Drugs of Abuse
How can GLG help?
The effect of drug abuse on employees is an increasing cause of concern within the workplace.
It is the responsibility of the employer to ensure a safe working environment for all of their employees. Gordon Laboratory Group can assist employers and occupational health companies by providing a comprehensive Drugs of Abuse service.
All drugs are to some extent addictive, and their physical and mental effects can be unpredictable.
This statement bears heavily upon employers and their workforce. Substance abuse is more common than many realise, and it can have major implications in the work place. It is difficult to put a precise figure on the cost of drug misuse to industry, but consider the implications of the following:
Sickness and Absenteeism
A high level of sick leave and unauthorised absence is likely if someone is abusing drugs.
Accidents
Working under the influence of drugs is likely to increase the risk of accidents.
Poorer Quality of Work
Lower productivity drug abuse can lead to poor judgement, mistakes and missed deadlines. This has severe cost implications to businesses, both economically and in terms of their reputation.
Difficulty with Working Relationships
Drug abuse can result in irritability and unpredictable reactions and this strain working relationships.
Crime
The increasing financial burden of supporting a drug habit may be a temptation to theft or fraud. The fact is, the human body does not clear the majority of commonly taken drugs quickly. People who are taking drugs may return to the work place, and will represent an increased risk in terms of the likelihood of accidents. The introduction of a Drugs of Abuse screening policy will undoubtedly help to deter would-be offenders. It will also lead to a decrease in absenteeism and to a safer working environment for all employees.
Gordon Laboratory Group can help the employer develop a Drugs of Abuse screening policy. The policy can start with a screen at the pre-employment medical, through random screening of the work force, to with cause screening in the event of an incident at the work place.
Who should be screened?
The abuse of drugs and other substances cannot be related to individual groups of people or sectors of society. It is dangerous to assume that the workplace, no matter what the profession or size of the company, is free of the potential problem of substance abuse and its effects. There are professions that carry a higher risk of accidents in the work place anyway, due to the very nature of the business that they are involved in, and many of these have very active Occupational Health policies in place. Some already involve screening for Drugs of Abuse. Professions that have such policies include:
- Railway Service Providers
- Construction Companies
- Police Forces
- Transportation
- Chemical Companies
- Engineering Companies
- Sporting Bodies
Many other companies are actively looking at introducing, or expanding existing, Occupational Healthcare to employees. Gordon Laboratory Group are able to assist companies in adopting appropriate and reliable Drugs of Abuse screening policies as part of this Occupational Health care.
What type of drugs do GLG screen for? The drugs and metabolites that can be detected in random urine samples cover the most commonly abused substances within the United Kingdom and beyond. They are:
- Cannabis
- Cocaine
- Opiates
- Methadone
- Amphetamines (to include Ecstasy)
- Propoxyphene
- Benzodiazepines
- Barbiturates
- Alcohol
Also available in the screening process are:
- Lysergic Acid Diethylamide
- Phencyclidine
- Methoqualone
Chain of Custody
Gordon Laboratory Group operates its Drugs of Abuse screening to the highest quality in the industry today, following strict rules and regulations. We offer everything from a simple analytical service to developing a comprehensive company Drugs of Abuse service including Chain of Custody (CoC) collection and GCMS confirmation.
Chain of Custody is a legal term and is defined as: ‘The order of places where, and the persons with whom physical evidence was located from the time it was collected to its submission at trial’
www.yourdictionary.com/law/chainofcustody
Features of the Gordon Laboratory Group Service
The core of the policy is a set of easy to follow but rigid procedures that lead the client's Occupational Health staff through the appropriate stages of sample collection. Depending on individual requirements, these procedures will cover all employee categories, e.g.
- Pre-employment Screening
- Random Screening of Employees
- With Cause Screening
Where positive screens may result in non-employment/ potential loss of employment, or have possible medico-legal implications, GLG provide a Chain of Custody (CoC) protocol implications which ensures that recognised procedures are adopted at collection, delivery, analysis, reporting and confirmatory stages of the sample history. Features reinforcing the documented CoC procedures include:
- Customised documentation preventing the use of forgery by its mode of production. This can include the use of special inks, watermarks, holograms etc.
Security features can in addition prevent identification of the donor to all but pre-selected personnel. - Use of bar coding on all documentation, containers and seals to ensure accurate and secure identification at all stages of the sample history.
- Use of unique tamper-evident seals ensuring that any fraudulent attempts to remove or repair seals can be easily identified by the laboratory.
The Gordon Laboratory Group Comprehensive Service includes the following:
- A laboratory service screening for and confirmation of the presence of all commonly abused substances.
- Screening and confirmatory testing of samples at a single laboratory site, using state of the art technology, including GCMS confirmation.
- A laboratory service staffed by qualified Biomedical Scientists with a background of toxicology analytical procedures.
- Consultant Toxicologist advice and medico-legal back up, as and when required.
- A laboratory service working to appropriate accreditation standards enhanced by a Quality Assurance unit, monitoring the procedures at all stages
- A laboratory service participating in all appropriate External Quality assessment schemes, to monitor the laboratory performance nationally. Using strict internal quality control procedures, we can monitor any result integrity. The use of internationally recognised cut-off levels for all abused substances analysed.
- Logistical support for supply of all of the elements required for DOA screening.
- Provision of courier services where appropriate.
- A training facility to educate collectors in all the procedures pertaining to the collection, handling and despatch of samples.
- The provision of a collection service where appropriate.
- Despatch of results by agreed methods, that can include facsimile transmission or E-mail to agreed and secure addresses, enhanced by hard copy return of results.
- A year 2000 compliant system covering all stages of the screening and confirmatory processes.
- If a positive result shows for any of the drugs on screening, a confirmatory test is carried out by alternative procedures. In some cases this confirmation will actually quantify the amount of drug that is in the sample. Positive screens can be confirmed by GCMS and the procedure is repeated and carried out on Sample B.
Interested in using GLG for your Drugs of Abuse Screening?
If you are interested in using our fast, accurate and effective service then please do not hesitate to contact the laboratory to speak to a member of the GLG team. We are happy to provide you with our highly competitive prices or any additional information.
