[speaker001:] um she asked if I I guess they went ahead and told you we're supposed to be talking about uh drug testing and what do we think about the policy of most companies and government agencies and of course that's something we're familiar with
[speaker002:] right
[speaker001:] um you want to go ahead or
[speaker002:] okay go ahead no no go ahead
[speaker001:] um personally it was something that uh I mean I know it presents an emotional issue moral issue people feel like maybe my rights are being violated but I work in human resources so I work with a lot of folks that um are in accidents or where safety considerations are concerned and
[speaker002:] okay yeah
[speaker001:] I really feel like that TI's decision to go with drug testing was good you know because I I feel like that you know well all all it takes is one person coming to work under the influence of some narcotic um truly injure a lot more of our workers
[speaker002:] yeah and that's that's funny you're in human resources and I'm in uh health and safety
[speaker001:] are you
[speaker002:] yes um I think it's a good idea I I I don't think that they've gone far enough though I think they should they should uh also test for alcohol
[speaker001:] well now the thing you you know course they've always said separately that um you know we have a we have a policy on alcohol course if anybody's under the uh influence or if you have reasonable suspicion then that would result in corrective action for them also and that of course has been in place for years
[speaker002:] right but
[speaker001:] but it's not specifically tested for that
[speaker002:] yeah
[speaker001:] yeah
[speaker002:] no and and from everything that I can gather you know reading different articles and and just a newspaper in general uh uh news on the um television it seems that alcohol is the is the most prevalent um addictive addictive drug
[speaker001:] yeah
[speaker002:] even though the all the college campuses now the they're saying that the majority of of uh students uh drink
[speaker001:] um-hum
[speaker002:] and most of them are partying but yet we don't test for that and I wonder if we don't do that because it is so prevalent and would put probably lose a quarter of all our population here
[speaker001:] how long does alcohol stay in the system I mean like if somebody went out and had some drinks the night before is that going to be there the next day
[speaker002:] well they say your system a normal a normal person should be able to metabolize an ounce of alcohol per hour
[speaker001:] okay
[speaker002:] and then again it it depends depends on the the bigger you are and you know the more bulk that you have you you can your system can tolerate more alcohol so a large person can probably um metabolize maybe a little bit more
[speaker001:] uh-huh
[speaker002:] than a smaller person but even that yeah if you go out you know because some people go out maybe  oh you know they drink up a gallon
[speaker001:] yeah they do
[speaker002:] um what's what's the uh consensus down there when when uh TI announced that uh the drug testing program did you get a lot of uh animosity against that
[speaker001:] we had I didn't get a lot no not like I expected um we had you know one or two that were extremely outspoken you know felt like it really violated their rights and and um and it was not the people that I would have expected um it's uh one of them stands out in my mind as an extremely uh just a super person in management you know and he's he's very family oriented his family's very close he he also opposes in the schools like for his kids because he says you know we are a good Christian family we do not do this type of thing it definitely violates our rights and he was very outspoken
[speaker002:] yeah
[speaker001:] but for the most part people were like well I don't like it uh it's not something I prefer to do but I understand the reasoning and I think part of the attitude is that I think TI went to really great lengths in communicating and tried to prepare them and and tell them why and you know they didn't just announce it without really any forethought
[speaker002:] yes no that's you're right yeah
[speaker001:] and uh I I think they don't go far enough uh kind of on a different vein and that is that I think every time we have any type of industrial accident at TI I think somebody ought to be tested immediately and you know maybe that's just me personally but I I feel like
[speaker002:] sure that's an idea too I just uh
[speaker001:] you know I I feel like if something happens uh that causes an accident you ought to test the parties involved immediately just just if if nothing else to rule it out
[speaker002:] yeah that's a that's a thought um I don't know if you can go
[speaker001:] um
[speaker002:] depends on the severity of the accident I think you know if you get like up here because we've got heavy industry we've got you know uh uh smelting plant and we've got a
[speaker001:] yeah
[speaker002:] we've got a lot of uh metals rolling and slitting and stuff like that so we've got a lot of we are we end up with a lot of uh hand injuries you know cuts and things like that but perhaps um
[speaker001:] yes
[speaker002:] if you could weed out those the people that have chronic accidents and test those you know that's a start
[speaker001:] uh-huh
[speaker002:] and that's a good idea that's a good point
