Background – Standards Australia and New Zealand agreed to produce a combined Oral Fluid Testing (OFT) standard forming a Standards Review Committee in February 2015. That Committee’ s work has resulted in the release of AS/NZS 4760:2019on 12th March 2019. Onlookers were informed of a ‘hard fought battle’ and subsequently some members of the Standards Committee have described the AS/NZS 4760:2019 as a “compromise to accommodate on-site screening”. Indeed, things seem far from perfect!
Why adhere to Standards?
In Air New Zealand v Various Trade Unions and Associations (ARC 42/03) Judge TG Goddard accepted [16] the “… defendant’s assurance that the testing procedures are intended by it to be carried out in accordance with the Australian/New Zealand Standard Procedures for the collection, detection and quantitation of drugs of abuse in urine: AS/NZS 4308:2001 …”
This was fundamentally important given random testing was [241] “suspicionless” and impacted “… in a substantive way the principles already identified under …. privacy, common law … and human rights (legislation).” Clearly, any random testing would need to be completed fairly and appropriately!
Key Criteria to Meet Under AS/NZS 4760:2019
- Testing agents must be trained under NZQA unit standards – these should be developed by June.
- OFT on-site screening devices must be verified (under appendix C) as meeting the AS/NZS 4760:2019. There are currently none that are verified to the standard – anywhere in the world.
View this article in Safety Bulletin 118