Field notes › Compliance
Drug and alcohol testing for labour hire crews: whose rules apply
Drug and alcohol testing for labour hire crews usually happens under the host site's regime while your workers are on that site, and your own policy as their employer can apply as well. Outside industries with their own laws, testing is a policy decision: Workplace Health and Safety Queensland (WHSQ) says the work health and safety laws do not mandate, require or prohibit it. Queensland coal mines are the clear exception, because the regulation requires random and suspicion testing in every mine's safety and health management system.
This guide covers how testing works, what the Queensland mining rules say, and the parts that land on the labour hire office: whose policy applies, what to know before you roster someone, and what happens to the booking when a worker is stood down.
How does drug and alcohol testing work?
Safe Work Australia's drugs and alcohol page sets the starting point. A person conducting a business or undertaking (PCBU) must manage health and safety risks, which might include setting drug and alcohol policies. Workers need to be fit to do the job, can't be under the influence, and can't use alcohol or illegal drugs at work. The page notes that some jobs, including road and rail transport, maritime and mining, have a legal blood alcohol level, and that some companies test, particularly where a worker could kill or seriously injure themselves or someone else.
WHSQ's framework for managing alcohol and other drugs at work lists breath, urine and saliva tests as the methods, and recommends these triggers:
- Voluntary self-testing, where a worker who self-tests positive shouldn't face discipline, so people are encouraged to use it.
- Random testing of any worker or group on a random day, management included.
- Testing on reasonable belief that a worker is affected.
- Testing after a health and safety incident.
The framework says testing should follow the relevant Australian Standards, naming AS 3547 for breath alcohol testing devices, AS 4760 for oral fluid and AS/NZS 4308 for urine, and that cut-off points for a positive result should be selected and clear. It also warns that, apart from alcohol, a positive drug test is not always directly related to impairment, and that false positives are possible.
Is drug and alcohol testing a legal requirement in Australia?
There is no single national answer. Safe Work Australia points out that the Commonwealth, states and territories each regulate and enforce work health and safety laws, and particular industries add their own rules. For Queensland, WHSQ's framework says WHS laws neither require nor prohibit testing, and that independent legal advice may be needed if testing is being considered as a control measure. It says the decision to test should be made in consultation with workers, health and safety representatives and worker representatives, and that while consultation doesn't require agreement, agreement to a testing regime is preferable because testing is intrusive.
Other states have their own regulators and their own mining and transport rules. If your crews work outside Queensland, check with that state's regulator before assuming anything below carries across.
Drug and alcohol testing on Queensland coal mines
The Coal Mining Safety and Health Regulation 2017 is specific, as at September 2026. Section 39 says a person must not consume alcohol at a coal mine except in an accommodation building or a recreation area designated by the site senior executive. Section 40 says nobody may work, or go into a part of the mine where on-site activities are happening, while under the influence of alcohol. Section 41 requires the mine's safety and health management system to provide an education program, an employee assistance program and alcohol assessments to decide fitness for work: voluntary self-testing, random testing before starting work, and testing where someone reasonably suspects a person is under the influence.
Section 42 covers drugs in the same way, with random testing before starting or during work, and adds obligations anyone supplying crew should know. A person must notify the site senior executive of current use of medication that could impair their ability to carry out their duties, and the site senior executive must keep a record of that notification. The site senior executive must make a reasonable attempt to agree the criteria for drug assessment with a majority of workers at the mine. If the majority disagree, the criteria in a recognised standard apply until agreement is reached.
That standard is RSHQ's Recognised Standard 07, criteria for the assessment of drugs in coal mines. Where it applies, it sets out a urine test before the worker first starts work at the mine; oral fluid on-site testing at random before, during and after shifts, after an incident, on suspicion and on return to work after a positive result; and laboratory confirmation if an on-site result is disputed or needs confirming. It says the mine's system affects all persons at the mine, including workers and visitors.
What about mineral mines and quarries?
The Mining and Quarrying Safety and Health Regulation 2017 is shaped differently. Section 84 says a person must not carry out operations at a mine, or enter an operating part of it, if under the influence of alcohol or impaired by a drug to the extent it impairs, or could impair, their ability to work safely. Sections 85 to 87 require the site senior executive to make sure each worker's fitness level is assessed and a fitness assessment record kept, before the worker first starts at the mine, whenever their duties change and periodically as necessary. Section 87 says the worker's employer must pay for that assessment and its report. How each site handles alcohol and drugs within that is set in its own system, so ask for the site's procedure instead of assuming it matches a coal mine's.
Whose policy applies on a host site?
Often both, which is why the supply agreement should say which one governs where they differ. WHSQ's guide for host employers of labour hire workers says hosts should treat labour hire workers as though they are their own workers in providing a safe working environment, identify the skills, licences and certification the work needs, and cooperate with the labour hire agency. It says agencies should have a written agreement with the host that clearly sets out WHS expectations and responsibilities, including the channels for passing information quickly. Safe Work Australia adds that a PCBU must consult, cooperate and coordinate with other duty holders.
