I was interested to see what a Deputy CEO does so had a look at their website - Worksafe have 5 Deputy CEOs!

Hi Andrew. As I said initially, it is a minefield.

Personally I think that a pre-employment test is useful and then only test for just cause or strong suspicion is a good regime.

What I was trying to say was that tests can show someone has taken a drug, but that doesn't necessarily mean they are impaired, or how impaired they are. The linkage to blood alcohol and impairment is stronger perhaps whereas the tests you might do for cannabis are less reliable. The tests you describe for just cause are useful - the difficulty with cannabis is what "the next step" is, and if that's getting a test done, then the jury is still out on how useful the result is likely to be.

The focus should be on helping people to rehabilitate / get through any addiction that interferes with their ability to keep themselves and others safe. Much of the debate on cannabis reform is on personal rights, but as employers we have a duty of care to everyone in the workplace and to the public if we interact with them.

This is obviously very topical and is a bit of a minefield.

I attended a seminar this morning looking at some of the issues that a yes vote would generate for employers in my industry (transport). The summary of that was that if you have a drug use policy in place that there is probably no need to change it as it should cover all drugs.

In our case we have drug free policies which cover alcohol, marijuana, opiates, party pills, etc. and anything that is likely to impair judgement and reaction times through the intoxication and hangover phases after use. As already noted fatigue is a key factor in any industrial application and when mixed with any drug becomes even more concerning.

Testing for impairment is difficult, hence the focus is on blood/breath alcohol levels for alcohol, THC for cannabis and presence of "party pills" or opiates in urine or blood. Those tests give an indication that there may be an impairment issue. Random testing, or not, is a risk based decision for individual businesses.

Saliva swabs for cannabis test use by smoking in the last 3 to 6 hours. Urine in the last 2 to 3 days. Any cannabis or concentrates ingested as cookies, sweets, capsules, etc. won't be picked up by saliva tests. Cannabis concentrates vaped do not produce any herbal fragrances so smell cannot be relied upon as an indicator.

An interesting takeout for our industry is of course that the other users of the road are an uncontrolled factor and increased use of any drug by the general public increases risk. Drugs (not just cannabis) are an increasing factor in road death statistics.

Hi. As a result of this post did anyone find a source of AX type respirator filters?

I'm particularly interested in the Sundstrom version (SR 298 AX) as that's the brand of mask we currently use.

AX filters are for organic gases with boiling point below 65 C.

Hi Rebecca. Replying as myself this time rather than Monex!
We run class 3 tankers, but outsource our DG related maintenance to the likes of MFI and Tanker Solutions.
The SOPs for the various classes will be different depending on the DG Class involved and whether you are just maintaining say wheels vs. the DG compliant aspects of the unit.
If you are not in competition with the above companies they may be a first port of call for you.