Anne ImObersteg is a former laboratory inspector for the
National Laboratory Certification Program (NLCP), administered through the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). She has inspected over a dozen laboratories throughout the United States.

Anne ImObersteg also assists companies in setting up a workplace drug testing program. Such consultation includes developing program requirements such as: a clear description of the substances and behaviors prohibited, the type of drug-testing that will be required and the circumstances (pre-employment,random, reasonable cause etc.) prompting drug testing, procedures for the determination of policy violation, the consequences for the violation of the policy and any appeals process available.


HISTORY OF EMPLOYEE DRUG TESTING

In 1986, President Reagan’s Commission on Organized Crime released a report connecting drug use with trafficking and organized crime. The Commission called upon the President to issue a policy statement expressing the unacceptability of drug use among Federal Employees, and the measures that must be taken to achieve the Commission’s goals.

On September 15, 1986, President Reagan signed Executive Order 12564, which (in part) established the unprecedented rule of prohibiting Federal employees from using illegal drugs on or off duty.

On July 11, 1987, Congress passed legislation to establish uniformity among the drug-testing plans of the various agencies, ensure reliable and accurate drug-testing, allow employee access to drug-testing records, provide confidentiality of drug-testing results, and centralize oversight of the drug-testing program (Section 503 of the Supplemental Appropriations Act (Act) of 1987). The Act required the Department of Health Services (HHS)to provide mandatory guidelines The Secretary of the HHS was required to set the mandatory standards for all aspects of laboratory drug-testing: who will be tested, when tests will be conducted, what drugs will be covered, and how the tests will be conducted.

In 1988, the first guidelines were published by the US Department of Health and Human Services Administration (HHS) in the document titled “Guidelines for Federal Workplace Drug-testing Programs” (Guidelines). In 1994, the Guidelines were revised and republished.

HHS established the National Laboratory Certification Program (NLCP) to certify laboratories before they are permitted to test specimens that are collected for Federal agency drug-testing programs

WHO MUST FOLLOW THE PROGRAM GUIDELINES?

The following entities are mandated to follow the Program Guidelines:

1)Executive Agencies as defined in 5 U.S.C. 105
2)Uniformed Services, as defined in 5 U.S.C. 2101(3), except for the Armed Forces as defined in 5 U.S.C. 2101(2)
3)Any other employing unit of the Federal Government, except for the United States Postal Service, Postal Rate Commission, and employing units of the Judicial and Legislative Branches
4)Laboratories which has or seeks certification to perform urine drug-testing for Federal Agencies under a drug-testing program conducted under Executive Order 12564
5)The Intelligence Community, as defined by Executive Order 12333, to the extent agreed to by the head of the affected agency.

The Department of Transportation (DoT), Department of Energy (DoE), and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) also require the industries they regulate to use these certified laboratories for their workplace drug testing programs.

The DoT has followed the Guidelines very closely in their drug-testing program, codified in the Federal Register (49 CFR Part 40). The program became applicable nationwide in the passage of the Omnibus Transportation Employee Drug-testing Act of 1991.

WHO CAN BE SUBJECTED TO DRUG TESTING?

Testing was authorized for: 1) Applicant testing; 2) random testing of those employees in sensitive positions that have been designated as testing designated positions; 3) Reasonable suspicion testing; 4) Accident or unsafe practice testing; 5) Voluntary testing; and ,6) Testing as part of or as a follow-up to counseling or rehabilitation.

ARE THERE OTHER CERTIFICATION PROGRAMS?

Aside from the Federal certification program, voluntary programs, such as the Forensic Urine Drug-testing Program (FUDT)are also available to laboratories. Administered by the College of American Pathologists, the FUDT program establishes the minimum criteria for reliable urine drug-testing procedures, which parallel the general consensus of the scientific community.

HOW ABOUT PRIVATE COMPANIES?

Many private companies are implementing workplace drug testing. Seventy-three percent of all current drug users aged 18 and older were in the workforce, either full-time or part-time, in 1997. Substance abuse in the workplace is a safety risk to the drug user and to the general public.

Drug use by employees is also costly to the business owner: increased absenteeism, workplace accidents, workers’ compensation claims, medical costs, and decreased productivity. All totalled, the cost to business is about $81.6 Billion dollars a year. With these figures, it is no wonder that many employers are requiring pre-employment drug testing, and random testing of current employees.