Introduction:
Post-accident drug testing and reasonable drug testing are two situations where it is extremely urgent to conduct a drug test within minutes or hours. While urine, hair or blood testing might not seem like convenient options in these situations, oral fluid testing is the best solution to tackle the problem for the time being.
You can work with drug testing agencies to get oral fluid drug testing done. 24/7 Onsite is one such organization for drug testing at Corpus Christi.
But how useful and accurate is it, when it comes to post-accident and reasonable suspicion testing? Let’s see!
How to conduct oral fluid testing?
The easiest way to collect a specimen is to sample the oral fluid. It is extremely difficult to tamper with and does not leave a chance for the person to dilute it as well. Hence, due to the ease of collection, it is preferred that oral fluid should be taken as a sample for onsite testing.
Any particular representative can just take a swab, collect the sample and send it off for testing the next day. The collection process is very simple and the test provides scientifically proven and legally correct results. All the positive results are again reviewed by a designated person called a medical review officer.
SAMHSA, the substance abuse & mental health services administration of the US department of HHS has laid out guidelines for this particular testing in order to fit it into federal workplace drug testing programs. These guidelines also act as a standard for the non-regulated programs run in private workplace employees.
Oral fluid drug testing is still in approval phases at DOT, and it may take some time but it is definitely going to be approved. As of now, the DOT drug testing does not allow drug testing via oral fluid. Non-regulated organizations are advised to use oral fluid testing for any kind of after-hours condition. E.g., post-accident drug or reasonable drug testing.
Oral fluid samples need a shorter window for drug testing hence, if it is positive, chances are that there has been a recent drug use. Oral fluid allows you to detect drug use that has happened in past 1 to 48 hours.
What are the drugs detectable in oral fluid testing?
As of now, the drugs that can be detected in oral fluid include: Cocaine, Barbiturates, Opioids, Amphetamine/ecstasy methamphetamine/, Phencyclidine (PCP), Benzodiazepines, Propoxyphene, Methadone, Cannabinoid, Ethyl Alcohol. At 24/7 Onsite drug testing services, all these drug tests are conducted via oral fluid testing.
Why oral fluid drug testing?
As mentioned earlier, oral fluid drug testing is the easiest and the most convenient way of conducting drug testing under time constraints. For conditions such as post-accident or reasonable drug testing, oral fluid samples present just the right testing window.
Besides, as these incidents are time-independent, it is necessary to have a system in place that allows you to conduct drug testing in a flexible manner. Oral fluid testing is perfect for such scenarios and you can collaborate with agencies providing 24-hour drug testing for the same.
The sample collection is as simple as it could be. A representative from the workplace can just take a swab and take the oral fluid sample from the inner lining of the cheek and send it off for further testing at drug testing services. Choose professional collectors for the best and accurate results.
Conclusion:
Accidents are inevitable but in order to know who is responsible, there needs to be a drug testing system in place. Oral fluid drug testing is one of the best ways to conduct fast drug testing with convenient sample collection.