Suncor delays random drug and alcohol testing pending court ruling on injunction

Suncor is delaying plans to start random drug and alcohol testing at oilsands operations until a judge decides whether to approve an injunction blocking the scheme.

Unifor Local 707A, which represents about 3,000 Suncor workers around Fort McMurray, wants random testing for about 4,600 safetysensitive and critical management positions put on hold while it continues a five-year fight to stop the program.

There’s no evidence Suncor’s safety problems related to alcohol and drugs are getting worse in the area, and the situation may even be improving, union lawyer John Carpenter said Thursday during an injunction hearing.

While one of five people killed at the company’s facilities since 2013 had more than the legal level of blood-alcohol in their system, none of the employee’s colleagues or supervisors noticed anything wrong, Carpenter said.

“If random testing was in place, there would have been a onequarter of a per cent chance that employee would have been tested.”

Workers are already subject to testing after incidents when there are reasonable grounds and other times when there is cause, but Carpenter said people have described this process as insulting, degrading and an invasion of privacy.

The prevalence of unionized Suncor staff identified as drug and alcohol dependent is about the same as the general Canadian population over age 15, he said.

“This is not a workplace that has an out-of-control culture.”

In September, the Alberta Court of Appeal upheld an earlier ruling dismissing an arbitration panel’s finding that the random testing should be quashed, and ordered the issue heard by a new panel.

Court of Queen’s Bench Justice Paul Belzil said he’ll give a written decision on whether to grant the injunction next Thursday, and company lawyer Barbara Johnston indicated Suncor has put its testing plans on hold until then.

However, she said there have been thousands of security incidents involving intoxicants at its facilities, so Suncor doesn’t want another long delay before it can start testing.

“There are pressing safety concerns with alcohol and drugs in their operations in the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo. Despite the numerous … measures taken over the last 35 years, serious safety concerns persist,” Johnston said.

“Suncor is the most profound problem you’re going to see in terms of evidence … If Suncor can’t meet the standard, it will be impossible to ever have random testing.”