The coal mining industry has an instilled safety focus, yet workers may continue to use and be affected by these substances.
The use of ice, synthetic drugs and other illicit or non-illicit drugs has the potential to impact on safe work practices, as well as social and cultural issues, according to the CS Health.
Users may experience altered memory, lack of concentration or impaired coordination which can delay reaction times and increase the risk of accident and injury – not just to themselves, but to their co-workers, according CS Health general manager Mark O’Neill.
There are several components to maintaining vigilance in the fight against drugs in the workplace, he said.
These include maintaining an effective drug and alcohol policy, implementation of testing programs, worker education, awareness of current laws, legislation and the ever changing substance market.
“With any substance abuse, safety in the workplace remains the number one priority to ensure all workers are not impaired in the performance of their duties,” O’Neill said.
“The key in meeting the challenge of illegal substance use is workplace education on the dangers of all drugs and fostering the development of a zero tolerance approach to anything that places workers health and safety at risk.
“Within the NSW mining culture, the use of illicit drugs is quite low. CS Health conducted almost 16,000 drug and alcohol tests in the Hunter Valley over the last 12 months, with only 0.21% of all tests returning a positive result for methamphetamines.
“There has been no increase over the past three years. This result doesn’t mean that we can rest easy. We need to remain vigilant; particularly given this is a growing issue in our community.”
Most mining employers have had strict drug and alcohol policies and procedures in place since the 90’s, which prohibit the use of illegal substances.
These programs are working to successfully discourage drug use within our industry, according to O’Neill.
“The issue of substance abuse is one that we need to approach as a collective group so as to gain some level of control. Other industries could benefit from implementing programs similar to those maintained within the mining sector to help secure workplace safety and community health,” he said.
