Workplace Drug Screening Testing for Drugs Has Essay

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Workplace Drug Screening

Testing for drugs has developed into a significant security concern in places of work for management. The purpose of screening is to diminish the effects that illegal substance abuse has on the places of business, comprising lateness, non-attendance, turnover, mind-set troubles, theft, reduced output, misdeeds and hostility. "The U.S. Department of Labor estimates that drug use in the workplace costs employers $75 to $100 billion dollars annually in lost time, accidents, health care and workers compensation costs. Sixty-five percent of all accidents on the job are related to drug or alcohol, and substance abusers utilize 16 times as many health care benefits and are six times more likely to file workers compensation claims then non-abusers" (Intro to Drug Screening, n.d.).

Employers often implement drug testing programs because of federal rules and they have to or they do it because of business or legal necessities. Testing for drugs can also be done on a voluntary basis by way of a drug free plan put into place in order to decrease incidents of substance abuse among company workers. There are situations in which employers need to carry out drug testing on workers or potential workers in precise kinds of circumstances. Some instances of these screening and the circumstances in which they are utilized include:

Tests that are done prior to employment -- employers carry out screenings on job prospects and make offers of employment based on the results

Tests are done after an accident occurs -- employers screen workers who are involved in accidents that happen on the job in order to see if drug use contributed to what happened

Testing is done on a random basis - employers test workers on a random basis to catch drug usage

Tests are given when there is reasonable suspicion -- employers test workers after seeing examples of behavior that might be the result of drug use, indications of being intoxicated, or following an arrest or conviction for substance abuse

Tests are given following treatment -- workers who have come back to work after taking part in an alcohol or other drug treatment program can either be randomly tested or screened at specific periods in order to make sure they are not using (Drug Testing for the Workplace, 2011).

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Drug screening is typically a process that entails assessing a person's urine, blood, hair or saliva, in order to identify if any of these include any amounts of certain illegal substances. The most regularly used kind of drug screen in a urinalysis in which an examination of a urine sample is done. "Immediate results can be obtained by submerging a special test card into the urine sample, or, for more exact data on traces of different drugs, the sample is sent to a lab to undergo such procedures as EMIT (enzyme multiplied immunoassay technique) GC/MS (gas chromatography & mass spectrometry), and liquid chromatography" (Drug Testing, 2007).

The preponderance of drug screenings are done by having a person go to a lab, where a sample of urine is given. The sample is then tested for the presence of illegal substances. Tests that come out negative are usually obtainable in about one day. There are also test kits on the market that can be also be utilized that are comparable to home pregnancy tests. Even though these screens are thought to be precise for instant screenings, they are ineffective in the occurrence that the test comes back positive, since it is then necessary to have a laboratory verify the results (Intro to Drug Screening, n.d.).

Urinalysis is thought to be a highly controversial kind of drug screening because of many different questions that surround it. Those who are against its use claim that it is not capable of identifying drugs if they were used within the latest six to eight hours. It is also thought that the outcomes of the test can be very easily tainted. Some of the ways that are used to taint probable illegal substance recognition in samples include using artificial urine as well as utilizing a variety of things to mask the….....

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