To further improve the security of testing and reduce “cheating”, or circumvention of breathalyser tests, alcohol detection technology and services provider Alco-Safe is developing a new version of its ALControl breathalyser unit for application at mine and industrial sites.

“The new unit, expected to be launched in June, will comprise a camera situated above the sampling cone. As the person blows into the cone, activating the pressure sensor, the camera will take an image or film the person being tested to confirm that a person, and not an artificial object, is tested,” Alco-Safe director Rhys Evans tells Mining Weekly.

He explains that the units can be installed at the turnstiles at mine entrances. The use of the new unit can also assist mines in ensuring compliance with the Occupational Health and Safety Act, which specifies a “zero tolerance approach” toward alcohol and drug use in the workplace, as well as compliance with the South African Mine Health and Safety Act, which states that employers, or mines, must provide conditions for safe operation and may not permit any person who is or who appears to be under the influence of intoxicating liquor or drugs to enter or remain on the premises.

The advantages of deploying the new units at the turnstiles would include time savings, as the tests can be conducted faster, allowing for swift movement of employees through access control. Further, visual control can monitor any instances of corruption of the tests, Evans emphasises.

Having witnessed the challenges of miners “cheating the instruments”, Evans expects the new units to become more popular in the mining industry over time.

Nevertheless, he advises that the need for human intervention, usually in the form of security guards to monitor the testing, remains key to the continuation of successful testing.

Meanwhile, following the increase in voluntary testing of employees at mines, AlcoSafe has installed more than 15 of its new ALControl standalone breathalyser units at various coal mines in Mpumalanga in the past two months. The Department of Mineral Resources has requested mines to increase voluntary testing, according to Evans.

The ALControl standalone units comprise a water- and dust-resistant casing to withstand tough mining environments, requiring little maintenance, with yearly calibration. These units can undertake and process 12 tests a minute.

Evans explains that, with voluntary testing, employees are afforded the opportunity act responsibly and take educated decisions by undertaking tests themselves, should they be wary of perhaps having had too much to drink the night before.

“If they test positive, they do not go onto the mine premises where compulsory testing is done. They will either wait around outside and test again an hour later to see if the alcohol has now worked out of their body or they will go home and not report for work for the day,” he notes.

Employees can be more responsible for their actions and the remainder of the workforce will be safeguarded from potential alcohol-related incidents/accidents.

Absenteeism and the challenges resulting from a “sporadic and inefficient” workforce are inevitably reduced, while the number of disciplinary hearings and dismissals are moderated and lowered, he reiterates.

While Alco-Safe promotes voluntary alcohol testing, this procedure of testing cannot be implemented without the necessary records being kept, Evans stresses.

The correct procedure should be for the employee to volunteer to do the test, while the test should maintain, or be linked to, a form of physical record or monitoring of the number of tests and outcomes, Evans says.

“If the voluntary test is not monitored, it may lead to high rates of absenteeism among staff who frequently test positive for alcohol when doing a voluntary test where they know there will be no repercussion or disciplinary action.

“The answer [remains to] take down the [dates and] names of those who test positive on a voluntary test and to have an allowable limit of perhaps one positive voluntary test a month, for example – whichever the company feels is fair,” Evans asserts.

He concludes that test systems could be combined with facial recognition access control systems in future to ensure the systems are as foolproof as possible.