KEEP SAFETY IN SIGHT!
Each year the Saskatchewan Workers’ Compensation
Board receives more than 3,500 reports of
eye injuries. The Saskatchewan Association of
Optometrists administers Eyesafe (previously the
Occupational Vision Health Program) whose goal
is to eliminate these injuries.
More than one hundred Saskatchewan companies
participate in Eyesafe, protecting the eyes of
thousands of employees. Take responsibility for
your employees’ eye safety by tailoring the program
to meet your company’s safety eyewear needs.
Enroll in Eyesafe today!
Phone us at 306.652.2069 or toll-free at 1.877.660.3937
eyesafe@saosk.ca | programs@saosk.ca
Get started today at eyesafesk.ca
Pre-access and
pre-employment
testing has
generally been
treated the same
as random
drug and
alcohol testing.
It is arguable that like random testing,
pre-employment testing suffers from two
primary flaws. First, because such testing
only indicates past use, it provides no evidence
that a person is or will be incapable
of safely performing the essential duties of
the job. Second, the sanctions for a positive
(failed) test are generally more stringent
than needed to ensure a safe workplace,
given other options available to employers
from a safety perspective.
The courts have limited the type of drug
and alcohol testing that employers may impose,
especially with respect to unionized
workforces. Although non-union sites have
greater latitude, employers still face the
prospect of human rights complaints and
one wonders when the tides will shift when
it comes to pre-access testing for recreational
(i.e., legal) cannabis. Polls show that
between 20 and 40 per cent of Canadians
expect to occasionally use recreational cannabis.
If it is not a strictly legal issue, it may
very well become a human resources issue
if zero tolerance policies for THC levels
consistently weed out qualified and readyto
work sub-contractors. Sub-contractors
and trades required to agree to stringent
pre-access testing should inform themselves
of developing industry standards
respecting concentrations of THC that indicate
impairment and seek modifications
to general contractors’ drug and alcohol
policies so that as much as possible, testing
cut-off limits for cannabis are high enough
so as not to “catch” occasional recreational
users of cannabis with the resulting refusal
of access.
56 Think BIG | Quarter 3 2018 | saskheavy.ca
/eyesafesk.ca
/saskheavy.ca
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