Drug screening has long been a standard practice for large employers, but small and mid-sized employers also need to set up drug test procedures to attract quality employees and be sure they continue to produce high-quality performance. The best way to start this procedure is to consult a service like Link They have facilities nationwide and certainly have drug testing near you.  They are experts in this field.

Here are some common mistakes employees make when conducting drug testing:

1. Failure to set up a formal Drug Testing policy plan.

Some businesses fail to set up a formal policy plan for alcohol and drug screening.  If pre-employment screening is your primary goal, put that in your policy. Or, if you are willing to “grandfather in” all of the current employees, that needs to be in your policy. If you want to test the current employees at the inception of the plan, write it that way.  It’s best to get an expert at writing drug screening policies to help you.

2. Not running the right panel for drug testing.

Most of the testing labs use standardized panels. The employer can select the panel and the substances being tested. Check into the 4 Panel through 10 Panel. Talk with your lab representative at Soteria Drug Screening and she/he can help you decide which panel is best for your company.

3. Only conducting pre-employment drug screens.

Some employers think that conducting pre-employment testing is sufficient to keep their workforce sober. Unfortunately, although this is a tremendous step forward, it is not enough.

There are four other types of testing recommended:

1. Random: work with the drug testing center near you to set this up
2. Reasonable Suspicion: a good choice if you feel your employee is acting unusually or the workers around him are suddenly complaining about him
3. 90 Days Out: used after a furlough, layoff, or medical period out of work
4. Post-Accident: used after any type of accident, onsite or if you have company vehicles

 4. Vaguely Defined Consequences for Positive Results or Poor Follow-through on Drug Testing 

If an applicant tests positive then he would not be hired. 

But what do you do if it is one of your long term employees that gets caught in your initial testing? You have 2 choices:

1. Zero Tolerance-Termination. This is what the policy states.
2. Second Chance Policy: If the first test result is positive, he or she must enter and complete a substance abuse program. The employer decides if the employee can work during the program. If the employee has another positive result, then he or she will be terminated. 

5. Not keeping the employees updated on changes in drug screen policy

When you make any changes in the alcohol and/or drug screening, you must notify the employees and they must sign off on it. If you change from a 4 panel to a 6 panel because those two new drugs seem to be very popular in your town, type it up and have your employees sign it. If you have always ordered urine tests but this year you are going to blood tests, have them sign a release informing them of that change.

Remember, this will be your policy. Write it in a way that will work best for your company and your employees.

If you are looking to begin a drug screening program, some of this information should benefit you. Even if you have a program in place, you might find out something you didn’t know. Please contact a testing lab to find out where you can get  Link and have one of their experts set up your account the way you want it.