on site drug testing

sohappytobe

What sort of questions would I ask an on-site company in order to determine their credibility? I guess I'm asking what differentiates a competent from an incompetent drug testing company.

pork1

SOHAPPYTOBE: Me too, and welcome to the forum. I assume your company either has a Transportation Division, or your company has made the decision to put in place a drug testing program, and you knowingly decided this, inspite of the fact that your company may not be required by law to have a drug testing program in place. Given that, you have a MRO and collecting organization for off site collections, record keeping and interpretation of the testing results. This then comes down to your basic question for an on-site collection person. Alcohol testing must be performed by a "BREATH ALCOHOL TECHNICIAN" AND THEY ARE TRAINED AND CERTIFIED TO CALIBRATE THEIR MACHINE AND TO DO THE TESTING. A CERTIFIED EVIDENTUAL TESTING DEVICE (EBT) IS REQUIRED. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration list the varies EBTs that are certified.
The urine collector must also be trained and certified as a TRAINED COLLECTOR. I WOULD ASK TO SEE THE INFORMATION PERTAINING TO THE CERTIFIED LAB TO WHOM THE ON-SITE COLLECTOR WILL SEND THE SAMPLES FOR EVALUATION. CERTIFIED LABORATORS ARE CERTIFIED BY THE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES FOR DRUG TESTING.

I hope this helps! We do not do the on-site collection and testing. We/I transport the ee to the physician's office with whom we have retained to do our alcohol and drug testing. There is a greater risk of the testing to be comprimised with on-site testing verses an off-testing site, which by nature is secure and will satisfy all of the particular requirments placed on security, facilities, procedures, and record keeping/reporting.

PORK

Don D

Ask for the name and address of their laboratory, seven reference names of specific employers within 100 miles who use them, for a copy of their chain of custody form and a copy of their state charter issued by the secretary of state or attorney general in your state. And make a call to the better business bureau who must disclose to you any complaints issued against the company. Also determine if they have a physical presence in your community or just a van and Post Office Box number. One more call, to a known testing/collection facility in your nearest major city to find out if they know of or will criticize this company. A little bit of due dilligence will quickly disclose to you if they are on the up and up. Not many companies are out there about the business of doing fraudulent Pee-Tests. There's just no money in it compared to the risk of incarceration.

sohappytobe

The company that I am considering has a physical location and is CLIA certified. However, they do an on-site 5 minute urine test and IF that comes up positive, then they send it off to a lab, which is also certified with a similar agency as JCAHO. Opinions?

BTW, thank you for the welcome, Pork ... and thanks to Don & Pork for the wisdom.

Leslie

I have looked at the "instant" tests for years, and they sure make me leery. Our collector takes every test to the lab, and lets them do the work. I've worked with our consulting firm for 10 years. They are located in Arizona but go nationally, I believe. I'd be happy to provide a name and number if you'd like.

In addition to what Don said, make sure the lab your consulting firm uses is a Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) certified laboratory - it's the highest level of certification.

sohappytobe

Thank you Leslie ... I would appreciate your forwarding me that information.

[email]tina.black@nmchbr.com[/email]

Jenn K

[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON 08-18-04 AT 04:35PM (CST)[/font][br][br]The group we use for our testing doesn't do the instant tests yet, but said the probably will soon. The owner (who sits on some kind of testing advisory board for the state) said that the DOT is considering approving these tests. Since the only testing we do is DOT required, I won't be using them either, until the DOT OKs it. I just thought it might help you to know that these tests are (somewhat) legitimate.

Don D

As a followup comment, the last three individuals we had to test positive on our pre-employment, were current temps here who had 'passed' one of these miracle tests at the temp agency. I don't think it's coincidental and I don't think they just took up weed after beginning work here, although we do often pipe in Simon & Garfunkle and occasionally Buffet.

sohappytobe

thanks Jenn ... and Don, I could get high on Simon & Garfunkle ... that say something about our age?