When it comes to Pre-employment drug testing, Mississippi employers have numerous options. Laboratory drug testing offers the most security in employment decisions, but typically costs a little bit more than instant drug testing devices on a per test basis. In the long run, the amount of liability that is removed by performing laboratory drug testing far out-weighs the few pennies saved using an instant drug testing kit.
Advanced Screening Solutions (headquartered in Flowood, Mississippi) offers laboratory drug testing for employers throughout the United States. The company has a network of 1000’s of collection sites, so finding one close to your company or your job site is typically not a problem. Here are a few pointers to keep in mind when performing pre-employment screening, or random drug screening:
1) The standard drug screen collection is obtained by a urine specimen. Some employers choose alternative collection methods such as an oral fluid drug screen, or hair follicle drug screen. Each of these three collection methods have their pros and cons. Laboratory testing of urine specimen offers a great deal of reliability, but given it’s the industry standard there are several ways in which donors attempt to “cheat” the collection process. This has led to a trend of employers using alternative collection methods such as oral fluids and hair follicle collections. Oral fluids laboratory screens do not have the detection window that the other two methods have, but the accuracy is still high. Hair follicle drug screens offer the longest detection window, but usually requires somewhat heavy usage for drugs to show on the results as positive.
2) It is a good idea to have a company like Advanced Screening Solutions perform your random selections for you from a pool of eligible employees. From the random selections, it is also a good idea to perform a variety of each collection method on the donor pool.
3) It is recommended that companies test fewer donors on a more frequent schedule to keep employees aware of an active drug screening program.
4) Companies should have in place a clear and decisive “disciplinary” program in their employee handbook. Should any employee fail a drug test, the company should adhere to exactly what is laid out in the employee handbook.
5) Make certain any employees that fall under required testing guidelines of the US Dept of Transportation or other regulatory departments are tested at the required frequency and percentage of donors.
Using a company like Advanced Screening Solutions can provide your company with $1000’s in savings on an annual basis. No company is too small for drug abuse to affect their bottom line. As a matter of fact, the smaller the company, the more protective of company assets the employer should be. It is estimated by the White House Office of National Drug Control that drug abuse costs business owners over $100 BILLION per year. What’s it costing you?
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