Drug Abuse at Sea:
Combating the menace of drugs
What can I do?
You should:
Devise and implement
a written policy on drugs
Implement a prevention
and education programme to provide the seafarer with clear factual information
about the nature of drugs, the short and long term effects of their
use and the implications for the seafarer and personal
safety on board ship
Introduce a
drugs and alcohol clause to your seafarer’s contract of
employment
Implement a drug screening/testing
programme
Many industries have developed systems of drug screening and testing to combat drug abuse in the workplace. Until relatively recently testing in the marine industry was uncommon however within the last 15 years it has become accepted practice, particularly in the oil related trades where the oil companies have instituted drug and alcohol clauses in charterparties.
As yet there is no widespread use of drug testing in the fishing industry but in response to an increasing drug problem amongst fishermen some operators in America, Canada, New Zealand and other parts of the world have successfully implemented screening and testing programmes. They report positive results in eliminating drug abuse at sea and raising standards of safety on board.
The initial reaction of many small vessel operators is that these methods are only suitable for large companies. While it is true that they were pioneered by airlines, oil companies and other large corporations, the methods are equally applicable to very small operations. Effective drugs policies have been implemented by the smallest operators. Small size is in many ways actually an advantage, for example a system of random drug testing is easily shown to be truly random when the entire crew can sit around the messroom table and someone literally draws the short straw.