Tuesday, January 22, 2013

Why to Perform the Drug & Alcohol Screening of Employees?

Drug and alcohol screening is very important within the sensitive jobs. The main concern is the employees who are under the influence may imperil the safety of the public and fellow employees. Urgent care centers like AOK Emergency Room offer a comprehensive array of drug and alcohol testing.

Work Related Injuries

Work Related Injuries

The Department of Transportation (DOT) requires all the employees holding safety & sensitive positions in the industry like transportation, construction, manufacturing, etc to be subjected to a drug and alcohol screening. This includes operators, employees, and employers performing safety-sensitive duties in mass transit, railroad, trucking, pipeline, aviation, and maritime industries. The DOT requires that every company have in place a Drug Free Workplace Policy. Many non-DOT companies choose to have in place a Drug Free Workplace Policy to help reduce workplace accidents and absenteeism and increase productivity.

Drug and alcohol screening at an urgent care center like AOK Emergency Room is done for the following reasons:

Pre-Employment: Prior to hiring someone for a safety-sensitive job, a DOT drug test is necessary. This includes transferring an employee to a sensitive job from a non-sensitive job. Not hiring or not transferring an employee in the first place is easier than terminating them.

Post-Accident: A drug and alcohol screening should be performed by experts from urgent care centers when an employee has been involved in an accident. The screening must be performed within two to four hours for alcohol and 32 hours for drugs.

Reasonable Suspicion: Suspicion is based on the actual observation, appearance, behavior, speech and smell which are typically associated with intoxication. An alcohol screening should be performed if an employee is suspected of being drunk and causing a performance and safety issues.

Return-to-Duty: An employee who refuses to take the alcoholic test must go to a substance abuse professional i.e. DOT approved for evaluation and the treatment. Once the treatment is accomplished then, only the employee will allow returning to his functional area after passing the alcohol screening as positive.

Follow-Up: After an employee has passed a return-to-duty screening, he/she will be subjected to a series of follow-up tests. The series usually consists of six random tests given within one year and may last for up to five years. The screening frequency and length will be prescribed by the substance abuse professional.

AOK Emergency Room is well qualified to perform both the DOT and non-DOT testing. Feel free to contact us at 281 542 3998 in Houston, TX to know more about our emergency services.

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