The National Centre for Education and Training on Addiction’s (NCETA) analysis of the 2013 National Drug Strategy Household Survey (NDSHS) data highlights the large financial impact employee alcohol and drug use has on workplaces. The analysis found:

• over 1.6 million days of work were missed each year due to alcohol use.
• over 85,000 days of work were missed each year due to drug use.
• riskier and/or more frequent consumers of alcohol/drugs have more days off per year.
• when combined with days absent due to injury and/or illness sustained because of alcohol and/or drug use, participants reported missing almost 11.5 million days per year.
• total alcohol and other drugs related excess absenteeism costs organisations over $3 billion dollars a year.

Several staff at Torquay Doctors and Craignish Doctors have completed HLTPAT005 Collect Specimens for Drugs of Alcohol Testing course. This is Nationally Recognised Training that has been designed for organisations who want qualified staff to collect and test, breath, oral-fluid, or urine samples for drugs of abuse. The course meets all legislative requirements for drug testing & alcohol testing in accordance with the following Australian Standards:

• AS/NZS 4308-2008 Procedures for specimen collection and the detection and quantitation of drugs of abuse in urine
• AS/NZS 4760-2019 Procedures for specimen collection and the detection and quantitation of drugs in oral fluid
• AS3547:1997 Breath Alcohol Testing Devices for Personal Use.