Employee Drug Tests Key Terms

Some key terms for employee drug tests

Many diverse businesses use drug testing in some form to try to limit the chance of having users of certain substances on payroll. In some cases, this is due to liability; in other cases, it is a principled stand by management. Either way, knowing about some of the basic terms for methodology will tell a beginner a lot about the way these tests are conducted.

Random drug testing

From trucking to medical fields, random drug testing is a common strategy of large employers that want to truly discover drug users on the payroll.
Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration site. The U.S. DOT Best Practices for DOT Random Drug and Alcohol Testing page has additional information.

Hair follicle testing

The hair follicle is a part of a strand of human hair that holds residual amounts of substances from the body. Hair follicle testing has its own pros and cons, and is often used as part of a holistic drug testing program.

Saliva drug testing

Another option is to test for drugs using saliva. One main advantage of saliva testing is that, unlike testing through urine, it can be done in full view of testing staff.

Drug detection periods

Drug detection periods refer to the amount of time that various drugs generally stay in the body after use. Testers and others take advantage of scientific research to conduct drug testing.

Screening and confirmatory urine tests

These kinds of urinalysis tests represent a very common method within the drug testing industry. Screening tests look for a "parent drug" while confirmatory tests use chemical processes to confirm a drug in the system.
Medline Plus offers more information on a urine drug screening.

Toxicological screening

Toxicological screening refers to the general kind of drug tests that are used to check for drug elements in a bodily system.