Drug and Alcohol Testing at the Workplace

Drug and alcohol testing in the workplace traditionally has mainly been implemented by industries where drug-affected employees pose a serious safety risk to themselves and others, such as transport, mining or construction.

With reports showing that two in three users use some form of drugs at work, including illicit ones, the need for drug screening is fast becoming universal.

What are the drug and alcohol testing methods in the workplace?

mobile unit for drug testing at the workplace — Our mobile testing units can reach most workplaces across Australia

Our mobile clinics are capable of carrying out urine and saliva testing.

The screening is quick, reliable, and ensures that your workday’s productivity is as unaffected as possible.

Any positive results are forwarded to our partner laboratories for further verification. This is essential, as we must make sure there are no false positives. For example, an employee’s pre-existing medical condition and impairment, or prescribed medications may trigger a false positive.

What kind of drug testing should you use?

We believe employee drug testing is a business critical service.

When assessing what is appropriate for your organisation, you have to carefully think about your company’s circumstances and your main reason for testing. Are you testing for the integrity of your workforce? Are you aiming to improve safety and productivity? Or are you weeding out high risk individuals from your pool of candidates?

Following are the different kinds of testing you can apply and their main objectives:

Random drug screening

A number of employees will be selected randomly to undergo testing within an identified period of time.

This is the type of testing most companies use. However, contrary to popular belief, random testing does not aim to catch offenders. Instead, it is a means of preventing drug abuse by deterring employees from using illegal substances.

Random selection is effective in curbing drug use since employees will not know beforehand if they will be tested.

Blanket screening

As the name implies, blanket screening involves testing an entire workforce for drugs. This is best practice at the commencement of a Drug-Safe programme. It establishes a “base-line” of alcohol and drug risk within your organisation.

Blanket drug testing allows you to develop a true picture of risk within an organisation. From there we are able to focus drug and alcohol in those areas that indicate substance abuse clusters. Therefore a blanket screen at commencement of any form of drug testing is highly cost effective.

Targeted drug screening

Targeted screening tests for specific drugs or substances.

As mentioned above, it is a good idea to perform a blanket test prior to any specific drug screening.

For screenings like pre-employment drug tests, the main tests are for cannabis or methamphetamines as these are the two most commonly used substances.