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Saliva Testing – pros vs cons

  • Saliva Testing – pros vs cons

    Posted by James Dodwell on 1 April 2021 at 12:06 pm

    Question from Kim McLaughlin from Buller Network:

    “We are currently in the throes of reassessing our Drug Policy in regards to introducing Saliva Testing as part of it.

    If possible would people please reply with their Pros Vs Cons and if you have introduced Saliva Testing in your companies.”

    Bill Doig replied 3 years, 7 months ago 4 Members · 3 Replies
  • 3 Replies
  • Marty Fox

    Member
    1 April 2021 at 12:23 pm

    I responded directly to Kim before this thread came up but for the benefit of others:

    Electra adopted oral fluid testing last year, and to date it has been both successful and well received by those in safety sensitive roles who have been tested using this method.

    We use it for the first screening test for both random and post incident. In the event of a positive (non negative) result, they then go on to a urine sample.

    Pre employment and reasonable cause both remain as a urine test, and we also use hair follicle for any on random testing as part of a rehab programme.

    The benefits I see of oral vs urine is that it is less invasive, quicker, more indicative of recent use, and as it’s done in front of a tester less likely to be tampered with e.g. as in synthetic urine substitutes.

    Still early days, but at this stage I’m happy with the transition to oral fluid.

  • Stephen Small

    Member
    1 April 2021 at 1:02 pm

    We use saliva for screening for random, reasonable cause, and post-incident testing (I’m not involved with pre-employment). urine analysis is still used to confirm a non-negative.

    We found it far easier to administer in the field, and less invasive (especially females).

    Initially there was concern that no qualification existed for practitioners to demonstrate compliance with AS/NZS4760:2019 (compared with NZQA US25111 & US25458 for AS/NZS 4308:2008) which could lead to legal challenges if termination subsequently occurred.

  • Bill Doig

    Member
    1 April 2021 at 1:52 pm

    Ditto to Marty Fox. Sent the following directly to Kim

    Saliva drug testing allows a shorter detection time frame to provide a better indication of potential impairment. I’ve been told that it will only detect more recent consumption of drugs, less than 24 hours for most drugs and less than 4 hours for cannabis use. The pH of saliva can be more easily altered or diluted by the individual which can reduce the amount of drug present in the oral fluid by a significant amount.

    The reality is consistent recreational marijuana use post work; peoples short term memory goes and you don’t want that.

    That’s my two cents worth.

    Regards

    Bill

    PS we don’t do oral testing

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