Drug Testing - The Definitive Guide

WHERE DO I GO?

Locations

There are many places where you can be tested. Employers use collection facilities, or test on site using a service company or another employee trained in drug testing. You may be asked to travel to a collection facility by yourself or the employer may escort you to a facility, it all depends on the reason for the test. Probation or parole officers usually conduct the testing themselves at their office or where ever your regularly scheduled meeting takes place.

Employment – off site

For pre-employment, random, return-to-duty or follow-up testing, you could be tested either at the employers facility or sent to a hospital, medical clinic or collection facility. If you are sent to a collection facility for pre-employment, you probably will not be accompanied by an employer representative. You will be given a company Custody and Control Form (CCF), told where and when to show up. Some employers even allow you to contact the collection facility to make an appointment at your convenience, but most will make the appointment for you. Don’t be late or miss an appointment. Collection facilities usually wait 15 – 20 minutes, then call the employer and report you as a “no-show”. If you are reported to the employer as a no-show, you will need to make arrangements through the employer to reschedule the test. This does not make you look good to your prospective employer. If you cannot even get to a drug test appointment on time, how are you going to report for work on time day after day?

For random, reasonable suspicion return-to-duty or follow-up testing, you will probably be accompanied by a Designated Employer Representative (DER). This person is with you to make sure you do not pick up a substitution or adulteration material along the way to the collection facility.

For post-accident or near miss testing, the likelihood of being accompanied to the testing facility is much higher. For one thing, if you are hurt and need medical attention, your supervisor or company DER probably drove you to the hospital or acute care clinic. While there, they may instruct the medical personnel to get a specimen for a drug test. The supervisor or company DER will probably have a CCF in their possession before you leave for the medical facility. It is almost impossible to alter the outcome of this test. There is no opportunity to purchase or pick up a substitution or drink extra fluids enroute to the medical facility. This is one instance where you would actually want to remain unconscious for up to 30 days. That way, they could not take a specimen until you are cognitive and aware of what you are doing. It is against regulations to take a specimen for drug testing from an unconscious person, even from a catheter. You must be given the opportunity to give consent or refuse. (Refusing to submit to a drug test will result in a positive drug test result). You also must be able to sign the CCF, whether you consent or refuse, you still need to be able to sign.

Employment – on site

Your company may have someone on staff who conducts drug testing right there at your employer’s facility. Or, they use a company who sends a collector to your employer’s facility for the purpose of collecting drug test specimens.

For pre-employment, the employer may decide during the interview that you would be the one that is perfect to fill his open position. He/she then calls the person who handles the drug testing for the company to come and give you a drug test right then. Or has made arrangements to have a service agent on site at a certain time to test the winning candidate.

You may have been given a “conditional offer of employment”. This means, that if you pass your drug test and/or background verifications, the job will be yours and you should start on a specific date. In a case such as this, usually you have a date for orientation already established. Your test could be done on that day, at the beginning of your orientation. Someone will come and take you aside form the orientation and give you a drug test. Usually, testing in this instance is done using an instant type of test. That way, they company will know right away if they want to waste time on completing the orientation and training. Most of the time, the employer will forward a non-negative screening result from an instant test to a laboratory for confirmation. This confirmation will establish if any substances causing the non-negative result on the instant test is from a legal drug such as a prescription or over-the-counter or if the non-negative result is from an illegally taken substance.

If you have been hired, have worked for up to 2-3 weeks and have not yet been tested, then the odds that your company does not conduct pre-employment drug tests are very good. A good rule of thumb to go by is: Wait until you receive your first paycheck before using illegal substances. You could still be given a pre-employment test after you receive your first paycheck, but it is unlikely that a company will wait that long to test. After that time, they have invested too much time and money in your training to dismiss you for a failed pre-employment test.

Some random tests are done right at the jobsite. If you work on an oil rig, construction site, manufacturing facility, assembly plant, bank, etc, a service agent might just come and pull you right off your job for a random test. Also, if your supervisor suspects you of being under the influence of alcohol or banned substances while on the job, they may conduct a reasonable suspicion test. In the event of a reasonable suspicion test, you would be pulled off your job or task immediately and asked to sit in a room with a supervisor watching you at all times. A service provider would be called in to do either an alcohol test, a drug test or both. You would have virtually no opportunity to substitute, adulterate or dilute a drug test because you would not be left alone until after the collection or test is complete.

FYI: If you are told you have been suspected of using on the job and are subject to a reasonable suspicion drug or alcohol test, you can ask for documentation of your observed behavior. The employer must give you a copy of the documented behavior, maybe not right then, depending on your level of intoxication, but if you request it, they should be able to provide the documentation showing exactly what behavior, smell, activity, etc. was observed to lead them to believe you are under the influence of a banned substance.

Parole or probation

This drug test is usually conducted using a cheap instant test at the PO’s office or the donor’s home; wherever the regular appointment is conducted. These tests are usually monitored, but not observed. That means the PO is in the room, but usually does not do a true “observation” where he/she watches the urine flow from the body into the collection cup. They are just in the room or outside an open door.