As an industry professional potential
In the earlier years of drug testing, volume was something that just eventuated or simply happened.
customers will turn to you for the answers to questions such as… • What test volume do they require for their industry or worker risk profile?
• What test volume do they require to achieve their goal? Tackling it from another perspective…
the customer is probably thinking of questions like; • How much testing should I be doing? • How much is this amount of testing going to cost me? Te drug testing provider may be
thinking of possibilities like; • How much testing is the customer going to do?
• How can I convince them to do even more testing?
What Should “Volume” Mean to Us As Industry Professionals? Let’s delve into volume even further. Testing volume relates to a number of factors including: • Effectiveness/Deterrent effect • Cost • Likelihood of Detection • Acceptance • Frequency In briefly discussing these factors you
may notice how they are interrelated to both volume and each other.
Effectiveness / Deterrent Effect—Deterrent effect refers to prevention. Testing volume may be the single most dominant factor resulting in the deterrent effect of a drug and alcohol testing program. Provided the volume is at reasonable levels deterrent effect will be achieved.
Cost—Test volume is perhaps the greatest influencer of cost of drug & alcohol testing for customers although quality of equipment and/or cost of the service provider will play a significant part.
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Likelihood of Detection—Volume plus quality of testing equipment are both key to detection. In simple terms the more testing you conduct the more likely you will detect drugs in workers.
Acceptance—Volume of testing where practicable should be set so as to achieve the goals of a drug & alcohol testing program whilst still being tolerated by workers. Issues can arise for your customer where high volume results in resistance rather than acceptance by workers.
Frequency—Volume leads into frequency. For example, frequency is the difference between one visit of 20 tests, two visits of 10 tests, four visits of 5 tests or any other coupling of combinations. With sufficient volume several frequency options are typically available as flexibility increases. Frequency can have a great impact on deterrent effect and acceptance.
Measuring Volume You may have heard the management mantra “what gets measured gets managed.” Tis can be applied to volume in drug testing. You can measure volume of drug testing
using percentage factors. If a customer has 1,000 workers, with a random testing program of 1,000 tests per year this can then be described as 100% volume. Should the customer decide to only conduct 500 tests then this becomes 50% volume and so it goes.
Volume—High or Low? In the earlier years of drug testing, volume was something that just eventuated or simply happened. A benchmark then developed over the years with 100% volume proving to provide a good balance of achieving the four factors of deterrent effect, fair cost, likelihood of detection and acceptance by workers. Various academics in related fields
such as drug & alcohol accident research Winter 2016
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