There are several jobs that drug test and surprisingly some jobs that you think would drug test but don’t. Home Depot is one of the major corporations that drug tests and this is mostly due to the fact that an employee will be operating heavy equipment. Airlines are also known for drug testing employees and will conduct surprise tests as the person is clocking in for the day. Other types of jobs that get tested are those that are in the security field or employees who hold secret clearances that are needed in order to complete their daily tasks.
Recently, on Ohio factory owner was taken aback by the amount of failed drug tests for inquiring employees. The factory has several blue collar type jobs available but she has trouble filling the opening due to the high amount of failed tests. This past week, four out of ten applicants failed their drug tests for positions including welders, crane operators, and machinists. Because these jobs require that the employee operate heavy duty equipment, they are required to be tested.
Regina Mitchell, a co-owner of Warren Fabricating & Machining in Hubbard, Ohio, said that the job requirements are simple and the employee simply needs to pass a drug test.
“I need employees who are engaged in their work while here, of sound mind and doing the best possible job that they can, keeping their fellow co-workers safe at all times,” said Mitchell. “We have a 150-ton crane in our machine shop. And we’re moving 300,000 pounds of steel around in that building on a regular basis. So I cannot take the chance to have anyone impaired running that crane, or working 40 feet in the air.”
Mitchell’s reasoning for the drug test requirement is a pretty good one as she is looking out for the safety and well-being of all of her employees.
The issue with the failed applicants came up after President Donald Trump addressed the blue-collar workers on a mission to provide more jobs for the middle class. But, Mitchell says that she has plenty of jobs to fill, just not enough sober applicants. Finding these applicants is a new thing for Mitchell, who says that she never had these issues prior to two years ago.
“It hasn’t been until the last two years that we needed to have a policy, a corporate policy in place, that protects us from employees coming into work impaired,” said Mitchell.
Citizens are well aware that the opioid crisis is a serious threat in the U.S., but Ohio was ranked number two for the largest number of opioid-related deaths, and it was ranked as #5 for overdose.
“This opioid epidemic that we’re experiencing … it seems like it’s worse than in other places all over the country,” Mitchell said, who is also faced with hiring challenges due to the new medical marijuana law. “The difficult part about marijuana is, we don’t have an affordable test that tells me if they smoked it over the weekend or smoked it in the morning before they came to work. And I just can’t take the chance of having an impaired worker running a crane carrying a 300,000-pound steel encasement.”
In Mahoning County in Ohio, there are almost 12,000 of these job openings.
