Medicinal cannabis at work: balancing safety, fairness and uncertainty for OH providers

FREE for SOM Members (please log in on the SOM website first). 

Draft session outline
Why this is difficult in real workplaces
•    What has changed in the last few years
•    The types of questions employers, unions and workers are asking
•    Why we still do not have simple “yes / no” answers on safety or fitness for work
What we actually know about medicinal cannabis and impairment
•    Brief overview of CBD, THC and common prescribed products
•    How cannabis can affect cognition, reaction time, mood and decision making in safety critical work
•    What the evidence says about impairment, and where it is weak or conflicting
What we do not know and why that matters
•    No agreed “safe level” of THC for work
•    No validated, practical impairment tests for safety critical roles
•    Why a positive THC test does not tell you whether someone is actually unsafe at work
Legal and ethical framework for OH providers
•    Legal duties for employers and workers in this context
•    Tension with the Bill of Rights, employment Relations and privacy legislation
•    Being fair to the worker while being honest about uncertainty and risk
•    Equity issues
A structured approach when a worker is prescribed medicinal cannabis
•    Clarifying the role: safety critical, driving, lone work, high hazard environments
•    Clarifying the prescription: indication, product, dose, timing, other medications
•    Talking with the worker and, where appropriate, the prescriber
•    Formulating and documenting a defensible fitness for work opinion
•    When to say, “not safe enough”, when to restrict, and when to trial work with controls
Drug testing, policies and “zero tolerance” in practice
•    What urine and oral tests really measure and their limitations
•    Integrating medicinal cannabis into existing alcohol and drug policies without creating injustice
•    How to avoid pushing problems underground or punishing legitimate treatment
Case based discussion: grey zones rather than black and white
•    A small number of de identified cases that show common dilemmas
•    How different OH providers might reasonably reach slightly different answers
•    Drawing out practical principles participants can take back to their own services
Open Q&A and shared problem solving
•    Pre submitted questions from OH nurses, physicians and advisers
•    Live discussion on “stuck” cases and organisational challenges
•    Identifying gaps where we still need national guidance and collaboration
 
Chair: Dr Oli Chapman
 
Speaker:

Dr Mary Obele 
As a Specialist Occupational and Environmental Physician, Dr Mary Obele has been a doctor for over twenty years, specialising in health and work.  She does medical assessments for various industries, advises on hazards and risks, consults for organisations, lectures at universities and mentors’ new doctors.  She is a member of various health committees and panels.  At home, her family often has bits of engines in the lounge.
 

FREE for SOM Members (please log in on the SOM website). You will then be sent the join link.