Preparing for your upcoming Drug and Alcohol test
Any type of testing can be unnerving if you don’t know what to expect. We have put together a short information sheet to cover what to expect when going for a drug and alcohol test.
Drug testing in urine
Before coming into your drug test, ensure you are prepared to provide a urine sample. This means that you should start drinking liquids about an hour before your appointment. It takes approximately that long for the body to produce urine after consuming liquids. Make sure you don’t OVER consume water; this can result in your urine being too clear to test. There are no special diets or foods you should avoid before testing and fasting is not necessary.
Always be prepared with valid government issued photo ID eg. Driver’s License or Passport. We are not able to proceed with testing if we don’t have valid id, except for extremely special circumstances.
Ensure you know what test you are required to take. We offer numerous test options from POCT (instant) tests to SAMSHA Certified Lab Test.
If you are taking any medications that you feel may show up on your drug test, take a picture of your valid medical prescription and store it on your phone. This will speed up the process when the Medical Review Officer calls to validate your medication.
When you arrive for testing you will be required to produce your ID and complete paperwork. You will then be asked to remove all outer clothing, jackets, hats ect. You will also be asked to empty your pockets. You will not be able to take these items into the washroom with you. You will be asked to wash your hand before and after you provide your sample. The collector will give you instructions before you enter the washroom including not to flush the toilet. You can fully shut the door for privacy unless the test is a return to duty US DOT test. You can hand the sample to the collector or leave the sample on the back of the toilet; the sample is either tested right away or split to be packaged up to the lab.
We will then proceed back to the office to complete the paperwork. You will either receive the results right away or be advised when your results will be ready.
Alcohol Testing
The most common type of Alcohol test for work is the Breathalyzer. There is no preparation work required for a Breath Alcohol test. You will need to have valid government issued photo id.
You will be asked to complete some paperwork then you will be asked to stand to provide a breath sample. The collector will have the machine along with a packaged breath tube. The breath tube will be taken out of the package and attached to the machine in front of you. You will need to take a deep breath and blow hard into the machine. We are looking for deep lung breath so it may feel like you are running out of breath, but the machine will be able to detect this and capture the sample before this happens.
If the test result is 0.00 printouts will be attached to the paperwork and you will move on to the next test. If the result is above 0.02 you will be asked to sit and wait for 15 minutes to provide a second confirmation test.
Our workplace testing covers pre-employment, pre-access, reasonable suspicion, and post-accident tests. We can do 7 panel, 8 panel, 10 panel, 12 panel and 13 panel instant tests as well as multiple lab-based tests. We also offer numerous other occupational testing options. We can custom tailor a program that would suit your company’s needs.