Test Steps

Steps for Testing:

Gather the witnesses:

If witnesses saw a specific event or behavior, ask them to describe what they saw. How far away were they? How long did they observe the person? What, if anything, caused them to believe it was substance abuse related? On what basis did they reach their conclusion? Before proceeding further, obtain approval from the division manager/department head or designee to proceed with reasonable cause testing.

Transport the employee:

The potentially affected employee should not be allowed to proceed alone to or from the collection site. In addition to the safety concerns for the employee, accompanying the employee also assures that there is no opportunity en route to the collection site for the employee to ingest anything that could affect the test result or to acquire “clean” urine from another person.

Document the events

Follow the Collection

After returning from the collection site, the employee shall not perform duties pending the receipt of the drug test results. The employee should make arrangements to be transported home. The employee should be instructed not to drive any motor vehicle due to the reasonable cause belief that they may be under the influence of a drug. If the employee insists on driving, the proper local enforcement authority should be notified that an employee who we believe may be under the influence of a drug is leaving the company premises driving a motor vehicle.

Remember:

A request to provide a urine specimen is not an accusation,  it is merely a request for additional objective data. To the employee it may feel like an accusation, so it is important to stress that this is merely a request for additional data or, to give him an opportunity to test and prove his innocence

Denial Should be an Expected Reaction:

• If a person knows they will test positive, they may give many explanations and protestations, wanting to avoid drug testing.
• If they are not under the influence or affected by a prohibited drug, intense denial also would be expected. 
• Listen to the employee and carefully evaluate the employee’s explanation.