Nationwide Testing Programs And Services: Why Drug Screens Are Vital

The agenda deeming pre-employment and employee screenings critical components in the workforce is establishing and retaining a safe and healthy environment. The idea is that people holding positions of responsibility do so with a clean and sober nature.

Having a third party administer the screenings like Nationwide Testing Association gives the employee and the employer satisfaction that tests completed were fair, just, and accurate. With current societal tensions and stresses, the reality of the situation is that anyone, not the stereotypical oppressed, but instead a reputable, respected, and exceptionally educated person in a high-ranking position, can find themselves victims of substances. 

In many cases today, you’ll find that drug and alcohol abuses are the direct result of long hours, excessive periods of stress, and employers with supreme expectations. 

Individuals are often good about hiding their addiction in public settings instead finding a need to be secretive. When someone faces the potential of losing a great deal, their focus is on keeping their problem private. 

No one in that situation will “self-report,” creating a need for companies to randomly test so that anyone facing substance abuse can assume culpability and obtain help.

Third-Party Substance Testing Done For The Workplace

Employers use Nationwide Testing Programs and Services and other third-party screening solutions for substance testing to ensure the employees’ treatment is fair and just with no risk of violating rights. With adequate informed consent processes, these testing procedures have the potential to prevent abuse of alcohol or drugs where there might otherwise be a temptation. Go here for details on employment screening.

When employees realize there will be periodic screens, they’re less likely to engage in unhealthy habits decreasing instances for injuries or accidents while on the job site possibly under the influence. It not only keeps you safe but everyone who works with you, depending on you for their welfare.

Unfortunately, some employees don’t see it this way, instead viewing it as an invasion of general privacy. The consensus is divulging a substance problem or having a positive drug screen would result in loss of employment more readily than receiving an offer of adequate treatment for the addiction. That’s even though varied workforce stresses likely played a key role in the abuses.

The viewpoint is positive results should be defendable because, in some cases, these could be completely innocent, as in perhaps a food that reacted in the bloodstream like a drug such as a bagel (poppy-seed) or a prescription/over-the-counter mistaken for an illicit drug.

The consensus is that these screenings should have use in a productive capacity with the intended outcome meant to benefit all involved, including the employee, instead of being considered merely “routine” tests that mean to eliminate problem employees from the workforce. 

Ethical Practices For Drug/Alcohol Screening In The Workplace

In order to assure ethical practices and avoid violating rights, specific steps need following if screenings will be a part of your working environment. Some of these including:

• Obtaining Informed Employee Consent: Before a recruit becomes a new hire, they often need to undergo pre-employment testing, generally inclusive of a drug test. Before this person accepts the position or has an offer, it’s critical to advise them if you engage in random testing or that the company expectation is for abstinence. 

To spring that on a person after the fact does not allow for an informed decision in case the individual might not want to involve themselves in complete abstinence or that type of employment environment.

• Privacy / Confidentiality: Each person deserves the optimum privacy, particularly when it comes to undergoing screening. No one should be aware when tests take place, and under no circumstances should anyone reveal results.
• Expectations With A Reasonable Capacity: Leaders should continually assess work responsibilities, hours or shifts, stressors, or potential exposure to consistent pressure or traumas (bullying, ill patients, challenging consumers.)
• Defendable: If a screening comes back positive, there should not be an automatic firing. The employee should have an opportunity to defend the result and the possibility for a repeat testing to clear what might be a false positive.  
• Justify: An employer should make clear the relevance of the drug/alcohol tests. If the position in the company or the responsibilities held would in no way be hindered by drug or alcohol use, justification would need establishing for the benefit of the employee. 

The more transparent and inclusive an employer is with the policies they set forth for their staff, the better everyone will feel about adhering to them. The idea for third-party solutions to perform testing is for optimum fairness and privacy for all involved. 

Final Thought

Screenings mean to provide everyone in a company a safe and healthy atmosphere to work. Not only the staff but anyone who comes on-site for any purpose has the potential for exposure to harm by interacting with a person under the influence. 

As a leader, if you believe someone under your management has a substance problem, it’s up to you to ensure the proper testing occurs in a third-party facility where the employee has the assurance of privacy, and the screening is kept confidential.

The priority is that each employee feels respected and supported. If that’s the case, many might have more confidence to self-report to obtain help before any instances of accidents or injuries. Unfortunately, many people fear losing their livelihood and being shamed instead of receiving that much-needed help, so they hide.

Before hiring on with a company, make sure you know their stance on drug and alcohol use. Some companies expect abstinence. In those cases, you could have a request for random testing. If you indulge even occasionally, a random screen could bring a positive result for you.

While the screening is a source of much debate, both positive and negative, the bottom line is everyone wants to be safe. If you don’t want to involve yourself in a position that requires stringent tests, make sure you find out the guidelines before accepting a job. And employers need to be transparent and ethical in their practices so that the staff members feel included in the policy and not preyed upon.