Drug education programs and parental advice often aren’t as strong as peer pressure.
Studies show in the last year more than one in three high school seniors used illicit drugs.
Scott County Superintendent, Dr. Dallas Blankenship -
“We think that if we have a drug testing program it will help students to explain to their peers that they are not going to do drugs.”Somerset High School began randomly drug testing students involved in “privileged activities”, like sports and cheerleading last fall. Their principal, Jeff Perkins, calls it “one of the best things I think we’ve done.”
The Program
Both students and parents are required to sign drug testing consent forms in order to participate in privileged activities. Curricular or academic based activities like band, debate and choir are not currently tested, even though they too are competitive extracurricular activities.Students be tested are randomly selected and the process takes about five minutes per student. The test looks for the presence of drugs like marijuana, meth and ecstasy as well as prescription drugs such as oxycodone and hydrocodone. If a test is non-negative, a second test is sent to a laboratory for additional testing. If the confirmatory test is positive, the student receives counseling and may have to perform certain tasks such as writing a paper and performing community service. The student is also suspended from participating in the privileged activity for a short period of time.
The Intent
Overall the random drug testing program is designed to be preventative and not punitive. It’s also designed to give kids who do test positive a second chance.“We’re getting on the other side of this now, some education and getting these kids in some type of rehabilitation program. And hopefully we can salvage that versus the other way which was throwing them away.”“The safety of students and to have a drug free environment are extremely important, so our board’s already made a commitment.”
Original Source: Chris Dietz, ABC News
Showing posts with label random testing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label random testing. Show all posts
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Monday, October 1, 2007
Schools Infested with Drugs
New Study: Schools Infested with Drugs - August 17, 2007
A New Study from the National Center on Addiction & Substance Abuse (CASA) suggests that US Schools are infested with drugs. The survey revealed that at least once a week on their school grounds, 31 percent of high school students (more than four million) and nine percent of middle school students (more than one million) see illegal drugs used, sold, students high and/or drunk. At least weekly, 17 percent of all high and middle school students (4.4 million) personally see classmates high on drugs at school.
A New Study from the National Center on Addiction & Substance Abuse (CASA) suggests that US Schools are infested with drugs. The survey revealed that at least once a week on their school grounds, 31 percent of high school students (more than four million) and nine percent of middle school students (more than one million) see illegal drugs used, sold, students high and/or drunk. At least weekly, 17 percent of all high and middle school students (4.4 million) personally see classmates high on drugs at school.
Monday, September 24, 2007
Return on Investment - Drug Testing
Employee Theft and Fraud
- Average cost Per employee involved: $650
- U.S. Chamber of Commerce estimates 30% of all business failures are due to employee theft and fraud.
- 70% of these crimes are committed by repeat offenders.
- Up to 70% of employee theft is drug related
Cost of Negligent Hiring
- Average cost per incident: $150,000
- Courts are holding companies liable in negligent hiring cases not only for what they knew about a new employee, but also what they should have known.
Employee Turnover]
- Average cost per incident: $32,000
- Turnover costs average 1.5 times a person’s yearly salary
Workplace Violence Estimated
- Average cost per incident: $1,000,000
- Violence at work is a serious problem, with homicide now the #2 cause of death in the workplace.
- Up to 70% of criminal arrests are drug related
Accidents / Worker's Comp.
- Average cost $10,000 + per incident
- 50%+ related to substance abuse
- Average cost Per employee involved: $650
- U.S. Chamber of Commerce estimates 30% of all business failures are due to employee theft and fraud.
- 70% of these crimes are committed by repeat offenders.
- Up to 70% of employee theft is drug related
Cost of Negligent Hiring
- Average cost per incident: $150,000
- Courts are holding companies liable in negligent hiring cases not only for what they knew about a new employee, but also what they should have known.
Employee Turnover]
- Average cost per incident: $32,000
- Turnover costs average 1.5 times a person’s yearly salary
Workplace Violence Estimated
- Average cost per incident: $1,000,000
- Violence at work is a serious problem, with homicide now the #2 cause of death in the workplace.
