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Old November 14th 07, 04:47 AM posted to rec.aviation.piloting
NW_Pilot
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Default Urinalysis Drug Tests


"Gig 601XL Builder" wrDOTgiaconaATsuddenlink.net wrote in message
...
Gatt wrote:
"Gig 601XL Builder" wrDOTgiaconaATsuddenlink.net wrote in message
...

Not even close and I paid for over 450 drug screens on employees this
year.


Fascinating. I have questions for you, if you don't mind.

1) What do the employees do?


Everything from Bank officers to minimum wage labor. The bell curve on
this group skews towards the lower end of the spectrum though.


2) What was the ballpark failure rate?


On new hires and random in service it is about 10% and all but 2 or 3 a
year come from the low end of the labor pool.

On post accident it is around 30% failure. By it's very nature the post
accident skews more towards the lower end of the wage base.

I did look about a year ago at only the $10.00/hr applicants and it was
about 20% positive on new hires.

3) What drugs/alcohol are most likely to show up?


THC (The Stuff that makes Pot enjoyable) is number one with about 70% of
the positives showing THC.

40% show Amphetamines

10% show Cocaine

The other stuff tested for only shows up occasionally though PCP is up
because there seems to be a bunch of pot out there that is laced with it.

And those percentages don't add up to 100 because several have multiple
drugs in them. Most notably I don't remember the last positive for
Amphetamines I saw that didn't also have THC.


4) How did postive or negative results align with job performance. IE,
were you -surprised- that somebody failed (or passed) based on
their performance, were otherwise-stellar employees let go because of
the results? And, lastly:



We've only got 4 or 5 positives from random over the last couple of years
and we the 2 probable cause tests we did this year both were positive.

Because most of the positives come from pre-hire tests it's hard to say.
Though on the rare occasion that we have allowed a positive applicant to
reapply and retest at a latter date they don't usually work out. Off the
top of my head I can only think of 1 out of 10 over the last 3 years that
failed, reapplied, was hired and was actually a good worker.



5) Was it worth it?


Sure it was. Injuries are down, absenteeism is lower than it was before we
put the testing program in and we get an automatic 5% discount on work
comp.




Usually you hear statistics from police, users, activists or just
people like me who simply view it as a (sometimes necessary) invasion
of privacy, so your insight is valuable.

-c





Yea, but if they disclose a prescription for an Opiate they will pass the
test or if they have other prescriptions for other controlled substances
they cannot be claimed positive in a drug test as it's a legal prescription.
I know people that are prescribed THC pill and Cannabis form and all pass
their drug tests are work! Most other drugs are not even tested for unless
it's sent to a lab and specifically checked. Then ask your self who is smart
and buy's urine and uses a heat pack or condom full of clean urin to avoid
detection usually the paid class that is paid more money?