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By MediNat Australia
4 years ago
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Before you can conduct drug and alcohol testing on your employees you must have a comprehensive and detailed drug and alcohol policy in place that’s tailored to your particular industry and business.
As well as full specifics on the testing procedures you should also include education and rehabilitation of workers. With that said, one of the biggest questions to arise when considering workplace drug and alcohol testing is the type of test to use.
Most companies will choose between a urine or saliva drug test, but how do you choose which one is the most suitable for your business?
What’s the Difference?
Both tests, if administered correctly, provide fast results that are up to 99% accurate. However, the difference lies in the way they’re conducted and the number and type of drugs that are detected by each.
Which one you use will be determined by your industry, what you want to test for, and to a lesser degree, the willingness and compliance of your employees.
Saliva Drug Test
Saliva drug test kits are becoming more popular as the technology evolves, and they can be faster and less intrusive compared to urine drug testing. They are suitable for detecting very recent drug use, that could affect work performance and judgement for the current shift.
Urine Drug Test
Urine drug testing may be seen as an invasion of privacy, especially if the employee needs to be supervised while giving the sample to prevent tampering or substitution. Once the sample is tested, the preliminary results are available within minutes, and they can detect a wider range of drugs, including many of the new synthetics.
Policy Guidelines
It’s important to do your due diligence on which test is the most suitable for your requirements and your employees, and to include full details in your company’s drug and alcohol policy.
Your industry may determine which is more appropriate, but it’s also beneficial to take your employees needs and personal privacy into consideration. Ultimately, you need to decide whether you want the convenience and smaller detection range of saliva drug testing, which is suitable for testing whether someone is fit for work, or the wider drug detection range of urine tests, which detect drug use in general.
Quality Urine and Saliva Drug Tests in Australia
At MediNat Australia we can provide a range of urine and saliva drug test kits that are made in full ISO and quality-controlled environments according to stringent Australian standards. Our trained professionals can also carry out on-site testing at your organisation for fast, reliable results.
Call us on 1300 725 520, email us at info@medinat.com.au or contact us online to speak to one of our team members about using saliva drug tests in your workplace.
