Excell Leads The Way In Drug Testing Programme

12 May 2004
Media Release

Excell Leads The Way In Drug Testing Programme

An important aspect of creating a safe work environment is Excell Corporation’s alcohol and drug-free workplace programme.

Excell Corporation is committed to protecting the health and safety of team members, sub-contractors and members of the public who are affected by our work. In practice this means all team members are provided with the information, training and resources they need to work safely.

Drug testing is required as part of the pre-employment medical process, and for existing employees following a serious harm or at fault motor vehicle accident, also when a staff member is transferring into another department and, more importantly, regular testing is in place for safety sensitive occupations.

“Our customers, who are mostly large quasi-public institutions, demand high levels of responsibility in the health and safety arena and regular drug testing has certainly created a superior level of safety in our workplace,” says Mr David Geor, Chief Executive Officer for Excell Corporation, “more and more clients understand the ‘value’ of robust health and safety programmes.”

“It is surprising to me that not all of our competitors are enforcing this type of testing on a regular basis,” said Mr Geor.

On a few occasions where employees have tested positive, these staff members have obtained jobs with competitors who do not have a drug testing programme in place, but Excell considers this a small price to pay for having a higher threshold of safety.

“It is extremely dangerous to have people under the influence of drugs and alcohol operating machinery in safety sensitive areas,” said Mr Geor. “We would like to encourage other companies in our industry to put a testing programme in place, especially those in high-risk occupations.”

In March this year, Excell became a self-insured employer by entering the Accident Compensation Corporation Partnership Programme with a tertiary WSMP status; this is the ultimate recognition of its exemplary health and safety record.

Around 300 companies in New Zealand have a workplace drug and alcohol policy in place, including Air New Zealand who introduced a random testing policy at the end of 2002.

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