Minister Craig Foss has recently announced that alcohol interlocks will be mandatory for all repeat drink drivers and any first time offenders that are twice over the old drink drive limit.
This is a great announcement as alcohol interlocks mean that you can’t physically start your car with any alcohol on your breath – safer roads for us all!
Visit Smart Start Interlocks to learn more.
Resource from the Past
We sent this guide out to customers in March 2020, right in the midst of the first lockdown. The urgency has abated now, but Covid-19 is still a consideration and alert levels can change at any time.
If this happens, we hope this guide will be useful!
Remove unnecessary items from the room to prevent needing to wipe them down after each test. Consider removing magazines, books, extra chairs, waiting room tables, etc.
Use absorbent spill sheets to cover areas where test devices will be sitting during the course of the test. These will catch and retain liquid, for disposal after the test is completed.
➝ Use the Sober Check Spill Sheets, available in packs of 10 from Sober Check.
Use a new pair of disposable gloves with each test. Ensure the disposable gloves are certified to prevent microbial and chemical penetration.
Have a conversation with the donor before proceeding with testing – ask them if they:
● Are experiencing flu-like symptoms (high temperature, sore throat, cough, runny nose) AND
● Have been in contact with anyone diagnosed with, or in quarantine for, Covid-19, or
● Have been in countries with high levels of Covid-19 transmission recently.
Place a sign on the door asking the donor not to proceed if they have a combination of the above.
If these are a risk factor, contact the company requesting the test and coordinate the next steps with them.
Covid-19 transmission occurs mostly through the mouth, nose or eyes. Don’t touch your face to avoid possible infection.
Keep a box of tissues nearby to use if you need to touch your face.
Consider which parts of the collection process you can ask the donor to do, to reduce contact: e.g. selecting the test device, opening the packet, collecting the sample, potentially even running the test depending on the difficulty of this.
Increased distance lessens the chances of infection. However, Covid-19 can travel up to 4.5 metres from an infected person, so it’s important to take other precautions.
Covid-19 can last on surfaces for up to 3 days, so it’s important surfaces are wiped down with an antiviral wipe after each test. Consider doorknobs, desk tops, sinks, tap handles, soap dispensers, toilet seats, pens, and other surfaces the client may have been in contact with.
Use a separate rubbish bag for used tests, gloves, spill sheets and antiviral wipes. Seal this bag after testing is finished, and discard.
Wash your hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds after a test. If soap and water are not readily available, use a hand sanitizer that contains at least 60% alcohol. Cover all surfaces of your hands and rub them together until they feel dry.
Sober Check was the exclusive distributor for Smart Start Inc. (the leading alcohol interlock providers) from 2010 onwards.
We worked extensively with government in getting the law changed to mandate alcohol interlock devices for repeat drink drivers — changing behaviour and keeping the roads safer for all.
This involved setting up an extensive network of auto-electricians around the country to install and service. This network covers from Kaitaia to Invercargill, and everywhere in between.
In 2016, Minister Craig Foss announced that the interlock legislation covering this would be changing.
Installation of alcohol interlocks changed from being discretionary, to being mandatory for repeat drink drivers.
This covers people who have been charged with drink driving twice or more within the previous five years, or twice over the limit on their first time.
In 2017, this was split off into a separate company: Smart Start Interlocks — separating drinking from driving.
Since then, over 10,000 drink drive attempts have been prevented!
You contact Smart Start Interlocks on:
If you’ve been sentenced to an alcohol interlock, we recommend you call the Smart Start Interlocks team on 0800 002 182. They are experienced at discussing the particulars of your situation, and giving you the information you need to get to the next stage of your sentence.
Voluntary alcohol interlocks are also common. These are useful where you are afraid that you, or someone else, is at risk of driving while under the influence.
Installing an alcohol interlock in your vehicle makes this physically impossible.
It is also a great way to retrain behaviour that has been learnt over many years — changing “have a drink, go for a drive” to “have a drink, try to go for a drive, ask someone else for a ride”.
Alternately, if you’re after an alcohol breathalyser for personal use, we’d recommend the Lifeloc FC10 breathalyser or the DriveSafe exec breathalyser.
All the breathalyser mouthpieces we sell are individually wrapped for your added convenience! These are awesome for testing big groups of people at the same time and if something spills in the bag, the mouthpieces don’t get ruined.
This super convenient feature can go unnoticed, but it makes alcohol testing so much more efficient!
Below is the range of mouthpieces we sell:
Follow this link to view the range of alcohol testing products we have available.
Call us on 0800 700 777 or email support@sobercheck.co.nz if you have any queries, thoughts, or feedback to share!
EKD vs QDA, 2020
Here’s the facts:
Takeaways from this case coming in our next blog post!
This is an extract from our weekly training email series. These cover a range of topics such as industry updates, tips and tricks for drug and alcohol testing, court case reviews and more! To join, follow this link: https://landing.mailerlite.com/webforms/landing/n3w0r9
EKD vs QDA, 2020
We covered the facts in last weeks post.
This week we’ll cover the key takeaways from this case and how they apply to your company!
Having the words if required just made things complicated. If those words weren’t in there, it would have been clear that a post-incident drug test was required, and this would have been more of a justification for dismissal.
This goes back to our advice about making policies specific and focused: be very clear exactly what you want (specific), and only write that in the policy (focused).
In this case, you want a post-incident drug test after every accident. Be focused and write exactly that in your policy!
Don’t hedge – don’t include if requireds or in certain conditions’ or at the company’s discretion or when instructed or in some cases… be 100% clear about what will happen, and state it unambiguously.
Extract from our weekly training email series. These cover a range of topics such as industry updates, tips and tricks for drug and alcohol testing, court case reviews and more! To join, follow this link: https://landing.mailerlite.com/webforms/landing/n3w0r9