- Up to 70% of criminal arrests are drug related
Accidents / Worker's Comp.
- Average cost $10,000 + per incident
- 50%+ related to substance abuse
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
Significant Changes to Employee Drug Testing Laws
Significant Changes to Substance Abuse Testing Laws
Recently the States of Hawaii and Georgia passed legislation in support of workplace drug testing, specifically relative to oral fluid-based/saliva drug on-site screening, and workers compensation premium credits. These actions highlight the need for effective drug-free workplace programs as well convenient drug screening technologies that can be applied consistently, across all modes of testing, especially, however, for random, post-incident, and reasonable suspicion.
It is critical that drug-free workplace safety initiatives are enhanced for the betterment of the American workplace as a whole: employers, employees and families, insurors, etc.
Drug abuse is as bad as it has ever been in our places of employment as well as school systems, and hopefully, these new statutes are a sign of a commitment to change.
Our society cannot continue to sweep America's drug abuse problem under the rug. Abuse of prescription drugs, especially pain-relievers, has superseded marijuana and is is a dangerous trend world-wide.
Arguably, “recreational” marijuana use outside of the workplace may have little, if any, impact to employers or employees, excluding the obvious legal issues. The non-medical use of prescription pain relievers, however, in addition to being potentially lethal, commonly leads to addiction and even escalates to heroin use. The safety and wellness aspect of prescription drug abuse is a very serious issue that must be addressed.
Hawaii
A law that became effective on July 1, 2007, now allows employers to perform on-the-job drug testing using instant, on-site oral fluid/saliva drug screening devices. Oral fluid tests are cheaper, faster and easier to use than urinalysis, hopefully leading to more widespread and consistent drug testing programs.
While it may surprise many, the construction industry and locals unions in particular strongly advocate the new legislation as a means to replace the typical, more expensive laboratory-based urine drug testing. With oral fluid, initial results are available in minutes, and observing the sample collection mitigates the prevalent practice of drug abusers “beating the test” via sample adulteration or substitution. Urine laboratory testing typically required the expensive practice of sending employees off-site to a clinic or laboratory, a process that takes at least 3-4 hours with results available for 24-48 hours. As noted by Lt. Governor Aiona of Hawaii, "Drug and alcohol abuse remain a problem in Hawaii's workforce. The law will go a long way towards helping to promote a drug-free workplace. This measure provides a cost effective on-the-job alternative to laboratory tests that can be costly and difficult to schedule."According to the U.S. Department of Labor, drug or alcohol abuse is involved in the majority of fatal accidents in the workplace. These laws represent an effort by the State Government to make the workplace safer for everyone.Although the new law permitting oral drug testing was effective on July 1, 2007, in many cases collective bargaining agreements will have to be updated before companies can start using the non-FDA approved tests. This procedure isn't expected to take long, however, since the unions - as well as management and the State Government - are in favor of the new law. According to union sources, they welcome the improved safety and working conditions that the tests will introduce.
One representative of the Pacific Resource Partnership, an alliance between contractors and the Carpenters Union Local 745, said construction workers and the industry pushed for the new tests as a way to decrease costs and save time while keeping job sites safe."This is something that I think is going to be a great asset for employers, especially in the construction industry where public safety is a huge factor," said Lt. Governor Aiona.
Georgia
In a similar bill, Governor Perdue of Georgia recently signed Senate Bill 96 into law which provides the option for companies throughout Georgia to drug test employees using an on-site rapid result oral fluid/saliva devices.
As in Hawaii, initial qualitative results are available in minutes, and if “negative” an employee goes back to work. Any “non-negative” (preliminary positive) results are sent to a lab for a GC/MS or LC/MS/MS quantitative analytical testing prior to substantive employers’ actions such as mandatory enrollment in employee assistance programs/counseling, removal from safety-sensitive duties, and/or suspension.
