light of an April 2007 accident that killed a subway maintenance worker. Antonio Almeida, 38, reportedly had drugs in his system when he died, after a piece of equipment wasn't properly secured to the work car he was driving. While it's not believed he had anything to do with causing the tragedy, Almeida had been suspended for smoking marijuana during working hours within a year before his death. Earlier this week, a TTC bus driver was fired for being drunk on the job. GO Transit does not screen its bus drivers for drug use, but new train crews employed by Bombardier and expected to be working on all GO trains by August are being screened upon hiring, said GO's chief of rail operations, Mike Wolcyyk. He had no details on the nature of the testing. Making sure TTC operators are not impaired is a matter of public safety, Toronto Mayor David Miller said yesterday. "I think we have to be extremely careful with public safety. The TTC operators and other heavy-equipment users have to be absolutely clean and sober, for obvious reasons," he told reporters in Ottawa. "I think the TTC needs to review everything, including what management is doing today," he said. "The supervisors have a very important role to make sure somebody who comes to work impaired doesn't drive a bus." Elected TTC commissioner Peter Milczyn (Ward 5, Etobicoke-Lakeshore) said he was in favour of testing, under certain conditions. "When there are employees who have a history of drug and alcohol abuse, and they are operating equipment, there should be some kind of mechanism to follow up," he said. "Are we going to go the route of random testing for every operator of equipment? That's a very complicated issue. Such screening is common among U.S. public transit agencies, but in Canada, only Windsor screens its bus drivers. About half of Transit Windsor's 161 full-time drivers have been submitting to random Breathalyzer and urine tests over the past decade because they want to qualify to drive across the border to Detroit, said Patrick Delmore, director of operations. Tests are administered by an outside lab approved by the U.S. Delmore refused to comment on how effective the practice is in reducing drug and alcohol use on the job. But David Bradley, president of the Ontario Trucking Association, said it's an effective tool for the 60 per cent of Ontario truckers who undergo screening because they, too, drive across the border. "We're tested pre-employment, we're tested post accident, and we're tested if there's a reasonable suspicion - and each (trucking company) operator has to have some of its supervisory staff trained to spot the signs (of drug use or inebriation)." - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom