Employers may require drug and alcohol testing for a variety of different reasons. Drug and alcohol testing is most commonly performed to ensure that employees are not putting themselves and others at risk, such as when operating heavy machinery or when providing transportation services for the public. Different types of drug and alcohol testing include:

• Pre-Employment Drug Testing: Pre-employment drug testing may be performed when the job involves dangerous work or may result in workplace accidents or mistakes.

• Reasonable Cause Drug Testing: Employers may conduct drug testing when there is reasonable cause to suspect impairment on the job, such as suspicious actions, behaviors, or physical characteristics that indicate impairment.

• Post-Incident Drug Testing: If there is reason to believe that an employee’s actions or lack thereof caused an accident or incident, employers may perform a post-incident drug test. These include incidents that would result in lost time, incidents resulting in damage over $10,000 or incidents that result in injury.

• Random Drug Testing: Generally, random drug testing policies must balance the employer’s interest in performance and job safety against the employee’s right to bodily integrity and privacy. The employer’s interest must be proportional to any limit on an employee’s privacy interest, such as if the employer provides sufficient evidence of a significant substance abuse problem in the workplace. However, the substance abuse must be significant. This evidence might include:

• Observing employees with alcohol on their breath
• Obtaining evidence of alcohol present in the workplace
• Documenting any instances of drug and alcohol abuse

By far the most common type of pre-employment drug test is a urine test, which can identify trace amounts of several different illicit substances and prescription drugs. Other popular types of pre-employment drug tests include saliva tests, blood tests, and hair tests. Stool samples are rarely used in pre-employment drug tests.

Drug screenings typically only take a few minutes to perform, with most tests finished within 30 minutes. Results can take anywhere from a few hours to several weeks, depending on the type of test and the current volume of tests.

Doctors can test for alcohol using a simple urine test, or by testing a breath sample with a device such as a breathalyzer. A breath alcohol test measures how much alcohol is in the air a person breathes out. It shows current levels of impairment or intoxication, but unlike drug testing, alcohol breath tests do not show past use. The device used in a breath alcohol test measures how much alcohol content is in the blood, with positive results determined by a blood alcohol content of 0.2 or higher.

If you require drug and alcohol testing for your employees, trust the professionals at Firefly Health After Hours Care to provide a higher level of service. Call our office today for more information about drug and alcohol testing. We serve patients from Gallatin TN, Cottontown TN, Shackle Island TN, Graball TN, Bethpage TN, Castalian Springs TN, Laguardo TN, Hendersonville TN, Portland TN, Mt. Juliet TN, and BEYOND!!