Natasha is a leading HR expert, entrepreneur, author and sought-after media commentator for outlets such as Sunrise (Channel 7), ABC Radio and The Australian Financial Review. Natasha co-founded Employee Matters in 2011 to help Australian businesses achieve success through their people.
Should all employees in Australia be subject to mandatory drug testing, or should testing be reserved for workplaces where safety risks justify it?
The question has attracted renewed attention following changes to the AFL's drug policy, which have brought drug testing, professional accountability and the responsibilities of high-profile athletes into the spotlight.
But what does this mean for Australian businesses? Should employers introduce mandatory drug testing across their workforce, or is a more targeted approach appropriate?
Natasha Hawker, Managing Director of Employee Matters, discussed these questions with Nikolai Beilharz on ABC Radio Adelaide's Drive program, exploring workplace safety, employee privacy, business risk and the importance of having a clear reason for testing.
Listen to the ABC Radio Adelaide interview below to hear Natasha's perspective on workplace drug testing in Australia.
Is Workplace Drug Testing Necessary for Every Business?
Natasha's view is that mandatory drug testing should not automatically apply to every workplace.
Australian employers have work health and safety responsibilities to manage risks and provide a safe working environment. In higher-risk industries, such as mining, construction and certain transport roles, drug and alcohol testing may form part of a broader safety strategy.
However, the risks associated with a safety-critical role can differ significantly from those of an office-based position. Employers should assess their specific workplace risks and determine whether testing is a reasonable and appropriate control measure.
Workplace Safety Versus Employee Privacy
Workplace drug testing raises important questions about employee privacy, workplace trust and how test results should be interpreted. A positive result does not necessarily establish that an employee is currently impaired or unfit for work. Results need to be considered in context, including the testing method, prescribed medication and the circumstances involved.
Broad testing policies may also affect employee morale, particularly if staff do not understand why testing is necessary. For employers, the priority should be balancing genuine safety requirements with fair, consistent and transparent people-management practices.
What Should Employers Consider Before Introducing Drug Testing?
Before implementing a workplace drug and alcohol testing policy, Australian employers should consider:
Workplace risks: Identify roles where impairment could create a safety risk.
Policy requirements: Establish clear procedures explaining who may be tested, when testing occurs and why.
Consultation and communication: Explain the purpose of testing and consult affected employees.
Privacy and confidentiality: Protect sensitive employee information and restrict access to test results.
Positive results: Establish a fair process for reviewing results, managing immediate risks and determining appropriate next steps.
Employers should also review relevant contracts, workplace instruments and applicable state or territory requirements before introducing a testing programme. Importantly, a positive test should not automatically be treated as proof of current impairment or grounds for dismissal without considering the circumstances and applicable requirements.
How can Employee Matters help?
Workplace drug testing is part of a broader conversation about workplace safety, employee relations and HR risk management.
Employee Matters provides HR consultancy and recruitment support to businesses across Australia. Our team can help employers review workplace policies, strengthen HR processes and manage people-related challenges as their businesses grow.
Need help reviewing your HR policies or managing workplace risks?
Contact Employee Matters to discuss how our HR consultancy services can support your business.
Nikolai Beilharz: Natasha Hawker is with us as well this afternoon, the founder of Employee Matters, HR and recruitment provider. Uh, Natasha, good to talk to you this afternoon.
Natasha Hawker: Good to be here, thanks.
Nikolai Beilharz: Can we start with with where this is playing out already? As a couple of people have mentioned, it does happen in some industries in Australia already.
Natasha Hawker: It does, look, every business in Australia, Nikolai, has a mandatory duty of care to provide a safe workplace to their employees, their clients, their volunteers, and even visitors to their workplace. So many companies already have that mandatory drug testing, and that can be done either on a regular basis or on an ad hoc basis, especially where they're in high risk industries like the mining industry. Um, and it's also important that it's in their policies. Um, and I think my view on whether it should be mandatory or not is no. I think that's an increasing burden for businesses. We already have enough red tape in businesses. But I do think for professional sports uh people, there is massive brand damage implications not only for them as individuals and their contracts and their potential uh advertising contracts or um that type of thing, but also they are role models and they're very well paid, and they're paid to be sports people which are meant to be the elite physical representation of what you're doing. And I think, you know, given that they are exposed to young kids, you know, through their sport, um that's part of the game, you have to uh be drug free if you want to get the uh profile and the the the wages. But I think the other thing to remember here too, Nikolai, is in in Australia this past year up until the 8th of uh October, 95 workers lost their lives in workplace incidents. Now they're not all involved in drugs, but I just think we need to be really careful that we're managing our workplaces to be safe, and then we've got the whole psychosocial aspect which is a whole other aspect as well.
