Thursday, August 23, 2012

Shedding Light on the Non Dot Drug Test

By Chloe Gib


Non dot drug test refers to the kind of drug test given to those that are employed in positions that do not require screening under the DOT regulations. Companies have flexibility when it comes to the establishment of non-DOT testing procedures and policies. This includes how often the testing should be done and which substances to check for.

Federal chain of custody COC may not be applied but the five panel substance testing is normally used. The non-DOT also uses the 10 panel kind of screening and in the case where in depth testing is needed more panel testing is done. The following are the substances that are checked in a standard 10 panel; benzodiazepines, methaqualone, propoxyphene, methamphetamines, methadone, cocaine, marijuana, opiates, barbiturates and phencyclidine.

Samples commonly used for instant results kind of testing are saliva or urine. The specimen is enclosed in a cassette style device that has a sterile dropper and results are immediately obtained just like in home pregnancy testing. Obtaining false positive or inconclusive results is quite possible normally due to use of some prescription medicines and this warrants a more in depth lab interpretation.

GC/MS or gas chromatography mass spectrometry is used by a certified technician to analyze specimen sent to the lab. Once the results are out and there are substances above the cut off line, they are then forwarded to MRO where interpretation is furthered. Contacting the patient and the physician who prescribed the substance is done. Hair sample screening is also done using GC/MS which needs a 1.5 inch specimen and where the head hair is not available, other body hair is used but both are cannot be used.

There are different turnaround times for the employee drug screening. On site results are produced by all instant screenings and they can immediately be called by the collection site to the employer. 24 to 48 hours is the time that urine screens sent for examination should take and this depends on the lab. Three to four business days is typically the time it takes for hair testing to yield lab results.

Windows of detection are normally different with employment testing. Conclusive results from hair screening usually take a long period of time for them to be obtained. With prior collection of specimen the screening should take a total of 90 days.

Also in the non dot drug test, those urine screens that are sent to a lab that uses the GC/MS have typically a detection window that ranges from three to fourteen days. Frequency of use and drug type is what this screen highly depends on. Prior to collection saliva or urine screens have a window of between 24 hours and one week.




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