Per Governor Perdue, the bill which overwhelmingly passed the State Senate and House of Representatives, "had the strong support of the Georgia Chamber of Commerce and many other advocates of safe and drug-free workplaces that protect not only business owners, but employees and consumers as well.Companies using on-site oral fluid/saliva screens will now receive a 7.5 percent reduction in their worker's compensation insurance premiums. Summary
Drug testing in the workplace is not only legal, it may very well be part of an employer’s responsibility to provide a safe workplace for employees. The United Supreme Court has ruled that drug testing, including random drug testing, is legal. Furthermore, per the Department of Labor, OSHA, it is an employer’s responsibility to provide a safe workplace for all employees.
Assuming a comprehensive safety program is in place, a safe workplace is simply not possible without also maintaining a comprehensive drug-free workplace program inclusive of employee education, drug testing, and employee assistance/counseling.
Regardless of the specimen type used such as oral fluid/saliva, urine, or hair, it is critical that specimen collection be directly observed, and that drug testing is done on a regular basis. This includes; random, post-incident, reasonable suspicion, and return-to-duty mode. Pre-employment testing, while currently the most widely practiced of modes, is referred to by many experts as an “intelligence test”, and should not be relied upon exclusively.
When combined with education, and employee assistance programs, comprehensive drug-free workplace programs consistently result in a reduction in reportable site accidents of up to 50% or more, as well as multiple other safety and “bottom-line” benefits.
Recently the States of Hawaii and Georgia passed legislation in support of workplace drug testing, specifically relative to oral fluid-based/saliva drug on-site screening, and workers compensation premium credits. These actions highlight the need for effective drug-free workplace programs as well convenient drug screening technologies that can be applied consistently, across all modes of testing, especially, however, for random, post-incident, and reasonable suspicion.
It is critical that drug-free workplace safety initiatives are enhanced for the betterment of the American workplace as a whole: employers, employees and families, insurors, etc.
Drug abuse is as bad as it has ever been in our places of employment as well as school systems, and hopefully, these new statutes are a sign of a commitment to change.
Our society cannot continue to sweep America's drug abuse problem under the rug. Abuse of prescription drugs, especially pain-relievers, has superseded marijuana and is is a dangerous trend world-wide.
Arguably, “recreational” marijuana use outside of the workplace may have little, if any, impact to employers or employees, excluding the obvious legal issues. The non-medical use of prescription pain relievers, however, in addition to being potentially lethal, commonly leads to addiction and even escalates to heroin use. The safety and wellness aspect of prescription drug abuse is a very serious issue that must be addressed.
Hawaii
A law that became effective on July 1, 2007, now allows employers to perform on-the-job drug testing using instant, on-site oral fluid/saliva drug screening devices. Oral fluid tests are cheaper, faster and easier to use than urinalysis, hopefully leading to more widespread and consistent drug testing programs.
While it may surprise many, the construction industry and locals unions in particular strongly advocate the new legislation as a means to replace the typical, more expensive laboratory-based urine drug testing. With oral fluid, initial results are available in minutes, and observing the sample collection mitigates the prevalent practice of drug abusers “beating the test” via sample adulteration or substitution. Urine laboratory testing typically required the expensive practice of sending employees off-site to a clinic or laboratory, a process that takes at least 3-4 hours with results available for 24-48 hours. As noted by Lt. Governor Aiona of Hawaii, "Drug and alcohol abuse remain a problem in Hawaii's workforce. The law will go a long way towards helping to promote a drug-free workplace. This measure provides a cost effective on-the-job alternative to laboratory tests that can be costly and difficult to schedule."According to the U.S. Department of Labor, drug or alcohol abuse is involved in the majority of fatal accidents in the workplace. These laws represent an effort by the State Government to make the workplace safer for everyone.Although the new law permitting oral drug testing was effective on July 1, 2007, in many cases collective bargaining agreements will have to be updated before companies can start using the non-FDA approved tests. This procedure isn't expected to take long, however, since the unions - as well as management and the State Government - are in favor of the new law. According to union sources, they welcome the improved safety and working conditions that the tests will introduce.
