drug testing

hml in HR

Up to this point, all our post-injury and random drug/alcohol tests have been urine collections. I just received info about oral fluid collection and was wondering if anyone uses it/knows anything about the efficacy or pros/cons vs urine testing. FYI, we do not do pre-employment testing, and we would continue using the urine tests for DOT.

LivindonSouth

I don't know anything about that but I think you might contact the MRO at your current collection & reporting center and ask for an opinion and comparison. I don't know the importance of this, but I do think whereas a urinalysis is not a medical test, a saliva swab test may be.

System

That's an excellent idea from Livindon. I wouldn't have thought of calling the MRO. Hope you'll do that and let us know what she says.

HRinFL

[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON 06-22-05 AT 08:18AM (CST)[/font][br][br]We use it in our retail environment. It is easy to use (pull it out of the wrapper, place it between your teeth and gum, after the time is up, seal it up and send it off. The advantage is that it is easy to use and we do not require a testing facility to do our tests. Another advantage is that the test cannot be fooled (yet). The down side is that it is not designed to catch recreational users, only those that use regularly. So, unless a recreational user has used within a few days or a week of taking the test, it will come back negative. I agree talk to your MRO to see if this would be something that meets your needs.

hml in HR

Thanks for all the feedback, folks. I will contact our MRO just to be sure, but the med labs with whom we've worked for years are the ones that sent the info in the first place. And to the recreational users point, we've actually had many managerial confrontations about how broad the range for positives in urinalysis is. I believe this narrower range, which would only indicate if the person were using within the last couple days, may be a better match for our company. While I am concerned about our employees' health and life choices, this particular argument has actually led to some circumvention and supervisors looking the other way! That drives me crazy. I think more people will be on board with this approach.

I'll let you all know what my MRO says.