Safety must always be the first concern in any working environment. This is particularly true for safety sensitive workplaces, such as mining, transport and heavy industry.
Drug testing is one measure to help ensure this happens and may be done for pre-employment, random screening, and “for cause” testing.
For those requiring workplace drug testing, either as a Regulator, Specifier or employer, an accurate test result is crucial in making informed decisions. There are three interdependent stages of workplace drug testing services, these are sample collection, onsite or laboratory screening and laboratory confirmation and everyone needs to have confidence in workplace drug testing services and know that they are reliable and competent to deliver the correct answers.
A “false negative” test result, which says a person does not have drugs in their system when they really do, may lead to serious outcomes for the individual and those around them. Alternatively, a “false positive” result may also have serious consequences, such as the worker being unnecessarily stood down from duty and unfairly penalised and/or stigmatised.
Where can it go wrong?
All processes in a workplace drug testing service, from sample collection through to the issuing of a test report, must be managed competently and be under complete control.
A failure in any part of the service can result in incorrect and unreliable results.
Drug test samples need to be taken in accordance with documented procedures, placed in appropriate containers that will not result in contamination or sample degradation and be accurately labelled and made secure.
If samples are stored for any time, or transported for testing, they need to be kept in appropriate conditions and with adequate security to ensure chain of custody. Extended delays in transport may compromise the sample and the test result.
Only appropriately validated and verified test methods and devices must be used, with robust internal quality control and external quality assurance measures in place.
Why accredited drug testing matters
The key to confidence in any test result lies in the collective competence of all those involved in, such as:
- managing the collection of the sample;
- transporting the sample securely under appropriate conditions;
- undertaking the testing; and
- reporting the result.
For employers operating their workplace drug and alcohol management plans, NATA accreditation is one of the key tools you can use to provide confidence in the integrity of a testing system.
For those that may be the subject of drug testing, NATA accreditation is a means of having confidence that your sample will be obtained, transported, stored and tested by a service that has the competence and capability to deliver a reliable result.
For government agencies and regulators, NATA accreditation facilitates the policy objective of providing a safe working environment.
It is in the practical demonstration of this competence where NATA accreditation proves its value.
The NATA difference
NATA has accredited drug testing facilities against the Australian standards for decades. Laboratory drug testing accreditation began when AS 4303 was first published in the 1990s, and on-site screening accreditation began with the publication of AS/NZS 4308:2008 in 2009.
When a drug testing facility wants to become NATA-accredited, it subjects itself to a third-party on-site assessment of its competence and capability to deliver reliable test results. This third-party, peer assessment process is carried out by NATA’s network of technical experts.
NATA currently offers accreditation under AS/NZS 4760:2019 dealing with oral fluid testing for the following:
- Section 2 – Collection, storage, handling and dispatch;
- Section 3 – General laboratory requirements;
- Section 4 – Laboratory screen testing ;
- Section 5 – Laboratory confirmatory procedures;
- Appendix A – On-site screening test procedure; and
- Appendix B – Additional testing
NATA currently offers accreditation under AS/NZS 4323 dealing with urine testing for the following:
- Section 2 – Collection, storage, handling and dispatch;
- Section 3 – Onsite screening test procedure;
- Section 4 – General laboratory requirements;
- Section 5 – Laboratory screening procedures; and
- Section 6 – Laboratory confirmatory procedures.
If you would like to learn more about accredited drug testing contact NATA on 1 800 621 666