[speaker001:] I guess what makes me think of that you know uh you hear them doing that like it's a or like Amtrak you know if if they have a derailment or or transportation industry it seems like if there's accidents train accidents things like that they test and I think well why not because we do have some large industrial accidents sometimes
[speaker002:] yes
[speaker001:] uh you know if you have a large acid spill you know well gee maybe you better check this person who's handling all these acids you know I work with a wafer fab so we do a lot with chemicals and acids and
[speaker002:] oh okay yeah
[speaker001:] uh things like that but I I do feel like companies are justified and I do feel like I I mean I I guess I hate as an individual that anything like this has ever become necessary in our you know in our nation but but I feel like that it's a good thing to do
[speaker002:] well I can see transportation because now you're dealing with or they have the responsibility over a great number of people
[speaker001:] that's true
[speaker002:] rather than themselves um but but thinking on that yeah because we've got we've got truck drivers here that go between plants you know locally
[speaker001:] um-hum
[speaker002:] and carry material and they carry acids and things too
[speaker001:] sure
[speaker002:] um I don't know what the what the uh company plant is they went through I guess key personnel first
[speaker001:] uh-huh
[speaker002:] and then it funneled down to uh the general population
[speaker001:] uh-huh now that started in January of last year
[speaker002:] but I wonder if yeah and I I still haven't been called yet in fact yeah in fact out of our office staff is let's see there's uh four six there's seven of us and there's only one been called
[speaker001:] is that right well I've been lucky I've been called twice
[speaker002:] well I oh oh I I should probably shouldn't be talking to you then right
[speaker001:] no I had to test once um when they did the key personnel they test all human resource folks and so I I I was once there and then in the general random sampling last year I was I contacted
[speaker002:] okay and then you just got lucky again right
[speaker001:] yeah and that you know I have that same uneasy feeling that other folks have you know I know I I mean I don't drink I don't smoke I don't do nothing
[speaker002:] yeah yeah I used to smoke years ago but I don't now
[speaker001:] you know but you still walk in there and go gee what if something I ate what if something I've done what if something I've eaten shows up
[speaker002:] well it's not only that but I've read different articles and they said even the even the best of labs they come back with erroneous samples and even if they get a a reading I guess they test the same sample again
[speaker001:] um-hum yeah
[speaker002:] and they're going to get the same reading suppose they uh you know it's a do they crucify you right then and there or do they do they go back and retest
[speaker001:] well now if the lab is making an error on the sample then when they retest the error should not be there uh
[speaker002:] but they retest the same sample
[speaker001:] yeah but the error is on the part of the lab not on the sample in other words if somebody makes a mistake in what they're reading then they're not going to get the same reading the second time
[speaker002:] oh I see oh okay but if they do then you're you're pretty well
[speaker001:] if they do then you have you always have the recourse um you know before we do anything we sit down and talk with the person about is there any reason why this should have shown up and a lot of times you know uh
[speaker002:] condemned right to be retested
[speaker001:] they'll go oh yeah I was on a prescription for this and they can go get it and bring it in
[speaker002:] yeah
[speaker001:] you know in which case they're fine obviously those are recorded as negatives if you're under you know legal qualified medical care um
[speaker002:] yeah but I often wondered wondered about that too
[speaker001:] if if we're talking marijuana if it's in the system uh then
[speaker002:] yeah
[speaker001:] yeah you know that would be grounds for uh if it's their second positive it would be grounds for termination if it's their first positive then they're setup with E A P counseling
[speaker002:] do you know of any incidences of of of uh erroneous
[speaker001:] uh we've had a couple
[speaker002:] you know something they they make a mistake the lab made a mistake and it really wasn't nothing
[speaker001:] no no in fact see TI actually sends uh test samples from time to time uh
[speaker002:] oh just to see just just to check on a lab
[speaker001:] just to check the validity of the lab yeah and uh so that's kind of an ongoing test process for the we do for Compucam and you know they don't know which ones are test samples
[speaker002:] uh we must be yeah we must be doing the same up here too we we're probably send to a different lab than you guys down there
[speaker001:] yeah  I don't think so I think the whole company uses Compucam which is over there on the east coast somewhere
[speaker002:] oh
[speaker001:] and ours actually are mailed there uh they're the I think the largest and they do a lot of the government contractors they have an excellent excellent rate um
[speaker002:] oh yeah
[speaker001:] and just uh they