Magi-Build managing director Paul Maginnity said he “couldn’t do anything but support” the proposal.

The idea for blanket testing was floated this week by the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union.

Its delegates will now lobby employers to fund it during the next enterprise bargaining period.

Mr Maginnity, who is also state president of the NSW Master Builders Association, said testing was definitely the way to go, provided it was enshrined in a legal framework.

“It’s a big issue for every employer concerned about their workers, from every perspective,” he said.

“The fact is that they could be on a site exposing themselves and other workers to high risk through the use of drugs.”

Mr Maginnity said employers simply weren’t in the position that they could deal with the issue.

“This is the first step I guess in making workers accountable,” he said.

Mr Maginnity said the matter was especially pertinent in an area such as Albury-Wodonga.

“It’s a big issue for us regionally because we don’t have the labour base across our area like you do in metropolitan areas,” he said.

Mr Maginnity said an employer on the Border couldn’t just simply replace one worker with another straight away to keep a job moving along.

“Regionally with a smaller pool of workers to deal with — and with (methamphetamine use) being more predominant in the country — it makes this an even tougher issue,” he said.

“But hopefully this will bring workers to realise the complexity of the issues, that they need to steer clear of this ice epidemic.

“They can then do their best to manage it.”

It is understood that incidents have occurred in the industry on the Border, involving both alcohol and drugs.

But without the type of legal protection as proposed by the CFMEU, employers have largely been powerless to act.

That is especially with the ramifications of employers impinging on workers’ privacy.

The union’s policy has already won the backing of Master Builders’ Victorian division.

President Radley de Silva said testing was “vitally important” on worksites where people under the influence could still operate machinery.

Mr Maginnity said the other Master Builders groups would now watch developments closely.