Best Practices for On-Site Occupational Drug Testing

More employers are requiring drug and alcohol screening at the workplace to ensure productivity and safety throughout the company. People working under the influence of drugs and alcohol will be less productive at work and more likely to affect the safety of themselves or others. Safety negligence can cost the company plenty in workers’ compensation and lawsuits. If you want to protect your employees and company as a whole, it is important to have mandatory on-site occupational drug testing and alcohol testing. To ensure company safety there are several great practices to incorporate when performing drug and alcohol testing.

Background checks are often done for a wide variety of jobs, but a clean background does not mean that your employee is free from abusing drugs and alcohol, and as discussed previously, a person under the influence of alcohol or drugs possesses a potential safety risk. To protect employee safety, company dignity, and maintain productivity in the workplace, it is important to perform drug and alcohol testing on all employees. Make comprehensive drug and alcohol testing a part of your overall screening program for all employees. Employers that require this testing for all employees will decrease the risk of employees abusing alcohol and drugs on the job.

If you are incorporating on-site occupational drug testing at your company, implement random testing as part of the policy. Ongoing drug and alcohol testing is essential to reduce safety risks. Employees who pass the initial drug screening for employment will not be able to resume drug use once they are employed knowing the potential of getting screened again.

It is a good idea to tailor testing to your company’s specific needs. Implement testing policies and methods that will give you the most accurate findings. If you have a policy drafted that urine testing must be completed within 48 hours of notification and you are running into workers not meeting the deadline, then a hair-strand test can be performed instead. Hair strand tests can detect substances for up to 90 days and can catch anyone who is purposely waiting out the 48-hour testing window urine analysis allows. There are also options for blood, saliva, or breath alcohol tests.

If you would like to implement on-site occupational drug testing and alcohol testing, it’s important to get a trusted screening provider for the best results. Occwell provides on-site drug and alcohol testing services in Cincinatti, Ohio directly to your site. Visit Occwell.com today to inquire about our drug and alcohol testing as well as other occupational health and wellness services.