Question:
Do you only do initial screening, or random screenings after hire as well? And, do you warn of upcoming screenings?
If the answer is only an initial test, then you’ve got those who - for instance - smoke pot working for you. I can guarantee it... You’d be mighty surprised if you randomly tested.
Also, my husband has worked in a variety of shops - even before drug testing was pretty common, and had no serious injuries for years as well, so that’s not a very good deciding factor, IMO.
Also, may I ask what types of machines you are running? How heavy/big are the parts you make? There are a lot of factors that go into how dangerous the machine you are working on is.
[Wish my DH was home at the moment because he’d have more questions, and probably more precise examples of companies he has worked for with similar accident records. I honestly find it hard to believe that you have only had people with sliced fingers - my husband had a corneal abrasion once WHILE wearing safety goggles. There was a burr in his hair, and it fell into his eyes. “Slices” on fingers happen everyday in the work he does. A cut on your finger isn’t even accident-report worthy, honestly. Now, if you’re talking about slicing a finger OFF, or de-gloving a hand, then that’s a little different - but again - that’s more to do with safety procedures and pure lack of common sense and incompetence than anything else in all the cases I’ve heard of. Half of those things - getting scalped, degloving a finger/hand, etc... are the horror stories they tell you about in school, and don’t happen nearly as often as it may seem.]
Almost ALL machinery could kill you instantly if you aren’t paying attention. Idiots who don’t follow safety rules are more likely to have problems. I’m guessing you are extremely strict in regard to safety procedures.
Husband just came in, so perhaps he has other insight to offer. I’ll ask him about safety records in the shops he’s worked in over the years - testing employers vs. non-testing employers.
The only thing my husband had to add is this;
The really bad stuff that used to happen (scalping and de-gloving, for instance) happens a LOT less now due to more safeguards on the machinery itself. As technology has advanced, so have safety measures. Seeing as you stated you are a *new* company having arrived here in the early 90s I’m guessing you don’t have a lot of old machinery, and that it’s pretty modern, safety-wise. That’s a HUGE factor in the injury numbers for any given shop as well. The old manual machines that are still used in some places are so much more dangerous than the newer machines.
Injuries have a lot more to do with competence and actually following safety protocols (not running a machine without the guards in place, for instance), than other factors. And now, there is a lot more emphasis on safety, and more training on safety measures - usually a safety meeting every few months to remind the guys how important it is.
My husband says that the worst safety/injury things he’s ever seen is when managers push production numbers too high, or offer bonuses for those production numbers which in turn leads to the employees taking shortcuts to get the work done - and those shortcuts usually have everything to do with safety precautions being ignored because they eat up time.
As for the testing debate - he, like me, is of the opinion that it’s Unconstitutional, and wholly unfair for the reasons I stated above in regard to many drugs being out of your system in a matter of hours vs. other benign things lasting longer in your system, even if you are not under the influence at work.