FOCUS ON ALCOHOL TESTING BY JAMES M. BORK, GLOBAL SAFETY NETWORK, INC. Urine Alcohol Testing—A Treacherous Path for Employers?
when used for employment purposes. EtG/ EtS testing of urine is more commonly used for alcohol addiction treatment or judicial and probative requirements. Te use of urine alcohol testing in treatment or probationary scenarios can be a viable marker of recent past usage. In many cases, the simple threat of testing and/or judicial consequences may act as a deterrent from alcohol use. However, in the employment arena, urine
E
alcohol testing can be most problematic as a number of factors come into play. Is the donor in the consumption phase or the elimination phase? Is the detected alcohol a result of a diabetic or medical condition? Are there environmental or legal use issues to be contemplated? Lets look at an example: Bob’s Tool & Die
has enacted a zero-tolerance alcohol policy, and has an employee (we’ll call him Tom) whose position with the company does not fall within federal regulatory guidance. Tom is a long-term, trusted and valued employee, and has had no recorded issues that are of concern or warrant the call to action of reasonable suspicion testing. Tom puts in his full shiſt on a given Monday, and then is off-duty from 4pm on that Monday until 8am on Tuesday. He’s an adult of legal drinking age, and has been invited by his friends to watch a professional sporting event on big screen TV at their favorite watering hole. So, Tom agrees to atend, and proceeds to have burgers, nachos, pretzels and also four or five beers (or adult beverages) in a 5-hour span, and then is home and in bed by 11pm. On Tuesday morning he is up and on his way to work before 8am. Tom is called to submit to a urine alcohol test at 8:10am. Questions: Is Tom under the influence of
alcohol (if all the facts listed are true)? Te answer is likely no. Will Tom test positive (.02 or greater) using the federal testing
34 datia focus
thylglucuronide and Ethylsulfate, or EtG/EtS urine alcohol testing can be a treacherous path to embark upon
methods and protocols? Again, the answer is likely no. Will a urine sample provided by Tom result is a positive result under EtG/EtS urine testing? Te answer is most likely yes. Now that you have a positive test result based on the urine EtG/EtS testing protocol, what action do you take? Take a deep breath. Calm yourself in thought, and then ask yourself “Why did we do this”? Is this positive test result the outcome your policy and testing protocol intended for? Did we just invite un- due hardship upon our employee, and what legal defense must we now undertake? An EtG/EtS urine test may detect alcohol in the body for up to 80 hours aſter the last drink has been metabolized (not just con- sumed!). It should also be noted that a num- ber of environmental factors and innocuous consumption activities can come into play, many of which may adversely affect detection and test results including; the exposure in an enclosed room to the vapors from commer- cial and private use alcohol-based products like varnishes or paints and cleaning products, the use of alcohol-based hand sanitizers that are readily available to the public. Do you pro- vide alcohol-based hand sanitizer products for your employees use? Although not recommend for use of urine
alcohol testing as a stand-alone process for employment purposes, the use of EtG/EtS testing is seen as a viable method for absti- nence programs. When used, the test results should be reviewed by a professional spe- cifically trained in this format, and the test results should be used in combination with other forms of comprehensive patient/par- ticipant history to support the final actions to be taken. In all cases, specific protocols for the testing and the clinical review of lab results are highly recommended. It should be noted that workplace pro-
grams under federal regulatory guidance (i.e. DOT-FMCSA) allow testing for alcohol usage to be performed only by breath or saliva sampling. Breath testing provides an
winter 2012
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46