Negotiating the Contested Terrain of Drug Testing in the Australian Workplace

By Peter Holland, Amanda Pyman and Julian Teicher

Alcohol and illicit substance abuse in the workplace is an important human resource and industrial relations issue.

Although more sophisticated measures have been developed to test and monitor drug use in the workplace, and despite tacit union support on occupational health and safety grounds, the implementation of drug testing procedures remains contentious. This paper examines the arguments for and against drug testing in the workplace using an Australian case study where drug testing resulted in industrial disputation that led to legal intervention and remedy.

(Journal of Industrial Relations; vol. 47, no. 3, September 2005;pp326-38)