Think twice when conducting post-accident drug testing on employees

Our Answer: It could be risky if you don’t first assess whether the employee’s actions could have been a contributing factor in the accident. Regulations from the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) say that a blanket or automatic rule which requires testing after every accident or injury will improperly discourage employees from reporting workplace injuries. Instead, employers should first determine whether the employee’s actions could have been a “contributing factor” in the accident or injury. This is not a particularly high standard to meet, but it does mean that you shouldn’t be automatically testing in every situation. OSHA provides several examples when an employee’s actions couldn’t have been a contributing factor towards the injury, and thus testing for drugs or alcohol would not be appropriate: getting stung by a bee, repetitive motion injuries, an injury caused by lack of machine guarding, or an injury caused by a tool or machine malfunction. When drafting and applying your policy, you should be mindful of OSHA’s stance on post-accident testing and talk with an employment attorney if you have any questions.