Mainebiz

V O L . X X I I I N O. I X H E A LT H Y B U S I N E S S 16 " ey're waiting for it to play out," he says. e tangle between drug testing laws and the dif- culties of testing "are the biggest challenge at the moment," says Michael Bourque, senior vice president of external a airs at MEMIC, which provides worker's compensations insurance. "I hear employers being less concerned with whether or not their employees might use mari- juana, but rather whether they will use it in a man- ner that could impact their work," Bourque says in an email. "Obviously, employers are concerned when an employee who comes to work impaired by any substance, but marijuana raises concern because there is no reliable test that equates a level of THC with impairment. So, one level in one employee may make them a real risk to their own safety, as well as for fel- low employees and even customers, yet that same level might not create impairment in another individual. "Employers want to know where the guardrails are so that they can act appropriately to keep people safe," Bourque adds. Untangling the details of 'impairment' Most involved in the issue agree that, beyond use- able drug testing policy in the state, impairment recognition is the new key to untangling the issue. e labor department is holding workshops to help employers recognize impairment, Rabinowitz. Doyle, of the motor transport association, has been training others on impairment recognition for two decades. Most of that was limited to industry employers. "I'm now seeing a lot more interest from outside the industry," he says. While many of the thousands of truckers the association represents must comply with federal drug-free regulations and therefore are not a ected by legalization, workers for the same employers in safety-sensitive jobs who don't come under federal regulations may now be subject to the new Maine law. His organization represents about , work- ers who make their living in the trucking industry. Of those, about , to , come under federal drug testing guidelines. "[For truckers] the issue isn't impairment, it's use," Doyle says. On the other hand, classi cations like mechanic, or heavy equipment operators aren't subject to the same federal regulations and that's where things get murky with the new law, he says. It puts the pressure on employers to prove impairment if they don't want to be considered discriminatory. Legislators last year attempted to update the state's drug testing policies, which would have, among other things, allowed businesses with employees to use random drug tests, down from ; eliminate the need for an employee assistance program before testing could be done; allow one incident to be probable cause for dismissal; and expand federal rules to employees who don't come under federal guidelines. ose opposed to the bill say that it was too sweeping and invaded privacy rights of workers. "We're trying to take the focus away from drug testing to having employers trained to detect impair- ment," says state Rep. Amy Volk, R-Scarborough, a member of the Committee on Labor, Commerce, Research and Economic Development. Volk says even before recreational marijuana was legal, the issue of other legal drugs — medical mari- juana and prescribed opiates — raised questions of impairment and how employers should deal with it. She says that employer education on how to detect impairment will give employers more • exibility than drug testing, for instance, allowing a supervisor to sit down and talk to someone displaying signs of impairment — but who might instead be grappling with other, more everyday issues. "Maybe they have a baby at home, or were up all night because their teenager was out," Volk says. Such training would allow emplo yers to deter- mine if someone simply needs to be sent home for the day, or gives an employee "the opportunity to turn things around." Whatever the solution, those on the employment end of things also says that workplace safety is the bottom line. "We're taking the time to educate ourselves," Pierce says. She says the goal is to make guidelines as clear as possible. "We're anxious to do it and do it well." M M , a cor respondent for Mainebiz, c a n b e r e a c h e d a t @ . » C O N T I N U E D F RO M P R E V I O U S PA G E They don't just sell things to sell things. 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WWW.PEACHEYBUILDERS.COM | 207.622.7531 PO Box 2508 Augusta, ME 04338 44 Degrees North Architects Lincoln Academy - Advanced Engineering & Technology Center We're trying to take the focus We're trying to take the focus We're trying to take the focus We're trying to take the focus We're trying to take the focus We're trying to take the focus We're trying to take the focus We're trying to take the focus We're trying to take the focus We're trying to take the focus We're trying to take the focus We're trying to take the focus We're trying to take the focus We're trying to take the focus away from drug testing to away from drug testing to away from drug testing to away from drug testing to away from drug testing to away from drug testing to away from drug testing to away from drug testing to away from drug testing to away from drug testing to away from drug testing to away from drug testing to away from drug testing to having employers trained to detect impairment. — Amy Volk State Rep., R-Scarborough

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