CHICAGOLAND - In today's sluggish economy, most companies are exploring ways they can reduce inventory, personnel, and expenses in general. But according to an executive with a Chicago construction association, many businesses may be overlooking a prime cost-saving measure: keeping employees drug-free.

"Because drug testing may involve additional expense, some business owners and managers may decide against it," said Tony Adolfs, Executive Director of the Sheet Metal and Air Conditioning Contractors' National Association (SMACNA) of Chicago. "Drug testing policies help improve employee performance in most work settings. In settings where employee error can result in property damage, injuries, or loss of life, such as construction jobsites, it is definitely an option worth exploring."

The American Council for Drug Education states that substance abusers on the job are:

• Ten times more likely to miss work.
• 3.6 times more likely to be involved in on-the-job accidents - and five times more likely to injure themselves or another in the process.
• Five times more likely to file a worker's compensation claim.
• 33 percent less productive.
• Responsible for health care costs that are three times as high as those of non-abusers.

Improving the Bottom Line
"On construction jobsites, the repercussions of jobsite drug abuse can go far beyond negative impacts on individual workers," said Adolfs. "Expensive delays and skyrocketing insurance rates can throw projects off-schedule and off-budget. If Chicagoland building owners and contractors want to improve the bottom line - especially in this sluggish economy - they need to make sure they are employing a 100 percent drug-free workforce."

Leaders of SMACNA Chicago and their workforce, Sheet Metal Workers Local 73, believe so strongly in the value of drug testing, they have developed and implemented drug testing policies for their workers.