One representative of the Pacific Resource Partnership, an alliance between contractors and the Carpenters Union Local 745, said construction workers and the industry pushed for the new tests as a way to decrease costs and save time while keeping job sites safe."This is something that I think is going to be a great asset for employers, especially in the construction industry where public safety is a huge factor," said Lt. Governor Aiona.
Georgia
In a similar bill, Governor Perdue of Georgia recently signed Senate Bill 96 into law which provides the option for companies throughout Georgia to drug test employees using an on-site rapid result oral fluid/saliva devices.
As in Hawaii, initial qualitative results are available in minutes, and if “negative” an employee goes back to work. Any “non-negative” (preliminary positive) results are sent to a lab for a GC/MS or LC/MS/MS quantitative analytical testing prior to substantive employers’ actions such as mandatory enrollment in employee assistance programs/counseling, removal from safety-sensitive duties, and/or suspension.
Per Governor Perdue, the bill which overwhelmingly passed the State Senate and House of Representatives, "had the strong support of the Georgia Chamber of Commerce and many other advocates of safe and drug-free workplaces that protect not only business owners, but employees and consumers as well.Companies using on-site oral fluid/saliva screens will now receive a 7.5 percent reduction in their worker's compensation insurance premiums. Summary
Drug testing in the workplace is not only legal, it may very well be part of an employer’s responsibility to provide a safe workplace for employees. The United Supreme Court has ruled that drug testing, including random drug testing, is legal. Furthermore, per the Department of Labor, OSHA, it is an employer’s responsibility to provide a safe workplace for all employees.
Assuming a comprehensive safety program is in place, a safe workplace is simply not possible without also maintaining a comprehensive drug-free workplace program inclusive of employee education, drug testing, and employee assistance/counseling.
Regardless of the specimen type used such as oral fluid/saliva, urine, or hair, it is critical that specimen collection be directly observed, and that drug testing is done on a regular basis. This includes; random, post-incident, reasonable suspicion, and return-to-duty mode. Pre-employment testing, while currently the most widely practiced of modes, is referred to by many experts as an “intelligence test”, and should not be relied upon exclusively.
When combined with education, and employee assistance programs, comprehensive drug-free workplace programs consistently result in a reduction in reportable site accidents of up to 50% or more, as well as multiple other safety and “bottom-line” benefits.
Thursday, August 2, 2007
Employee Drug Testing
Why Most Drug Testing Programs DON'T WORK !
Effective Substance Abuse Management or The Importance of Deterrence ....
Pre-employment drug screening, using traditional lab-based urine tests, is the most widespread method of drug testing. Yet, data shows that this mode of testing is not effective at deterring workplace drug abuse. Why ....
Scheduled drug screening allows abusers to either temporarily stop using drugs or take advantage of the abundance of products available on the Internet to adulterate urine-based tests.
RANDOM DRUG TESTING via OBSERVED SPECIMEN COLLECION is Required!
Urine is clearly out of the question in a workplace environment... are YOU going to WATCH SOMEONE PEE INTO A CUP?
Oral fluid-based testing for drugs of abuse, however, enables corporations to perform random drug testing – conveniently, easily, and accurately.
The unpredictability of a random drug test virtually eliminates the possibility of an employee temporarily abstaining from drug use.
With observed collections, oral fluid testing removes any possibility of sample adulteration or substitution.
Oral fluid-based technology is changing the way companies drug test, allowing them to establish more effective drug free workplace programs to benefit employees and employers alike.
STATS support that Urine Drug Testing isn't the Solution
77% percent of drug abusers are employed
Nearly 10% of U.S. workers are abuse drugs
The average annual cost of drug abuse for U.S. businesses averages $10,000 per abuser and well over $140B nationwide.
Employees Reporting Drug Abuse Within Past Year by Industry
vs. 10% Average
Construction MORE
Manufacturing MORE
Hospitality / Lodging MORE
Retail MORE
Finance / Real Estate MORE
Why Drug Test?
