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August 2015
MODERN MINING
49
HEALTH AND
SAFETY
from its own purpose-built premises in Wales,
Lion is recognised as one of the pioneers of the
breathalyzer industry and in 1980 it won the
Queen’s Award for Technological Achievement
for its development of fuel cell sensor tech-
nology for use in breathalyzers. Its products
are used by many UK police forces and are
exported to more than 70 countries.
The products within ALCO-Safe’s breatha-
lyzer line-are differentiated on the basis of
speed and ease of use. “In all, we have five
breathalyzer units plus a disposable unit,” says
Evans. “Our biggest seller is the Lion AlcoBlow
Rapid Test which is a high-speed unit capable
of testing 15 people per minute. It’s the obvi-
ous choice for high volume locations such as
mines where hundreds, sometimes even thou-
sands, of people per day are passing through
entrance points.
“At the other end of the range, we have
the extremely sophisticated Lion Alcometer
600, which offers a full touch screen, a GPS
facility and also data logging ability. The data
logging feature allows information such as the
test subject’s name and ID number – as well as
the operator’s ID number – to be captured. Of
course, with the built-in GPS the exact loca-
tion at which a test has taken place can also
be logged.”
Evans adds that a new development, in
conjunction with Lion, is an unmanned
breathalyzer known as ALCOSentry, expected
to be available in South Africa very shortly.
“Typically, we see this being fitted to turnstiles
and it will not allow access to anyone failing
the test. It will have several optional extras,
including a camera link,” he explains.
In respect of drug testing equipment, ALCO-
Safe can provide multiple solutions ranging
from single strip drug tests which test for one
specific drug type, multiple panel drug tests
which test for six or ten different drugs in one
test and drug testing cups which test for six
or ten different drugs in one cup. Disposable
saliva tests are available to test for six different
drugs in one test.
Evans says the flagship of the range is the
Alere DDS2, which combines speed, ease of use
and reliability. Test results for multiple drugs
are available within five minutes once a saliva
sample has been collected. The system is light-
weight, portable and compact with a full colour
screen – readable day or night – and can store
10 000 results.
Says Evans: “Drug abuse is now starting to be
very common and we’ve seen a huge increase
in demand over the past couple of years for
drug testing equipment – from all industries but
particularly mining.
One of the problems
in Africa is that –
South Africa apart
– there seems to be
very poor control of
prescription drugs.
One result of this
is that we’re seeing
very brisk demand
for our ten panel
tests, which test for
not just the normal
illegal drugs such as
cocaine and mari-
juana but also the
most common pre-
scription medicines
that are abused.”
ALCO-Safe can
provide training and
certify personnel in
the correct operation
and usage of all the products it sells and also
offers a complete rapid repair and calibration
service on its electronic devices.
Evans stresses that while it is perfectly legal
for mines to screen employees for alcohol and
drug use, great care has to be taken when test-
ing programmes are planned and instituted.
“Management cannot simply impose pro-
grammes arbitrarily without due regard for
workers’ rights,” he says. “It’s important to
follow the right procedures and absolutely
imperative that the unions are brought on
board and that concerns they might have –
for example, over the reliability of test results
– are addressed. We can help with this. The
experience we’ve gained over many years
means that we can advise on the development
of substance abuse policies and control pro-
grammes that are effective, fair to all parties
and legally compliant.”
A final point that Evans makes is that the
benefits to mines of having substance abuse
programmes in place goes well beyond simple
compliance with the law. “There’s no ques-
tion that abuse of alcohol and drugs negatively
affects the competence and productivity of
workers,” he states. “While it’s difficult to
quantify the scale of this impact, I think that
few would disagree with the proposition that
ensuring that workers are free of alcohol and
drugs must result in improved productivity,
better relationships in the workplace and a
reduced potential for accidents to occur, which
are all benefits that eventually translate to the
bottom line.”
Multi-panel drug screen
tests are used to test urine
samples for a variety of
drugs of abuse, providing
an instant result at the point
of care.
“One of the
problems in Africa
is that – South
Africa apart –
there seems to be
very poor control
of prescription
drugs.”
Rhys Evans, Director
of ALCO-Safe