In my business, one little mistake costs us big money," says Dan Zoller, President of Zoller, Najjar & Shroyer, Inc., an engineering, survey, planning, and landscape architecture firm in Bradenton, Florida. Naturally, we need the sharpest people we can get."

These concerns, along with the encouragement of the Manatee Chamber of Commerce, prompted the company's officials to write a substance abuse policy custom-made for its business. According to Zoller, his company designed the policy based on one used by Florida's industry giant, Tropicana, and on suggestions from the Manatee Chamber. The Manatee Chamber's drug-free workplace program, Business Against Narcotics and Drugs (BAND), became the model for the Florida Chamber of Commerce and was disseminated to chambers across the state.

"We looked at what Tropicana was doing and then tailored their policy to fit our needs as a small business operation of 70 employees," Zoller explains. The chamber's influence has now come full circle: because Zoller's policy addresses the substance abuse issue so clearly, the chamber used it for other businesses in the same field.

The company's policy requires it to pre-screen new employees and test existing employees under certain conditions, such as after a work-related accident, before a job promotion, or if signs of substance abuse are present in attitude, behavior, or poor job performance. The company's vehicle drivers are subject to more stringent testing.

When an employee tests positive, he or she is suspended for 30 days and is then given another chance. After a second positive result, the employee is terminated. Zoller's company has never had to take that step.

"We claim our drug-free policy in newspaper ads when we are advertising for new employees," Zoller says. "A lot of the people we reject or who reject our policy are going to my competitors. I don't feel good about that, but I feel I must do what is best for my company."

Zoller believes that having a substance abuse policy helps the company to get and keep business. "We do a lot of business with local county and state agencies who require contractors to include in work proposals that they have a substance abuse policy in place," Zoller explains. "It helps us get business I wish everyone could say it, including the subs. Actually, I'm challenging other engineering firms to join me in cleaning up our industry," he adds.

Having a substance abuse policy is more than a good marketing tool. It is also a necessary performance tool. If we make one error, say we pull a distance wrong, then we have a lot of liability," Zoller observes. "My employees are working with very sophisticated computer instrumentation and state-of-the-art technology. We can't be 80 percent accurate. We need to be 100 percent accurate in this line of work."

Zoller, Najjar & Shroyer's motto is "To be the best we can be," and, says Zoller, "We can't be the best unless we're drug-free."

Do employees share this philosophy? Zoller believes that they do. "Our employees understand that we are a drug-free company and recognize that these tests are one way of keeping us a drug-free company," says Zoller. "It generally creates a better work environment, a better working atmosphere, and undoubtedly a better work force."