6 years ago
While you're kicking back getting ready to enjoy this incredible weekend, your boss may be in your office testing you for drugs.
Nine News reporter Stacey Cohan reports on new technology that has employers testing everything you touch. But is it an invasion of privacy?
Fixing pipes can be dangerous work, handling equipment, going into private homes, and hitting the road in big work vans all require clear thinking and good judgment.
So Vito Plumbing wants to make sure no one on their payroll is using or dealing drugs.
?We want to have a resource available to us that we don?t have to wait three or four days?that we can do it on the spot,? James Vito said.
Vito recently contracted with Global Detection and Reporting, a company with the patent on drug wipes; a simple swab of a work surface picks up the invisible residue of illegal drugs.
When Vito vans are swabbed company employees all know about the testing, and James Vito says it keeps drug dealers and users away, which is good for business.
?Employees who engage in drug use and dealing are hard to manage and insurance will go up,? Vito said.
But this kind of drug testing is not only for workers on the road and in homes. If you work in an office your employer has the right to swab any company property you touch.
The ?Drug Wipe? was first patented in Europe and has been used by American law enforcement since the late 1990?s. But it just came on the market for private companies.
And if you think the swabbing is an invasion of privacy, too bad. If the company owns the equipment, they have the right to test it. Plumber, James Herbert says he likes Vito?s policy.
?It?s not invasive at all. IF you aren?t doing anything wrong, then there?s nothing to worry about,? Herbert said.
Plumber Reginald Clayburn agrees. He says, ?It?s a safety measure, someone on drugs could be using a torch and be so high they didn?t realize they?ve set your house on fire,? Clayburn said.
School systems are using the drug swab test. And Stacey tells us airlines may start using it too.
Click "Play Video" to view Stacy Cohan's report.
Written by 9 News