The devastating impacts of drug abuse upon corporate safety, productivity, and the financial bottom-line are well documented. Up to 65% of on-the-job construction accidents can be related to substance abuse, while insurers note that drug and alcohol use is linked to 40% of construction fatalities. Drug abuse also negatively impacts employee turnover, absenteeism, workplace violence, inventory shrinkage/employee theft, and medical insurance utilization rates.
How can owners, employees, unions, and insurers, significantly improve job-site safety?
- Deterring and/or detecting on the job substance abuse. It is a first step to ensuring a safer, happier workplace environment, and one that just might just save a drug abuser’s life, or your own.
How should you drug test?
Manycorporations/contractors believe following “DOT Standards” is the most effective way to create a safer, drug free workplace. Unfortunately, this is a false, yet common belief.
DOT and other federally mandated drug testing regulations, are required in certain limited circumstances (truck drivers for specified classes of vehicles, vehicles carrying a certain number of passengers, etc.).
However, this traditional type of drug testing is over 20 years old and doesn’t test for many of today’s newer designer drugs. Furthermore, it is cumbersome to say the least, as it relies exclusively upon laboratory-based urine drug testing “Beating a test” by adding any of the hundreds of products readily available on Internet or substituting one’s specimen with drug-free urineor synthetic urine is commonplace. The practice has become so ineffective that thereare arguably more drug abuser’s “beating urine tests” than there are drug positives from this outdated method.
Drug Free Workplace Policy
A good place to start with any drug-free workplace program is to establish goals and objectives appropriate for your organization. These will help you create a foundation to write your workplace drug policy: a prerequisite to the implementation of any drug testing program.
When it comes to implementing a drug free workplace program, the documentation and impartial application of policy are critical. Not only do ad hoc approaches not work, they can cause serious employee moral and legal issues. Drug testing is a strategic corporate issue affecting everyone in the organization as well as corporate image. Therefore, company-wide involvement and “buy-in” are needed across all levels, including CEOs, CFOs, COOs, HR, Loss Prevention, Risk Management, Occupational Health and Safety, and employees. When implementing any drug testing program, it is recommended that the following areas be considered:·
Legal ramifications, a.k.a. “What rules apply”·
Type of testing: pre-employment, random, post accident, return-to-duty, reasonable suspicion/cause ·
Ease of use/administration of testing methods·
Immediacy of results
The following components are typically included in a comprehensive drug-free workplace program:
A written, signed drug testing policy
Drug tests: on-site as well as laboratory-based, using appropriate specimen types: oral fluid, urine, and hair
GC/LS/MS laboratory confirmatory testing
MRO (medical review officer) services
Employee assistance programs
Ongoing drug education and awareness programs
The problem with Pre-employment Testing ONLY:
While many companies have been practicing pre-employment testing for more than twenty years, it has been only marginally effective at reducing drugs in the workplace for two reasons: 1) Pre-employment testing, by definition, only addresses a small part of the workplace and 2) pre-employment testing ignores the fact that more than 77% of drug abusers are currently in the workforce.
Pre-employment testing can also be easily circumvented by drug abusers. Any type of testing with a previously scheduled date, allows applicants or employees that abuse drugs to employ a wide variety of methods to avoid detection as previously noted.
Random Testing
Random testing of the full workforce, while currently practiced by a small subset of corporate innovators, has proven to be the most effective deterrent to illicit drugs in the workplace.
Post-accident testing
Post-accident testing has become the norm for larger businesses, and most states allow employers to deny workers compensation benefits to employees who test positive for drugs of abuse.
Reasonable cause/suspicion testing
Reasonable cause/suspicion testing is helpful if employees and supervisors are trained to recognize the signs/ symptoms of drug abuse. Return-to-duty testing Return-to-duty testing is a means of enabling employees to come back to work, after testing positive to drugs of abuse. These employees usually complete an employee assistance program and/or similar substance abuse recovery program and undergo random testing.
