Building Safety: Managing Substance Abuse with Oral Fluid Drug Screening in the Construction Industry

By Alison Adduono, Director of Marketing

According to the American Addiction Centers, employees in the construction industry have nearly twice the rate of substance abuse (15%) when compared to the general population (8.6%).

While this seems rather startling at first it isn’t much of a surprise since the construction industry is one of the most dangerous and physically taxing ones to work in. From jobsite injuries to physical fatigue, sprains and strains, and pulled backs — some workers may require over-the-counter or prescription medications for pain management. While there isn’t necessarily anything wrong with having a valid prescription, if it causes impairment, it could be extremely hazardous for these employees to drive or operate heavy equipment.

While some of those prescription drugs (i.e. benzodiazepines, opiates, etc.) may cause impairment some can even be highly addictive. In fact, this industry has been hit particularly hard by the opioid epidemic.

An additional point of worry is the CDC’s findings, which indicate that the construction sector experiences one of the most elevated occurrences of fatal overdoses compared to all other professions. Despite only representing about 7% of the workforce, the construction industry accounted for 15% of all workplace overdose deaths. Scary thought!!

Unlike with alcohol where people returning from a lunch break may be exhibiting slurred speech and smell like alcohol, determining drug use may be a little harder as it isn’t always so obvious. But if you do suspect it, it behooves you to conduct reasonable suspicion and routine random testing to help ensure the safety of your jobsite.

Cost of Substance Abuse in the Construction Industry

Drug or substance abuse within the workplace can cost you in multiple ways. Not only is there an increased potential for accidents, injuries and deaths, but it affects productivity, insurance, and overall workplace morale.

The National Safety Council (NSC) reports that an employee with untreated substance abuse issues can cost their employer more than $8K per year (over $14K in executive, administrative and financial roles) in healthcare expenses, absenteeism and turnover. Studies, conducted by NORC at the University of Chicago, have shown that a construction company in Massachusetts with 1000 employees could expect to lose approximately $1.9M. Curious what substance abuse may cost your business? The NSC has a handy calculator for figuring that out.

How Can You Control Those Costs?

By conducting routine random testing and reasonable suspicion testing as required, you can hopefully curb an employee’s addiction early on before it starts to have a major impact on your business. Having tests that you can perform easily yourself onsite will help to reduce the amount of downtime associated with sending someone off to the clinic and can get the employees back to work that much faster. Oral fluid testing in itself, is a very cost-effective solution.

Why Should You Choose Oral Fluid Testing?

Choosing to conduct oral fluid testing in the workplace when you have reason to suspect impairment or use is good for the following reasons:

Prompt Detection: Oral fluid testing can quickly detect the presence of drugs soon after consumption, offering an effective means for pinpointing immediate drug use.
Indicative of Active Impairment: The concentration of drugs in saliva is closely aligned with that in the bloodstream, indicating active drug influence, as opposed to urine tests which may indicate past usage.
Convenient and Non-Invasive: The process of collecting saliva/oral fluid specimens is quick, non-invasive, and does not require special facilities. This can increase employee compliance and minimize interruptions during the workday.
Prevents Tampering: Direct observation during specimen collection minimizes the risk of tampering or adulteration, ensuring the integrity of the test results.

Oral fluid testing is a sensible choice for employers who are concerned about the impact prescription drug abuse can have on their workforce’s safety and productivity. It allows for timely intervention and helps them to maintain a healthy and safe work environment.

Solutions

For employers looking to have something on hand to conduct quick and convenient oral fluid drug testing Origin Diagnostics offers a selection of US-made instant tests. We even have an application that that can read, interpret and record the instant test results starting with a quick scan from your smartphone. Of course, if it is an employee that falls under DOT, you need to have a lab test performed. You can still have an oral fluid drug test performed but it cannot be an instant test and must be done so according to DOT regulations. Want to learn more about our oral fluid drug tests or app? Contact us at orders@origin.net.