If you take three key management staff from any company they will come up with three different sets of criteria for choosing a drug test.  That’s if they’re aware of what’s available and what they ought to be considering.  The fact is, there is no ‘best testing method’ that is suitable for all workplaces.  You need to find a test that best suits your workplace.  How do you go about that?  Well, if you go to a test supplier, guess what?  Correct, you’re told that their test is the best test for you, no surprises there.  Then you move onto the next supplier and they tell you why their test is best and why the last test you looked at is no good.  You end up confused and worse still; you might end up with a testing method that is not fit for purpose.

So where do you get independent advice?  First of all you need to look for a company that does not have its own testing method.  It’s the same principle as buying a life insurance policy, if you go to Lloyds bank you will end up with a Lloyds bank policy.  If you go to an independent financial advisor you will have the choice of most life insurance products on the market.  Needless to say, I’m an independent, but I dare say if you search around enough you will manage to find others. 

Alternatively you can look at independent research into the various testing methods and testing devices.  Most independent research compares the strengths and weaknesses of testing the various sample types i.e. hair, oral fluid, blood, urine etc.  As this is a major consideration, this is a good place to start. 

There is very little research that compares the accuracy and reliability of the various collection devices that are used to collect donor samples.  There is even less research that compares laboratory analysis, although there are accreditation and ISO standards that have been achieved by some laboratories.

If you decide to introduce drug and alcohol testing in your workplace, you really should have a substance misuse policy or drug and alcohol policy that has been agreed with your union reps or other employee representatives.  Among other things, the policy will let employees know what they will be tested for, under what circumstances, what the fail limits are and what action they can expect if they fail a test.

In my experience of working with some of the UK’s largest unions, I’ve found them to be very well informed and their involvement has helped to keep the balance between benefits to the Company and fairness to the employees.  If you can afford to employ the services of an independent advisor on drug and alcohol policy it immediately stops the ‘them against us’ situation that can often be present.  Either way, it’s best to involve the unions at the earliest stage of policy development.  If you can reach agreement on the objectives of the policy, everything else should fall into place.  Ok, that might be a bit simplistic, but if you’re working towards the same objectives and if neither party has an axe to grind over previous disputes, common sense should prevail.

This brings us to the objectives.  One thing the unions will strongly object to is if the principle aim of the policy is to catch offenders and sack them.  Now you may be thinking “that’s exactly what I want the policy to do”, but you shouldn’t.  The policy should include prevention, identification, treatment and rehabilitation.  Employees should feel confident to report rather than hide problems.  That’s not to say that an employee in breach of the rules shouldn’t be considered for disciplinary action, but automatic dismissal is ill advised.

It may be possible to achieve the policy aims without introducing drug and alcohol testing.  If it is, it will save you time, effort, money and avoid the negative impact drug and alcohol testing can have on employer / employee relations.  Most of the companies I work with are in safety-critical industries such as transport and construction.  In these types of industries it’s becoming increasingly necessary to test employees.  The method to use for alcohol testing is pretty straight forward and most companies will use a breath meter, with a back-up device if the donor is unable to provide a sample of breath.  The drug test is a far more complex choice, with many issues such as ’windows of detection’ and ’accuracy’ being brought into question.  Unions will have their criteria for selecting the testing method, and this may be different from the Companies criteria, for example, the Company’s criteria is likely to include cost of test and this is of little interest to the union.  If you do find that you can’t reach agreement, it is advisable to employ the services of an independent consultant or at the very least you should look to introduce independent research that supports the reason you have selected a particular testing method.  I talk about selecting drug testing methods in my choosing a drug testing method blog.