A guide to employee drug testing for small businesses.

Recreational drug abuse among employees can cost businesses a significant amount of money each year through loss time and money through theft, damage, sickness, injury, health and safety breaches and poor performance.
Across the UK it’s becoming increasingly common for companies to demand that their employees consent to random drug testing because this has been found to be a cost-effective method of managing employees and deter the participation of recreational drugs prior, during and post working.

Through hiring a forensic drug testing company to provide an employee drug testing analysis service companies might avoid having to lose several thousands of pounds on lost time, accidents, health care, and compensation.

There are several ways in which an employee drug test can be carried out, these include:

Laboratory Urine Testing

Through taking urine samples certified laboratories can test samples for all forms of recreational drugs. Usually this method of drug testing can report results within 3 working days. If the results of the urine test are positive, the urine is further analysed to find out the particular types of drugs that were used by an employee. It’s not unusual for an employee to suggest a Urine test from an employer if they have been falsely accused of recreational drug use.

In house employee drug testing kits

For in house testing as part of a random drug testing strategy or post incident drug testing, companies often purchase drug testing kits. Through our experience these can be inaccurate and do not always deliver on what type of drugs are present within an employee system. Instant drug test kits are inexpensive and if an employee test turns out to be positive, the employees should be asked to go to the laboratory to get a detailed analysis of their urine.

Types of Drugs Tested and Drug Retention

There are a wide spectrum of drugs available on the black market. Usually, employers test their employees for usage of five commonly available drugs such as amphetamines and methamphetamine, PCP, marijuana or THC, opiates such as codeine and morphine, and cocaine. A urine analysis or blood analysis can determine which drug is available within an employee’s system.

The drug retention or the time taken for a particular drug to leave a person’s system varies between individuals. Generally, drugs stay in a person's system from two to four days although some drugs such as marijuana and PCP can remain in the system for around 14 days. Sedatives such as Valium can remain in the system for about a month.

Through a more detailed drug analysis and investigation such as hair testing, drugs can be identified three months after usage. Some drug analysis companies also perform ten-panel drug testing, which could include testing for legal prescription drugs such a valium and many forensic analysis companies now analyse employees for alcohol abuse.

Employee Methods to Escape Drug Testing

Employees who participate in the use of illegal drugs have a habit of trying to avoid drug testing or manipulating urine samples to forge negative results for drug use.

A solution for this is for companies to enforce urine sampling within a certain time period. This method of random drug testing will deter employees who are attempting to wait out on drugs leaving their systems. Other methods of employee drug testing would be to contract a specialist employee drug testing company to ensure urine samples are genuine and not switched on day of testing.

Drug abuse among employees can also lead to a decrease in productivity and an increase in violence. Conducting drug tests of employees every now and then is the only, and the best way, to avoid such problems at the workplace.

If you require further information on employee drug testing, drug analysis services, employee alcohol testing or employee drug screening services please contact Forensic Resources ltd.