Newer technologies are also important to consider
– A mini Case Study When one construction firm decided to institute a random drug testing program for all the company’s employees, they began researching drug testing tools. They discovered that many companies relied on lab-based urine testing. But, by nature, urine testing wouldn’t lend itself well to a construction environment. Collecting the sample would be troublesome, as laborers would have to be observed during the entire process to ensure no adulteration would take place. Furthermore, workers would have to leave the job site, possibly for hours at a time, for specimen collection. Plus, each test would cost more than $150-$200 including lost labor. Urine testing was determined to be cost-prohibitive. After further research, they discovered that oral-based drug testing eliminated many of the drawbacks of urine testing and offered more effective results. In fact oral-based testing was the only technology that would allow the company to implement a truly random drug testing program. By collecting just a swab of a person’s saliva oral fluid-based tests can detect drugs almost immediately after ingestion. Urine tests can only detect drugs six to nine hours after a drug has been ingested; enough time for the drug to metabolize show up in urine. Current oral-based testing tools were easy to administer and would allow the Director of Safety to do all the testing himself, with results ready in less than 15 minutes. The impacts on this construction firm were astounding. Its accident rate dropped to near zero, workers compensation premiums dropped 13%, and overall savings were calculated in the millions.
A Workplace Benefit
A carefully designed comprehensive drug-free workplace program is a clear benefit to everyone: employers, employees, unions, insurers, and owners/shareholders.
While zero tolerance relative to substance abuse is critical, however, programs can be non-punitive in nature.
The existence of a random drug testing program acts as a strong deterrent, however there will still be instances where employees are detected abusing drugs. When this occurs, it is recommended that the employee be offered an opportunity to participant in, and successfully complete, an employee assistance program. While not being allowed to work in a position that could negatively affect workplace safety during an interim period is a benefit, “firing” an employee, vs. temporary suspension, might not best serve anyone’s best interests. The company may be losing an otherwise excellent employee based upon the specific circumstances involved. Furthermore, fellow non-abusing employees are more likely to come forward and report incidents of drug abuse, if they know that fellow workers will be provided an opportunity to address the issue vs. being terminated.
Training employees, supervisors, and even families of the signs/symptoms of drug abuse may also be of significant benefit. How effective will an employee be if a family member has reached advanced stages of drug abuse?
The Future
Many, if not most, senior “C-level” professionals aren’t even aware of the significant threats posed by workplace drug abuse.
The following responses are typical to “Why don’t you drug test at XYQ corporation?” and demonstrate a cultural tendency to sweep the problem under the rug, and/or a lack of education/awareness:
“ We don’t have a drug abuse problem at OUR company”
“ Implementing a comprehensive drug-free workplace problem, inclusive of drug testing would be TOO HARD for our corporation.”
Unfortunately a catastrophic event is required to drive some corporation’s to effect change. Yet, more and more companies are beginning to take the advice of their safety and risk management teams, and pro-actively address workplace drug abuse.
Drug free-workplace programs and innovative technologies such as oral fluid-based random testing offer employers and employees a means to protect themselves, from this pervasive problem.
With multiple avenues available to help solve the problem of workplace drug abuse, the final question remains, “Why don’t you test?”
Effective Substance Abuse Management or The Importance of Deterrence ....
Pre-employment drug screening, using traditional lab-based urine tests, is the most widespread method of drug testing. Yet, data shows that this mode of testing is not effective at deterring workplace drug abuse. Why ....
Scheduled drug screening allows abusers to either temporarily stop using drugs or take advantage of the abundance of products available on the Internet to adulterate urine-based tests.
RANDOM DRUG TESTING via OBSERVED SPECIMEN COLLECION is Required!
Urine is clearly out of the question in a workplace environment... are YOU going to WATCH SOMEONE PEE INTO A CUP?
Oral fluid-based testing for drugs of abuse, however, enables corporations to perform random drug testing – conveniently, easily, and accurately.