Nikolai Beilharz: Yeah, and I'm keen to to get to that side of it in a moment, but in terms of I guess how it's allowed, I'm presuming having not worked in the mining industry or aviation, that a as part of your employee agreement you would you basically say yes, look I understand that that one of the aspects of working for this employer... so, does that mean that you could if a business wanted to, if you were working at a radio station or if you were working in in hospitality or in education, if an employer wanted to insert that clause, they're allowed to?
Natasha Hawker: They could, and they would have to probably justify it, and they would have to consult, like is there a valid, is this reasonable? Like um, is it going to impact your ability to do your job? And one of your people mentioned before, there are a lot of people on prescribed medication that can sometimes have a worse impact than more social or what they call recreational drugs. Um, and that can show up in a test. So, and people can get terminated or fired from their job for a failed drug test. So we need to be careful that we're not impinging too much, whether you believe in it or not, that people can do recreational drug drugs, you know, marijuana in some areas is now um legal. So you know, uh, are you impinging on their personal life and it's not relevant to their work that they're doing or their fitness for work, and their ability to risk somebody in the workplace. So there's a lot to be considered here.
Nikolai Beilharz: And on the I guess the morale side of things, is that another area that you need to think about because you know you can imagine that um for some people... right probably would be quite an interesting mix. I mean, for some people I'm sure would say, ah, absolutely no problem with it, makes me feel like the workplace is safer, go for it absolutely. But for others, I can see that maybe there would be that maybe indirect or that kind of undercurrent of, what, you don't trust us? We need to get tested, and it could kind of break down those trust levels and things like that.
Natasha Hawker: Absolutely. Like you want to have a highly engaged workforce, so morale is key. And look, there are some industries Nikolai where there is a higher drug use as a general rule. I think as a, you know, um, in the old days, and it may not well be the same now, but advertising used to have a very high incidence of um, you know, drug use. And also potentially in financial markets, there was a higher incidence of cocaine use, you know, many years ago. So it would have an impact in many organisations. So that's why I come back to why are we doing this. Is this a really valid reason? You know, is somebody's workplace safety at risk and therefore we need to, or if you suspect someone has a drug issue. So um, you may then bring it around from a duty of care, you know, we've got a concern, it's a welfare check, we believe somebody is turning up to work and then is, their ability to do their role is impacted. Then you would have potential cause to um consider a drug test if you feel like you've got evidence that they are showing up um, you know, affected by drugs and trying to do their job, even if it isn't a machinery type uh high-level or high-risk job.
Nikolai Beilharz: I say this tongue in cheek, but in in some of the research that I was reading today, people from from some different industries did say, there's another reason you couldn't do this, 'cause half of the people would turn up a positive test result and you wouldn't have enough people to to to get the job done.
Natasha Hawker: There there is some cases for that. And you know, let's face it, that it's not particular to a particular job type. You know, it could be across the the levels of the organisation, you know, and let's God forbid they start doing alcohol testing, that might be another issue.
Nikolai Beilharz: Yeah.
Natasha Hawker: Um, so you know, um, and then it comes back to that whole Christmas party thing, you know, when people turn up and drink too much at the Christmas party, and how do you manage that. So there's a whole lot of risks in this, but at the end of the day, I come back to what is reasonable and are we providing a safe place for work, not only for that individual but their co-workers, and any visitors and any clients that are coming to the workplace.
Nikolai Beilharz: Other people too on the text line raising the point saying uh, or questioning I suppose too whether or not uh, you know if you the hair testing particularly you know you can test positive months after if you've taken an illicit substance. But whether or not you are then uh unfit for work if you decided uh to take an illicit substance while you're on holiday for example, and then you get back to work a month later, and you you test a positive but you wouldn't be under any influence then.
Natasha Hawker: No, and I would suggest there that if you were terminated on that basis, a lawyer would run a very solid argument to say what was the implication to the business. You they did that drug while they were on holiday, and therefore it was an unlawful termination. It didn't have any impact to your business. Again, that is if it's not brand damage, and it's not on the front page of you know, the newspaper saying, you know, this person was caught, you know, drink driving or anything like that. You know, um, employers want to protect their brand.
Nikolai Beilharz: Natasha, always good to speak with you. Thank you for your time this afternoon.
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