Category: Media Release

Auckland, New Zealand – Leading workplace safety provider Sober Check has issued an urgent operational advisory and compliance blueprint for New Zealand employers, as the 36-month transition period for the updated AS/NZS 4308:2023 workplace drug testing standard expires in November 2026.

Changes to on-site cocaine thresholds, urine testing requirements and employee consent are just three of the changes that New Zealand workplaces will need to account for from next month.

As the grace period ends, New Zealand businesses relying on workplace drug testing across high-stakes sectors, including civil construction, forestry, heavy transport, and manufacturing, need to align their hardware, testing procedures, and employment policies to avoid legal exposure and operational disruption.

According to Sober Check Managing Director Louis Foster, these changes require workplaces to update policies and procedures to reflect the new standards and ensure compliance.

“One of the more noticeable changes – the on-site screening threshold for cocaine drops from 300 μg/L to 150 μg/L, aligning Australasia with global toxicological standards – is just one of a suite of new guidelines that New Zealand workplaces will need to adhere to,” said Mr Foster.

To help organisations navigate the final phase of the transition, Sober Check’s core testing suites – including the SCOUT OneStep and Medix Pro Split Cup – are fully accredited to meet the 150 μg/L cocaine threshold and the updated creatinine appendix standards.

Sober Check is also providing guidance to help Kiwi businesses update their internal alcohol and other drug (AOD) policies before the November deadline.

“Due to this employers should prepare for an immediate rise in initial “not negative” screening results targeting recreational use that previously went undetected – businesses that rely on drug testing to safeguard their operations need to audit their frameworks now. On top of this, updated consent procedures now mandate precise language and flawless execution to ensure they adhere to the mandated requirements to ensure the validity of test results.”

Key changes under AS/NZS 4308:2023

• Halved cocaine detection cut-offs: The on-site screening threshold for cocaine drops from 300 μg/L to 150 μg/L, aligning Australasia with global toxicological standards. Employers should prepare for an immediate rise in initial “not negative” screening results targeting recreational use that previously went undetected.
• Mandatory creatinine verification: To combat sample tampering, synthetic substitutions, and extreme hydration, the standard now mandates certified creatinine testing patches and ongoing quality-control validation using high- and low-creatinine control solutions.
• Streamlined monthly quality control: Replacing the commercially onerous requirement to run daily control tests, the 2023 standard introduces a streamlined monthly batch control protocol per storage location – significantly reducing device waste for regional and remote operations.

For more information on updating workplace testing hardware, control protocols, or policy documentation, visit www.sobercheck.co.nz.

About Sober Check

Sober Check has supplied drug and alcohol testing equipment, training and support to New Zealand workplaces for more than 20 years, and has operated in Australia since acquiring CMM Technology in 2025. Its customers include occupational health providers, addiction treatment services, and employers in transport, forestry, construction and other safety-sensitive industries.

For all media enquiries, images, or interviews, please contact e support@sobercheck.com.au / p + 64 9 918 2437.

Auckland, New Zealand – Leading occupational health and safety supplier Sober Check has officially launched a new, consolidated workplace drug and alcohol testing training service across New Zealand.

This initiative is designed to streamline compliance, reduce corporate costs, and align Kiwi workplace safety standards with best-practice regimes established in Australia.

The new course addresses a long-standing operational gap in New Zealand’s workplace testing landscape, where businesses have historically been required to navigate fragmented, multi-course units to achieve full testing accreditation.

According to Louis Foster, General Manager at Sober Check, the traditional New Zealand approach has created unnecessary friction and compliance costs for health and safety managers, occupational health nurses, and site leaders because it requires multiple training sessions and a fragmented approach.

“When we evaluate testing regimes across both sides of the Tasman, New Zealand’s legacy system has operated much more as a box-ticking, multi-step compliance exercise rather than focusing on rapid, practical safety outcomes for workers,” said Louis Foster.

“Because chain of custody protocols, donor consent, and quality control procedures overlap significantly between urine and oral fluid testing, requiring businesses to send staff to separate courses doubles their downtime and inflates costs without necessarily delivering extra safety.”

Under New Zealand’s traditional NZQA training framework, site testers must complete two separate, standalone units for urine collection and screening, and another two units for oral fluid (saliva) collection and screening.

Furthermore, accredited alcohol breathalyser testing is frequently excluded, requiring additional instruction.

In contrast, Australian standards (such as HLTPAT0010) consolidate urine, oral fluid, and alcohol testing into a comprehensive, single-day curriculum.

By combining the workbook requirements and practical assessments for both urine and oral fluid screening – while integrating comprehensive alcohol breath-testing instruction – Sober Check’s new training module enables designated site collectors to earn complete competency in a single session.

According to Louis Foster, the streamlined approach is tailored specifically for high-risk, essential sectors, including energy, infrastructure, logistics, manufacturing, and construction, where immediate, on-site testing capability is critical to keeping teams safe.

“Our goal is to remove the administrative barriers to testing so that companies can focus on creating safer work environments,” said Foster.

“By taking the best elements of Australia’s mature testing framework and applying them locally, we are giving Kiwi employers a more efficient, cost-effective tool to upskill their teams so they can conduct onsite testing for the purpose of protecting their workers every day.”

Sober Check’s integrated training program is available nationwide across New Zealand, offering both on-site corporate delivery and structured group training options.