The unpredictability of a random drug test virtually eliminates the possibility of an employee temporarily abstaining from drug use.
With observed collections, oral fluid testing removes any possibility of sample adulteration or substitution.
Oral fluid-based technology is changing the way companies drug test, allowing them to establish more effective drug free workplace programs to benefit employees and employers alike.
STATS support that Urine Drug Testing isn't the Solution
77% percent of drug abusers are employed
Nearly 10% of U.S. workers are abuse drugs
The average annual cost of drug abuse for U.S. businesses averages $10,000 per abuser and well over $140B nationwide.
Employees Reporting Drug Abuse Within Past Year by Industry
vs. 10% Average
Construction MORE
Manufacturing MORE
Hospitality / Lodging MORE
Retail MORE
Finance / Real Estate MORE
Why Drug Test?
The devastating impacts of drug abuse upon corporate safety, productivity, and the financial bottom-line are well documented. Up to 65% of on-the-job construction accidents can be related to substance abuse, while insurers note that drug and alcohol use is linked to 40% of construction fatalities. Drug abuse also negatively impacts employee turnover, absenteeism, workplace violence, inventory shrinkage/employee theft, and medical insurance utilization rates.
How can owners, employees, unions, and insurers, significantly improve job-site safety?
- Deterring and/or detecting on the job substance abuse. It is a first step to ensuring a safer, happier workplace environment, and one that just might just save a drug abuser’s life, or your own.
How should you drug test?
Manycorporations/contractors believe following “DOT Standards” is the most effective way to create a safer, drug free workplace. Unfortunately, this is a false, yet common belief.
DOT and other federally mandated drug testing regulations, are required in certain limited circumstances (truck drivers for specified classes of vehicles, vehicles carrying a certain number of passengers, etc.).
However, this traditional type of drug testing is over 20 years old and doesn’t test for many of today’s newer designer drugs. Furthermore, it is cumbersome to say the least, as it relies exclusively upon laboratory-based urine drug testing “Beating a test” by adding any of the hundreds of products readily available on Internet or substituting one’s specimen with drug-free urineor synthetic urine is commonplace. The practice has become so ineffective that thereare arguably more drug abuser’s “beating urine tests” than there are drug positives from this outdated method.
Drug Free Workplace Policy
A good place to start with any drug-free workplace program is to establish goals and objectives appropriate for your organization. These will help you create a foundation to write your workplace drug policy: a prerequisite to the implementation of any drug testing program.
When it comes to implementing a drug free workplace program, the documentation and impartial application of policy are critical. Not only do ad hoc approaches not work, they can cause serious employee moral and legal issues. Drug testing is a strategic corporate issue affecting everyone in the organization as well as corporate image. Therefore, company-wide involvement and “buy-in” are needed across all levels, including CEOs, CFOs, COOs, HR, Loss Prevention, Risk Management, Occupational Health and Safety, and employees. When implementing any drug testing program, it is recommended that the following areas be considered:·
Legal ramifications, a.k.a. “What rules apply”·
Type of testing: pre-employment, random, post accident, return-to-duty, reasonable suspicion/cause ·
Ease of use/administration of testing methods·
Immediacy of results
The following components are typically included in a comprehensive drug-free workplace program:
A written, signed drug testing policy
Drug tests: on-site as well as laboratory-based, using appropriate specimen types: oral fluid, urine, and hair
GC/LS/MS laboratory confirmatory testing
MRO (medical review officer) services
Employee assistance programs
Ongoing drug education and awareness programs
The problem with Pre-employment Testing ONLY:
While many companies have been practicing pre-employment testing for more than twenty years, it has been only marginally effective at reducing drugs in the workplace for two reasons: 1) Pre-employment testing, by definition, only addresses a small part of the workplace and 2) pre-employment testing ignores the fact that more than 77% of drug abusers are currently in the workforce.
Pre-employment testing can also be easily circumvented by drug abusers. Any type of testing with a previously scheduled date, allows applicants or employees that abuse drugs to employ a wide variety of methods to avoid detection as previously noted.
