BMD has grown from a small family owned company to become one of Australia’s largest privately-owned engineering design, construction and land development contractors. BMD promotes continual improvement in management of health, safety, environment and quality (HSEQ) with the ultimate objective to create a culture where employees can fearlessly strive towards achieving HSEQ excellence.
BMD takes a holistic approach to HSEQ management in line with their vision, and in particular, their family values.
This is demonstrated through ensuring their people, work mates, families, and everyone who comes into their care is not harmed at work.
BMD believe all incidents are preventable. They are committed to investing in a HSEQ focused culture by providing their people with the skills needed to identify hazards and take appropriate action to control them in the workplace.
Paramount to this HSEQ focused culture is employee safety, which is why BMD has established alcohol and drug (AOD) testing services alongside a leading AOD testing services provider, Alcolizer Technology.
Not testing regularly is irresponsible
Due to the nature of civil infrastructure work, many roles are considered high risk with various roles including machinery operation, engineering, finance, administration, human resources, procurement, environment, quality assurance and safety. Any alcohol and drug testing program must meet the need of all these roles.
”BMD promotes continual improvement in management of HSEQ with the ultimate objective to create a culture where our people can fearlessly strive towards achieving HSEQ excellence. This is an integral part of what we do – it’s the BMD Way, particularly with regards to alcohol and drugs, both illicit and prescription.”
— Brian Olsen, Group Safety Manager, BMD
BMD is precise in thinking alcohol and other drugs are a potential risk and could be prevalent, because an independent industry reports shows alcohol consumption has increased significantly over the past 18 months and drug use has also increased across the sector four-fold; and its happening right under employer’s noses. BMD believes they have a duty of care to keep their staff safe. And it’s not a “Police regime” – testing is done purely for employee safety.
In line with the (CFMEU) guidelines, alongside a comprehensive testing regime, BMD’s objective is to increase knowledge amongst staff of the health and safety risks associated with drug and alcohol use.
BMD also offers its workers rehabilitation, counselling, appropriate disciplinary action where necessary, and ongoing alcohol and drug education.
The Challenge
BMD is a giant within the Australian civil construction industry employing more than 1700 people directly, as well as subcontractors and suppliers across multiple public government and private sector infrastructure projects.
The challenge for BMD was to implement an effective alcohol and drug testing policy across a national portfolio of projects including metropolitan and remote sites, covering thousands of employees and without disruption of daily activities of staff and do this in a unionised environment.
The Outcome
To meet this challenge and keep staff safe from the inherent dangers of drug and alcohol use, BMD partnered with a world leader in alcohol and drug testing – Alcolizer Technology. BMD’s association with Alcolizer began in 2013 when it commenced use of Alcolizer handheld alcohol testers. A complete solution program providing alcohol and drug free work workplaces began in 2019 following discussions with HSEQ leads and project managers. The solution prepared by Alcolizer allowed BMD to provide better management of alcohol and drug testing by using latest available technology. BMD saw the benefits of implementing the Druglizer LE5 Drug Tester at every project to gain flexibility, mobility and accuracy in AOD testing. The program provided BMD with greater peace of mind and confidence in achieving AOD testing objectives to keep the workplace alcohol and drug free.
“BMD’s holistic approach to health, safety, environmental and quality management and their family orientated culture led BMD to roll out the latest advances in drug testing into their program via Druglizer LE5 to keep their workplaces AOD free.”
— Phill Seddon from Alcolizer Technology
BMD’s commitment is to provide a safe workplace for all employees, subcontractors, suppliers, clients, and associated stakeholders. For this reason, BMD partnered with Alcolizer Technology for alcohol and drug testing solutions to maintain the work environment in which the safety and the optimum performance of employees is not adversely affected by the use of alcohol or other drugs.
In the initial phase Alcolizer Technology worked to understand the challenges faced by BMD’s leadership across Australia regarding inconsistent achievement of AOD test KPI’s. Major concerns regarding the accuracy, performance and data capture of existing manual drug test kits were raised and the need for a consistent, easy to use solution identified. A comprehensive national AOD test plan was proposed by Alcolizer Technology using the Druglizer LE5 Drug Tester. This easy to use electronic device would make achieving the AOD KPI’s easier with accurate, consistent, reliable performance. The complete solution offered by Alcolizer Technology reinforced the benefits to BMD and resulted in Druglizer LE5 Drug Tester being the device of choice, spearheading a national AOD testing roll out.
