August 20, 2009 by Fred Hosier

What do you do with employees who have a history of injuries? Fire them and they may sue, but leave them on the job and they might harm themselves or others.
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Tags: fitness for duty, history of injuries, safety-sensitive jobs
August 7, 2009 by Fred Hosier
The Transportation Department will require direct observation collections for all return-to-duty and follow-up drug tests for transportation workers in safety-sensitive jobs.
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Tags: drug testing, Transportation safety, urine samples
July 21, 2009 by Fred Hosier
While a judge on the U.S. 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals, Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor disagreed with two fellow judges who ruled an employer could set safety standards higher than what the government required.
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Tags: EEOC v. J.B. Hunt, prescription medication and driving, Sonia Sotomayor
July 21, 2009 by Fred Hosier
New regulations; accidents with multiple fatalities; the President-elect’s take on what OSHA should be doing. What is the top safety story of 2008?
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Tags: new regulations, Obama, OSHA, top 10
June 2, 2009 by Fred Hosier
New data show that pre-employment drug screenings alone may not be enough of a deterrent for workers.
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Tags: pre-employment drug screenings, Quest diagnostics, random drug testing
May 14, 2009 by Fred Hosier
A worker suffered a serious workplace injury and was taken to the hospital for treatment. While there, he was drug tested. The test was positive for methadone, a drug used to treat narcotic withdrawal and dependence.
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Tags: methadone, positive drug test, workers' compensation
April 16, 2009 by Fred Hosier
Imagine this: Your company faces a lawsuit because an employee caused an off-work car accident. The injured people claim the employee’s long work hours helped cause the accident.
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Tags: alcohol consumption, fatigue, long work hours
February 20, 2009 by Fred Hosier

Imagine this: One of your employees is on pain medication that could compromise his safety and productivity, as well as that of co-workers. But, because of state law, you have to accommodate the employee. Not only that, but federal law says the pain medication is illegal.
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Tags: accommodate, drug test, medical marijuana, pain management, terminate
December 22, 2008 by Fred Hosier
The city of Montreal, Canada, has shown that it takes drinking — or even just carrying — alcohol on the job while using city equipment very seriously.
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Tags: alcohol, breathalyzer, fired
November 28, 2008 by Fred Hosier
Does your company require employees to pass drug tests? Now, there’s one less product on the market to help them cheat.
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Tags: court, drug tests, transportation, Whizzinator
November 10, 2008 by Fred Hosier
An employee was injured on the job and received workers’ comp. However, his employer appealed the decision because urine tests showed he’d been using an illegal drug before the incident.
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Tags: drug test, illegal drug, Workers' comp