Victorian Attorney General, Robert Clark, has confirmed the introduction of mandatory random and ‘for cause’ drug and alcohol testing for the construction industry. Having lobbied on this issue, Master Builders is very supportive of this move.

Head contractors that are intending to tender for State Government funded projects, where the value of the project is $10 million or more, will be required to include details of their Drug and Alcohol testing policies in the Workplace Relations Management Plan (WRMP) that they submit to the Construction Code Compliance Unit (CCCU). This will take effect for tender applications submitted from 1 July 2014.

The need to submit a WRMP is part of the Implementation Guidelines to the Victorian Code of Practice for the Building and Construction Industry.

Head contractors’ policies will need to provide for random, and for cause, drug and alcohol testing.

A sliding scale will apply to the number of tests that the head contractor will need to ensure are conducted, based on the number of workers engaged at the site. Contractors will need to ensure that they conduct regular periodic testing of the workforce (at least once per month) of both construction workers and site office workers on the following scale:

• Where there are less than 30 workers onsite – 10 per cent of the workforce.
• Where there are 30 to 100 workers onsite – a minimum of five tests per month.
• Where there are greater than 100 workers onsite – a minimum of 10 tests per month.

Further information on the expectations can be found here.

Date: Tuesday, 5 August.

Time: 5pm.

Venue: Building Leadership Simulation Centre, South Melbourne.

Cost: $30 for members. $50 for non-members.