December 8, 2020 How To Conduct Saliva Drug Testing For Workplace Safety

Workplaces need to conduct drug tests to help eradicate workplace hazards and ensure employee safety.

The workplace, regardless of industry and niche, is a professional setting. People accomplish real and serious work in the workplace, and every employee should possess professionalism and work ethics. In spite of the distinct line between personal life and work, this survey illustrated that 7 out of 10 Americans have used drugs while in the workplace. Drug and alcohol abuse in the workplace isn’t just the user’s problem as it can take a huge toll on the team or company, affecting productivity, safety, peace, and health as well.

Also, the diversity of workplace fields makes it more frightening as some jobs have increased risks if its employees are under drug and alcohol influence. For instance, construction workers under the influence are putting their lives at risk while working, and even other people’s. Therefore, it’s necessary for workplaces to conduct drug tests, not only during job application, to help eradicate this workplace hazard.

One efficient drug testing method that suits the workplace setting best is a saliva drug test, which appears more reliable than the usual urine drug testing because of its ability to detect a more recent consumption of drugs or alcohol.

What Is Saliva Drug Testing?

Saliva drug testing is an oral screening method that collects a sample of a person’s saliva to identify recent drug or alcohol abuse. It can detect the presence of up to 19 drugs, including the more common types like alcohol, marijuana, cocaine, meth, heroin, and even the lesser-known fentanyl, opiates, and barbiturates.

When conducting a drug test on a workplace, it would be best to seek professional medical help from companies that specifically do drug tests. To ensure the highest level of reliability on results, it’s worth investing in reliable saliva drug test kits from Confirm BioSciences at friendly prices.

Since saliva drug tests come with reliable technology in the form of kits, the test can be conducted without the strict presence of a medical professional. Moreover, these test kits incredibly interpret results in less than 10 minutes, which reduces the likelihood of adulteration.

Saliva Drug Testing: Notices and Consents

The most important things that both workplace owners and workers should be aware of are the laws and guidelines involved in workplace drug testing. First of all, state and city laws may differ greatly, so it’s important for workplace managers to have a good read about their state’s laws on workplace drug testing.

For instance, some states only allow employers to conduct a drug test on a specific employee if they have reasonable suspicions, such as symptoms of drug use, being caught red-handed, and unusual behavior. On the other hand, there are states that require notice prior to the testing.

However, one rule should never be crossed: It’s the employee’s right to receive a written consent, which indicates that a medical professional will conduct the procedure and have the results processed in the lab or have drug test kits used.

When creating the drug testing consent form, it’s paramount for employers to highlight what’s the purpose of the form. A regularly conducted drug test consent form should look different from a one-time drug test consent form as they’re for two different circumstances.

Lastly, employees can openly decline drug testing. However, there are also state laws that allow employers to decline applications and terminate employment due to a drug test refusal. Some former workers won’t even get to receive their unemployment benefits.

The Process Of Saliva Drug Testing

Given that an employee is ready and the test kit is up for use, this is how the process of saliva drug testing works:

• The donor will receive a testing instrument that has a swab part that looks like a lollipop.
• The donor will have to rub the swab in under the tongue and inside the cheeks. Once an acceptable amount of saliva is collected, the donor will have to return the instrument to the collector.
• The collector simply puts the sample into a container with testing panels and waits for it to saturate prior to being analyzed. The testing panels will immediately show the results when it’s done analyzing the sample by showing colored lines.
• A negative saliva drug test result will show two colored lines, while a positive or non-negative saliva drug test result will show only one colored line.

However, take note that some saliva drug test kits may have a different set of instructions, so make sure to follow them appropriately. To be more certain, you can contact the merchant or company of your purchased test kit. Generally, the instructions discussed above are the same on most reliable and branded kits.

Bottom Line

Building a drug-free, safe, and healthy workplace is a major challenge for both employers and employees because the problem of one is a problem of the entire workplace. To guarantee a safe workplace, communication and honesty play pivotal roles without employee favoritism, along with corporate solutions that involve drug testing, employee background screening, and occupational health and wellness.

Alene Rutherford

Alene Rutherford is a full-time blogger who writes about the latest trends in the business sector. Alene’s blog covers different business industries – from construction, engineering to media.

During her leisure, Alene loves to read books at home.

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