Workplace Alcohol Testing and Blood Tests
Historically, intoxication was usually quoted as a measure of alcohol in blood. So what has changed if anything and why don't we test blood in workplace alcohol testing in Australia?
There are a number of reasons, so let me try and break it down for you.
Invasive
In general, in workplace drug and alcohol testing, it is recognised that any testing has an impact on the privacy and general amenity of workers that is only acceptable in the interests of workplace safety. Taking blood is obviously a significant impact on the person of workers. In performing workplace testing, we seek to reduce these impacts to the best of our ability.
Partition Ratio
This is a little technical, but bear with me. Studies show that donors are more likely to hit the Blood limit before they hit the Breath limit. In other words, by the time a person being tested achieves a Breath reading of 0.050g/210L they are likely to have a Blood reading of 0.057g/100mL.
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AS3547:2019 Manufacturing Standard for Breathalysers
All professionally deployed breathalysers must be certified to AS3547:2019. It is a comprehensive and world leading Standard covering the metrological performance of Alcohol Breath Testers. It covers a broad range of environmental and performance requirements and sets maximum drift periods as a basis of calibration intervals.
Two Tests
Two breath tests using appropriate equipment, spaced 10-20 minutes apart has long been recognised as adequate for identifying intoxication in a workplace setting. Appropriate equipment would mean at least a fuel cell breathalyser manufactured and certified to AS3547:2019, properly calibrated and maintained.
In Summary
Workplace testing has long employed breath testing alone as an acceptable and reliable test method. It is demonstrably a very reliable and non-intrusive method of measuring the concentration of alcohol in a donor body.
To enquire about being formally trained as a collector, please contact us on 1300 034 499 or visit us at drugtesttraining.com.au.