Why Is Random Drug Testing Important In The Workplace?

According to the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence, drug use in the workplace causes these four main issues:

• High accident/injury rate;
• Fatal accidents;
• Absenteeism;
• Loss of production.

But why?

If you don’t know the real value that comes from random drug testing, what are the odds you’re going to drug test your employees (which is one of the easiest way to improve workplace safety?)

Random drug testing is a important safety measure every employer should take.

Read on to learn the 4 reasons why!

Why Do Companies Randomly Drug Test Their Employees?

Employee drug use has become a huge safety hazard. According to research conducted by the U.S. Department of Justice, U.S. businesses lose $140 billion a year to drug and alcohol abuse each year!

The trickiest part of all is that employees under the influence of drugs (such as opioids) are very good at hiding their addiction.

Even despite an employers good intentions, it’s become almost impossible  to detect drug use. By the time they do, it’s often to late. Here are some common examples employers face daily:

A worker, high on the job, injured himself and another. 

An employee takes an extended sick leave from an overdose, and cost you twice as much in recruitment and training to find another worker to take over in his absence. 

Or, worst of all: drug use has become the ‘norm’ with your late-night shift workers without you knowing it, and you now have a staff of dangerous, addicted workers that at any minute, can cause harm to themselves or others. 

Many employers have no idea their employees are on opioids, methamphetamine (a drug that has risen in use by 64 percent in the last 3 years!) and cocaine.

Without testing, how can you be sure your employees are safe to do their job?

4 Reasons Employees Need to Be Tested Randomly For Drugs

As the employer, one employee under the influence can cause a trickle down effect of danger for your entire workforce!  Here are 4 reasons why random drug testing pays off!

1. You Want To Know Your Workers Are Sober On the Job. Random drug testing can help ensure your workforce is sober on the job without picking out specific individuals you may suspect is under the influence (choosing specific individuals would be a reasonable suspicion test). Names of your employees are drawn from a pool, and those employees are tested.
2. You’re not a mind reader. Drug users have become skilled at hiding their drug addiction. Whether you’re dealing with a small staff of 100 or less, or thousands in multiple locations, it’s impossible to know when a worker is on something. Random drug testing takes care of the guessing work so you never have to play ‘mind reader’.
3. Employee drug use is a huge liability. Drug use today is nothing like it was a few decades ago. Today’s drugs are potent, and more common in the workplace than they’ve ever been. If your employees are taking pain killers, cocaine, or weed, it all leads to the same outcome. Their work safety (as well as the safety of everyone) becomes jeopardized, and serious injury can (and most likely will) result.
4. Random Testing Works. Drug users don’t want to work for a company that actively tests. By promoting the fact that you perform random drug tests, you’re weeding out the candidates you DON’T want.  Secondly, employees who are on drugs will most likely test positive on their random drug test. This is a opportunity for the employee to get help, and no longer be a safety threat for others. At the same time, it allows the employer to provide a healthier workplace for everyone involved.

Axiom offers a simple solution to employee drug testing.

We offer:

• Pre-Employment
• Random
• Post-Incident
• Reasonable Cause (often referred to as Reasonable Suspicion)

It’s just one of the ways we’re transforming occupational medicine. Contact us to get started today!