A drug and alcohol survey conducted by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare last year reveals that smoking and drinking rates in Australia have declined, but illicit drug use in the country has gone up. (more…)
A joint campaign conducted by Australian and New Zealand police, road, transport, and safety agencies to apprehend erring drivers in the heavy vehicle industry has netted hundreds of truck drivers — many of them found to be impaired or were tested positive for drug driving. (more…)
A new UK study has found that doctors only need to ask two questions to accurately diagnose alcohol abuse in an individual, according to a report by News.com.au. (more…)
With drug abuse in the workplace becoming a growing concern among employers, it does not come as a surprise that workplace drug testing is becoming increasingly common. After all, drug abuse can have an adverse impact on the workplace. And it is within the rights of employers to take any action they deem necessary to protect, not only the health and safety of workers, but the organisation as a whole, as well. If you’re an employer and you’re thinking about conducting work place drug testing, know that there are a number of things you need to take into consideration. Here are some of them. (more…)
It has been said time and again that there is no magic pill that could completely treat addiction of any kind. Danish pharmaceutical company Lundbeck, however, begs to disagree, as it has purportedly developed a pill specifically designed to treat alcoholism. According to a report by Lizzie Parry for The Daily Mail, the drug nalmefene is being recommended by the United Kingdom’s National Institute of Health and Care Excellence (Nice) for use by heavy drinkers to help curb their addiction.
In the face of rising incidences of drug use in the workplace, it has become imperative for employers and businesses to come up with a program that will keep their workplaces drug safe. If your business doesn’t have one in place yet, here’s how to start a drug testing program in the workplace.
Many people die each year from overdosing on illegal drugs such as cocaine, heroin, or crystal meth, but they are not the drugs that kill the most people annually. That dubious distinction belongs to prescription drugs, which, ironically, can be legally bought at any drugstore as long you have a legitimate prescription from a doctor. To give you an idea how big the prescription drug problem is, it is now classified by experts as an epidemic, and this epidemic is prevalent even in the workplace.
Drug use may be at the heart of the abuse sheep as they go through the hands of some workers in the shearing industry, says Lucy Barbour in a report for ABC.net.au.
This concern about drugs in the shearing industry arose after animal rights group People for The Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) released video footage, purportedly taken at 19 different shearing sheds in Victoria, New South Wales, and South Australia, of shearers subjecting sheep being sheared to abuse by punching, kicking, and throwing them. The shearers in the videos are believed to have been under the influence of drugs.
Nevertheless, while admitting that there is indeed a drug problem In the shearing Industry, the Shearing Contractors Association of Australia (SCAA) denies that it’s widespread.
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