Random Testing
Random testing of the full workforce, while currently practiced by a small subset of corporate innovators, has proven to be the most effective deterrent to illicit drugs in the workplace.
Post-accident testing
Post-accident testing has become the norm for larger businesses, and most states allow employers to deny workers compensation benefits to employees who test positive for drugs of abuse.
Reasonable cause/suspicion testing
Reasonable cause/suspicion testing is helpful if employees and supervisors are trained to recognize the signs/ symptoms of drug abuse. Return-to-duty testing Return-to-duty testing is a means of enabling employees to come back to work, after testing positive to drugs of abuse. These employees usually complete an employee assistance program and/or similar substance abuse recovery program and undergo random testing.
Newer technologies are also important to consider
– A mini Case Study When one construction firm decided to institute a random drug testing program for all the company’s employees, they began researching drug testing tools. They discovered that many companies relied on lab-based urine testing. But, by nature, urine testing wouldn’t lend itself well to a construction environment. Collecting the sample would be troublesome, as laborers would have to be observed during the entire process to ensure no adulteration would take place. Furthermore, workers would have to leave the job site, possibly for hours at a time, for specimen collection. Plus, each test would cost more than $150-$200 including lost labor. Urine testing was determined to be cost-prohibitive. After further research, they discovered that oral-based drug testing eliminated many of the drawbacks of urine testing and offered more effective results. In fact oral-based testing was the only technology that would allow the company to implement a truly random drug testing program. By collecting just a swab of a person’s saliva oral fluid-based tests can detect drugs almost immediately after ingestion. Urine tests can only detect drugs six to nine hours after a drug has been ingested; enough time for the drug to metabolize show up in urine. Current oral-based testing tools were easy to administer and would allow the Director of Safety to do all the testing himself, with results ready in less than 15 minutes. The impacts on this construction firm were astounding. Its accident rate dropped to near zero, workers compensation premiums dropped 13%, and overall savings were calculated in the millions.
A Workplace Benefit
A carefully designed comprehensive drug-free workplace program is a clear benefit to everyone: employers, employees, unions, insurers, and owners/shareholders.
While zero tolerance relative to substance abuse is critical, however, programs can be non-punitive in nature.
The existence of a random drug testing program acts as a strong deterrent, however there will still be instances where employees are detected abusing drugs. When this occurs, it is recommended that the employee be offered an opportunity to participant in, and successfully complete, an employee assistance program. While not being allowed to work in a position that could negatively affect workplace safety during an interim period is a benefit, “firing” an employee, vs. temporary suspension, might not best serve anyone’s best interests. The company may be losing an otherwise excellent employee based upon the specific circumstances involved. Furthermore, fellow non-abusing employees are more likely to come forward and report incidents of drug abuse, if they know that fellow workers will be provided an opportunity to address the issue vs. being terminated.
Training employees, supervisors, and even families of the signs/symptoms of drug abuse may also be of significant benefit. How effective will an employee be if a family member has reached advanced stages of drug abuse?
The Future
Many, if not most, senior “C-level” professionals aren’t even aware of the significant threats posed by workplace drug abuse.
The following responses are typical to “Why don’t you drug test at XYQ corporation?” and demonstrate a cultural tendency to sweep the problem under the rug, and/or a lack of education/awareness:
“ We don’t have a drug abuse problem at OUR company”
“ Implementing a comprehensive drug-free workplace problem, inclusive of drug testing would be TOO HARD for our corporation.”
Unfortunately a catastrophic event is required to drive some corporation’s to effect change. Yet, more and more companies are beginning to take the advice of their safety and risk management teams, and pro-actively address workplace drug abuse.
Drug free-workplace programs and innovative technologies such as oral fluid-based random testing offer employers and employees a means to protect themselves, from this pervasive problem.
With multiple avenues available to help solve the problem of workplace drug abuse, the final question remains, “Why don’t you test?”
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