Management Information

By Serhat Pala

Drug abuse in the workplace is a serious problem that affects the status and output of American businesses. $100 billion a year is lost in revenues and production or spent on insurance claims, paid sick leave, theft and accidents due to drug use. However, drug testing in the workplace can dramatically lower this number, by preventing the hire of drug abusers, eliminating employees who choose to indulge in the use of illicit drugs and rehabilitating those employees with an addiction. Drug testing in the workplace not only helps businesses thrive, but it also helps individuals find the help they need before causing injury to themselves or fellow employees.

Opting Not to Enforce Workplace Drug Testing

Ruling out drug testing is not necessarily a great idea. Drug users are three times more likely to call in sick from their jobs, causing a decrease in production. What is truly alarming, however, is that drug using employees are involved in nearly four times as many accidents on the jobsite than non-drug abusers. This clearly shows the direct link between using drugs and one’s job performance as well as the costs such behavior will incur on the employer or business owner. The importance of drug prevention in the workplace is immense, and can be best achieved through the use of drug testing.

How to Perform Drug Testing in the Workplace

In order to create a drug free workplace, many employers hire contracted laboratories to conduct drug testing on their employees. However, many business owners are now opting to create corporate accounts with drug test retailers. These companies provide easy-to-use drug test kits, that can be administered by just about anyone and make results available within a few minutes’ time.

Drug screening in the workplace requires a well-written policy that informs employees as well as managerial workers of how drug testing will take place and what is expected of them.

There are several different ways to conduct workplace drug testing. These methods include random drug testing, reasonable suspicion drug testing, annual drug testing and after treatment for a previous bout with drug use. Each of these methods of detecting drug abuse in the workplace provide employers with the peace of mind they need to conduct business as usual, without having to worry about potential drug abuse and its costs and effects to the company’s success and reputation.

What Kinds of Drug Tests Are Available

There are many different types of drug testing kits available for use in the work place. Most commonly used are urine drug tests, saliva drug tests and hair drug tests. Each of these have their own pros and cons for drug testing in the workplace, but can all successfully identify drug abusers in a relatively short period of time. While hair drug testing need to be sent to the lab for results, they often provide the most accurate of results as compared to other methods of drug testing. However, urine testing is considered the staple in work place drug testing because it is easy to administer and the results can be read and photocopied in a matter of minutes.

A longer version of this article can be found at Drug Testing in the Workplace . The article is prepared by Serhat Pala who runs the website TestCountry.com

Some of the information used in this article is taken from: Creating a Drug Testing Policy