Occhealth Bulletin
27 April 2009
Screening drivers for substances to prevent workplace injury
Category: Reviews
Screening for alcohol and drugs
Drugs and alcohol impact a worker’s ability to undertake tasks competently and effectively which in turn can impact the health and safety of themselves and others at work. Drug and alcohol screening programs are undertaken widely but are considered expensive and the effectiveness of their use has not been extensively assessed. A review by Cashman and co-workers, of motorized vehicle drivers, was undertaken to address this issue.
Following a systematic search of literature databases, including EMBASE, Medline and CENTRAL, the researchers identified 6,000 papers for review. They independently assessed the studies and two time-series studies were identified as relevant to their search criteria. Incidentally, both studies were conducted in the USA.
The first was undertaken in five large transportation companies (n=115,019) that carried passengers and/or cargo. The study “examined the effects of two interventions of interest: implementation of legislation for mandatory random drug testing and mandatory random and for-cause alcohol testing”. The second study was conducted using national injury data.
Following analysis of raw data derived from the original authors of the studies, Cashman and co-workers found that there is “limited evidence that in the long term mandatory drug-testing interventions can be more effective than no intervention in reducing injuries in occupational drivers. For mandatory alcohol testing there was evidence of an immediate effect only”. Based on their findings, Cashman and co-workers suggest that further studies are required to determine the effectiveness of drug and alcohol testing programs on occupational drivers on preventing injury rates. The authors recommend that the ideal study design for assessment of interventions on this occupational setting would be a cluster-randomized trial.
For more information about substance abuse in the workplace take a look at the Examinetics, Inc. Substance Abuse Pathfinder.
REFERENCE
Cashman CM, Ruotsalainen JH, Greiner BA, Beirne PV and Verbeek JH (2009) Alcohol and drug screening of occupational drivers for preventing injury. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. Issue 2. Art. No.: CD006566.