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Facts About Drug Testing in the Workplace

There are many employees today who are taking drugs or abusing alcohol. And this is why there are regular or random drug testing being done in many companies today. Employess should know what to expect in a drug test so that they are prepared to take it. And employers should also know more about drug testing to ensure that they are doing something effective.

Both employers and employees need to know these facts about drug testing.

Most companies use the urine test for drug testing and while this is a common drug test that most employers use, employees have already found many ways of cheating their way out of a urine test. While this test is cheap, fast, and effective, employees only drink large amounts of water before taking the test so that drug residues are flushed out from their system. What will become of the urine drug test is a negative dilute test. There will be inaccurate results with diluted urine. There are different reactions to this with some employers not minding it at all but others would not let it go and ask for a retest.

Urine tests are able to pick up drug traces used as far back as a week. When an employer suspects drug use in the workplace he should schedule a drug test not later than a week after.

Employers can use different types of urine drug tests. The difference is in the number of panels that they use. The number of panels used in the drug test shows us how many types of drugs are being tested in it. Most employers use either the 6-panel or the 10-panel drug test. But you can also use a 16-panel drug test which tests for the widest variety of drugs.

Today, many companies are already switching to hair follicle drug tests. It gives more accurate results than urine tests. Even if a drug user has last taken drugs 90 to 120 days prior to the drug test, the drug traces can still be found in the hair follicle. As long as 60 to 120 days prior to drug testing, employees who have used drugs within this time period will be tested positive of drug use. Another thing that a hair follicle drug testing can reveal about a person is his history of drug taking. Employees have not yet found a perfect way of cheating hair follicle drug testing. Loose samples of hair are not allowed because they could be switched. A sample of hair from the back of the head will be taken by the examiner and then sent for analysis. You might be in trouble if you took drugs within the past 3 or 4 months if you take a hair follicle test unless you know how to pass a hair follicle test. It is more expensive to have a hair follicle drug test than a urine test.