About Sober Check

Sober Check is one of Australasia’s largest providers of certified alcohol and drug testing technology and solutions. The company supports businesses in safety-sensitive industries, including transport, forestry, government workplaces, recruitment, occupational health, and construction, in managing workplace risks effectively. Sober Check works with its clients to create safer, healthier workplaces through simple, effective drug, alcohol and hydration testing solutions.

It achieves this by providing reliable, compliant and easy-to-use testing solutions that help organisations protect their people and meet their obligations. From single-use kits to comprehensive workplace testing programmes, Sober Check is your reliable partner for drug, alcohol and hydration testing solutions across Australasia.

For all media enquiries, images, or interviews, please contact support@sobercheck.co.nz.

Wellington, New Zealand – Sober Check, New Zealand’s largest provider of workplace drug and alcohol (DOA) testing solutions, will take centre stage at the Health & Safety Association NZ (HASANZ) Conference 2026, taking place from 16–18 September at the Tākina Wellington Convention and Exhibition Centre.

Marking 10 years of HASANZ, this year’s milestone conference gathers 350 health and safety professionals, corporate decision-makers, and sector influencers under the theme “Learning, Leading, Innovating.”

Sober Check will use the national platform to highlight how organisations can evolve traditional compliance-driven workplace tests into modern drug and alcohol testing solutions. 

As part of the conference program, Sober Check’s expert submission, From Testing to Risk Management: Evolving Workplace Drug and Alcohol Programmes in New Zealand, will be featured as an educational poster presentation.

According to Sober Check CEO Louis Foster, this showcase examines how high-risk industries can learn from past approaches, update outdated policies and procedures, and align workplace safety with evolving standards, such as the updated urine testing standard AS/NZS 4308:2023.

“Workplace drug and alcohol testing in New Zealand was originally introduced to tick compliance boxes, but many of those legacy policies haven’t kept pace with modern workplace risks, cultural changes or technological advancements,” said Mr Foster.

“We are attending HASANZ to lead the conversation on how businesses can shift from reactive testing to proactive impairment management, and the importance of using workplace verified products when implementing organisation-wide drug  tests. It’s about helping health and safety leads understand critical factors like detection windows versus accuracy, managing emerging challenges like medicinal cannabis, and ensuring testing directly supports genuine safety outcomes.”

In addition to driving industry education, Sober Check is expanding its market-leading product lineup at the event, showcasing its new SCOUT products, designed to streamline on-site drug testing processes and discussing its soon-to-be-launched training offering. 

Sober Check has formally expanded its operational support through Sober Check Training Limited, an NZQA-registered Private Training Establishment (PTE) delivering nationally recognised vocational qualifications for workplace safety leads. 

Developed in direct response to client and market feedback, this focus on training and stakeholder education is designed to help businesses manage risk faster and more accurately. 

Conference delegates are invited to visit Sober Check at their exhibition stand at Tākina Wellington from 16–18 September to discuss the soon-to-be-launched training offering and products like the MX3 Pro Hydration Testing System and SCOUT OneStep.

About Sober Check:  

Sober Check is one of Australasia’s largest providers of certified alcohol and drug testing technology and solutions. The company supports businesses in safety-sensitive industries, including transport, forestry, government workplaces, recruitment, occupational health, and construction, in managing workplace risks effectively. Sober Check works with its clients to create safer, healthier workplaces through simple, effective drug, alcohol and hydration testing solutions.

It achieves this by providing reliable, compliant and easy-to-use testing solutions that help organisations protect their people and meet their obligations. From single-use kits to comprehensive workplace testing programmes, Sober Check is your reliable partner for drug, alcohol and hydration testing solutions across Australasia.

For all media enquiries, images, or interviews, please contact Louis Foster e louis@sobercheck.com.au /  p + 64 9 918 2437.

Perth, Western Australia – Sober Check, New Zealand’s largest supplier of alcohol and drug testing solutions, announced that Louis Foster will lead its Australian operations as CEO, following its acquisition of Perth-based CMM Technology.

This announcement marks a strategic milestone as part of the first phase of a plan to establish Sober Check Australia as a leading provider of workplace health & wellness technology across Australasia.

For over 20 years, Sober Check has specialised in key workplace safety industries, building a dominant market share in New Zealand through high-touch, relationship-based service.

The acquisition of CMM Technology provides an immediate operational foothold in Western Australia, particularly within the critical mining sector where CMM Technology has long-standing ties.

“We have spent two decades refining our model in New Zealand, where we are proud to be one of the leaders in this space,” said Louis Foster, Director of Sober Check.

“We identified CMM Technology as the perfect foundation for our expansion. While they have a strong history in the West, we see immense potential to revitalize the business and use it as a launchpad to bring our expertise to the Eastern Seaboard – Brisbane, Sydney, and Melbourne – where the demand for workplace safety solutions is growing.”

The acquisition unites Sober Check’s proactive, customer-first approach with CMM’s established client base.

Founded over two decades ago, Sober Check is New Zealand’s largest supplier of certified drug and alcohol testing solutions and is seen as one of the market leaders in this space.

Sober Check plans to modernise the Australian operations by introducing the proactive account management and customer success focus that has built them into becoming the market leader in New Zealand.

“We know that old-fashioned service works, but we also recognise the need to scale,” added Mr Foster.

“Our goal is to combine our technical expertise with a renewed focus on digital and direct engagement to serve the Australian market better than it has ever been served before.”