Efficacy of drug testing programs implemented by contractors

The construction industry, like any other, suffers great losses from substance abuse by employees. These losses include increased accidents, reduced physical and mental productivity, and increased medical expenses. These expenses are a burden on everyone's shoulders, the guilty as well as the innocent. Drug testing, which includes job-applicant screening and testing of current employees, has generated much controversy, both technical and legal. The present study investigates the technical aspect of drug testing in the construction industry: Is it effective in reducing injury incident rates? Although incident rates for the whole sample dropped from 11.21 incidents per 200,000 man-hours to 9.07 after drug testing, a 19% reduction, the difference was not proven statistically significant. The sample was broken down by company size, type (union, nonunion, or both), incident rate before testing, and other criteria. Two groups showed significant decreases in incident rates after testing: Companies that did not have a recent significant size increase, and companies with an incident rate above the national average that started a testing policy. Size, type, and number of drug testing types were not proven as factors influencing the change in incident rate.