The questions to settle before the first swing are short. Does the host's regime cover your workers on site, and does it include testing before first entry? Do you test before mobilising, and is that on top of the site's test or instead of it? Who at the host tells you, and how fast, when one of your workers returns a non-negative result or refuses a test? And who decides whether that worker comes back to that site?
What the labour hire office needs before rostering
The office isn't the tester, but it is usually the one sorting out the shift when something goes wrong. What it needs is logistics, not results. Before rostering someone to a site, know whether the site requires a test before first entry and whether that step is done, how long the site's induction and fitness steps take so the first shift isn't lost to them, and who at the site to call if a worker is stood down.
Medication is where offices overreach. WHSQ's framework says employers and managers must not request unnecessary information, and a worker taking medication that could affect safety only has to say so, not reveal the condition or the medication. WHSQ's alcohol and other drugs page tells workers on prescribed medication that could affect their work to tell their manager or employer. On a Queensland coal mine, section 42 sends that notification to the site senior executive. Your office shouldn't be collecting prescription details to pass along.
A fit-for-work declaration sits alongside testing, not in place of it. There's more on doing those well in what good fit-for-work declarations look like. Mustr's onboarding has a fit-for-work step, due one month from first sign-in and flagged when overdue, but Mustr has no drug and alcohol testing feature and doesn't hold test results.
Keep results out of roster notes
WHSQ's framework says testing raises confidentiality and privacy issues, and that procedures should identify who can access results, who interprets them, how they are stored and for how long. It also says that after a negative result the worker returns to work and no record of the test is kept. On Queensland coal mines, section 43 of the regulation limits how fitness-for-work information and records collected under sections 41 and 42 can be used (only to decide whether the person is fit for work at the mine) and sets when they must be destroyed.
On privacy law, the OAIC's employment page says a private sector employer's handling of employee records is exempt from the Privacy Act where it is directly related to the current or former employment relationship. How that applies to information passing between a host and a labour hire firm is a question for your adviser. None of it justifies writing a test outcome into a shift note that a client supervisor, payroll and every rosterer can open. A roster note should carry what the roster needs, such as "not available for this site, speak to operations manager".
What happens to the booking if a worker is stood down?
WHSQ's framework says a worker with a positive result should be removed from the workplace or kept in a safe location until they can resume work or travel home, with arrangements so they get home safely, and that follow-up should match what the policy sets out. It also says a refusal can't be presumed to mean the worker is intoxicated, and that a worker may have a valid reason to refuse unless legislation, contracts or employment agreements provide otherwise. Neither is a rostering decision, but both leave a gap in the roster.
The office's part is to take the worker off the shift cleanly, tell the host who is covering, and keep the worker off that site until whoever owns the decision has made it. The reason stays in the HR file. In Mustr, crew are told when they come off a shift, and clients are told when a shift changes, with the previous details shown next to the new. If a worker won't be back for a while, the inactive state keeps their certificates, shifts and notes, drops them out of roster pickers, stops them being assigned even from a client request and suspends their login, and it can be reversed. Requirements set per client site mean someone without the site's required competencies or a current induction is blocked when anyone tries to book them there, with the reason shown.
Questions people ask
How does drug and alcohol testing work?
Workplace Health and Safety Queensland lists breath tests, urine tests and saliva tests as the methods. Testing can be voluntary, random, based on reasonable belief or after an incident. On Queensland coal mines where Recognised Standard 07 applies, a disputed on-site oral fluid result goes to a laboratory for confirmation.
What is random drug and alcohol testing?
WHSQ describes random testing as testing any worker or group of workers, including management, on a random day. RSHQ's Recognised Standard 07 defines random as testing that can be done anywhere at any time on a mine site. On Queensland coal mines, random testing before starting work must be part of the safety and health management system for both alcohol and drugs.
Is drug and alcohol testing mandatory in Queensland?
Workplace Health and Safety Queensland says the work health and safety laws do not mandate, require or prohibit testing. Some industries have their own rules, and the Coal Mining Safety and Health Regulation 2017 requires coal mines to provide for voluntary self-testing, random testing and testing on reasonable suspicion. Whether a rule applies to your situation is a question for the regulator or your adviser.
How much does drug and alcohol testing cost?
None of the regulator pages used for this guide publish a price, and testing is supplied by providers who set their own charges. On Queensland mineral mines and quarries, the regulation says the worker's employer must pay for the fitness assessment and report required under section 87. Otherwise, who pays comes down to your policy and your agreement with the host.
Can a worker refuse a drug and alcohol test?
WHSQ's framework says a refusal cannot be presumed to mean the worker is intoxicated, and a worker may have a valid reason to refuse unless specific legislation, contracts or employment agreements provide otherwise. It recommends policies set out a procedure for refusals. What that means for a particular worker is a question for your adviser.
See how Mustr sets requirements per client site and blocks bookings that don't meet them on the compliance page, or book a demo.