The Nature and Extent of EAPs and Drug Screening Programs in Canadian Transportation Companies

Abstract

A survey of personnel managers from federally regulated Canadian transportation headquarters with 100 or more employees was conducted to determine the nature and extent of Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs) and Drug Screening Programs. Telephone interviews were completed with 97.6% (166 out of 170) personnel managers from the companies.

Approximately 30.7% of the worksites (n = 51) had an EAP. A majority of organizations (78.4%) provided "broad-brush" treatment (i.e., alcohol and drug treatment, and at least one other type of treatment, such as family or personal counselling). Promotion to increase awareness of the EAP was more common in these transportation companies than in worksites from various worksectors across Ontario. Self-referral for treatment was included in 100% of the EAPs and 66.7% had mechanisms where supervisors could identify employees with work problems and suggest the individual use the company's EAP. The majority of worksites used services for treatment that were off company premises.

Approximately 19.5% of the organizations (n = 32) reported having any kind of drug screening and 14.5% reported using alcohol testing. Pre-employment testing was most common, reported by 80.6% of the companies conducting tests. Periodic screening with regular medical check-ups was reported by 44.4% of the companies and 36.1% conducted screening after on-the-job accidents. All companies screened for cocaine, cannabis or amphetamines and nearly all screened for narcotics. About 92.3% tested for hallucinogens and 74.0% reported screening for prescription drugs or alcohol. Analyses also showed that only 34.4% of worksites with drug screening and 43.5% with alcohol screening had EAPs.

Further comparisons among the subgroups were conducted. Organizations in the rail, marine and aviation-airport subgroups were more likely to be among those having EAPs, whereas trucking firms were under-represented. The aviation-airport, rail, trucking, and busing groups all appear to conduct drug and alcohol screening to some extent.