“We significantly value business partnerships with our suppliers to guarantee superior solutions through equipment, support, service capability and ongoing training is delivered positively.”
— Joe Joyce, National Procurement and Fleet Manager, BMD
Succeeding this assessment, Alcolizer Technology deployed a training program before dispatching Druglizer Kits to ensure the training program was adapted well so that safety supervisors feel confident utilising the device. Upon receiving the device, BMD’s project managers and safety managers were enrolled in group face to face training to demonstrate their online learning in a practical format, which was very well embraced by the team. The successful deployment of Druglizer system and training was driven by willingness shown from the BMD team to follow a step by step process to achieve the desired outcome. The key to this success was based on a joint effort by the BMD team and Alcolizer Technology to ensure all the system, training, service and support is delivered in line with their actual requirement.
Phill says, “BMD is one of the major construction companies who has exhibited a significant care for all the stakeholders, workers and contractors as their values demonstrate the care and importance for people in the business.”
Testing Innovation
The Druglizer LE5 offers BMD three main advantages in their drug testing:
01. Speed – using the Druglizer LE5 takes only 70 to 150 seconds for a complete test to be performed successfully; legacy technology products can take 15 minutes or longer to perform the same test.
02. Accuracy – the Druglizer LE5 is electronic and displays accurate results on the device screen. This clearly indicates the exact test result as opposed to legacy technology products that display indicator lines requiring interpretation, often these lines can be pale resulting in confusion regarding the result.
03. Economic – the Druglizer LE5 has minimal waste by using a chip-enabled cartridge preventing tests being undertaken on expired cartridges and delivers a fast reading, minimising labour time spent testing.
People Friendly Testing
The Druglizer uses oral fluid which is also the preferred testing method at BMD; this presents a “people friendly” approach to testing as it is quicker and less invasive than alternative methods such as urine testing.
In addition, BMD prefer oral fluid testing as it will determine if a person is impaired for work at the time they report for duty, and only picks up residual traces going back approximately 48 hours prior, whereas the more-invasive and time consuming urine test can go back 2 to 3 weeks which can have an unfair impact on workers.
Effective alcohol and drug test policy implementation is best done with the cooperation of staff-members and their Unions – Alcolizer Technology and the Druglizer LE5 Drug Tester achieve this through quick, accurate, and less invasive testing than alternative solutions.
Alcolizer Technology Delivers Quick, Accurate And Reliable Industrial Scale Alcohol And Drug Testing
Alcolizer Technology’s solutions deliver quick and accurate testing which means disruption to employee’s dayto-day routine is minimised. All Alcolizer Technology products and services are designed for high-volume demanding industrial environments.
Alcolizer Technology provides fixed point-of-test solutions in the Wall Mount 4 Breathalyser which is specifically designed for high-volume/high-throughput testing; this unit is particularly suited to point-of-entry testing as it is able to quickly and accurately test large volumes of people. In addition, Alcolizer Technology also provides portable hand-held units for testing in situ when necessary.
OnSite Drug Testing services in accordance with best-practice procedures are available from Alcolizer Technology using the world leading Druglizer LE5 Drug Tester and other testing devices.
OnSite Drug Testing services in accordance with best-practice procedures are available from Alcolizer Technology using the world leading Druglizer LE5 Drug Tester and other testing devices.
This ensures swift and effective screening of employees for the presence of performance impacting drugs that might otherwise compromise Workplace Health and Safety and doing it quicker than legacy test methods and with minimal personal intrusion.
Comprehensive staff training programs were provided ensuring consistent and effective use of alcohol and drug testing technology in the BMD workplace, this is backed up by a national footprint of Alcolizer Technology service technicians able to assist BMD when and how they need it
Alcolizer Technology delivered a comprehensive AOD service enabling BMD staff to go about their daily tasks with minimum disruption and with minimal invasive testing.
With the direction & initiative of Group HSE manager Brian Olsen & Joe Joyce Procurement Manager, BMD was able successfully roll out the national AOD Program Under the new compliance Standards.
For more information regarding Alcolizer Technology’s Alcohol and Drug Testing programs and professional training contact Alcolizer on 1300 789 908 or talk to one of our expert Sales Specialists.
