Alberta needs legislation to allow random drug testing because an increasing number of workers are impaired on the job, Labour Minister Clint Dunford said.
Asked by reporters after a safety forum if employees are coming to work drunk or high on drugs, Dunford replied: “Yeah, that’s what’s happening.”
He said he’d like to see the province adopt mandatory drug testing in the workplace within five years.
Dunford said he’s alarmed by the increasing number of deaths at Alberta worksites – 127 last year – but acknowledged there’s no evidence to link the growing number of deaths to drugs or alcohol.
“I know it’s going to be hugely controversial, but at some point we’ve got to deal with impairment in the workplace,” Dunford said.
“Some (companies) are out there doing testing as we speak, but they’re conscious of the fact that they don’t have a really solid legislative background for doing what they’re doing.
“They’re looking to us for leadership in this area.”
The head of Alberta’s largest union immediately rejected Dunford’s call for random testing.
“We see the need for drug testing where there’s problems, but no random drug testing,” said Dan MacLennan, president of the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees, which has 58,000 members.
“Certainly if there’s methamphetamine, I don’t want those people on the job and we would work with employers to make sure there’s counselling available.”
MacLennan said one of the problems with random tests is using them as a punitive measure.
Alberta’s Opposition Liberals were skeptical of the motives behind random drug testing.
“If people are drunk or stoned and this is causing accidents, show me the proof,” said labour critic Hugh MacDonald.
“This is an invasion of individual privacy and I see no reason to do this unless the government can prove to us that drug or alcohol abuse problems are reducing the safety of our worksites.”
