Is hair analysis appropriate for other workplace drug testing?
A.Because hair testing detects drug use over a long period of time, ususally aroung 90 days, it is not an appropriate method for post-accident or reasonable suspicion testing. In both of these situations, the result should detect the drug use of an individual as close as possible to the time of the incident. Urine combined with a breath or blood alcohol specimen is the appropriate sample for this type of testing. There are employers who are using hair analysis for random testing and there has been interest in using this type of sample for abstinence monitoring post treatment. Currently, however, the vast majority of employers who use hair testing use it solely for pre-employment and use urine for random, post-accident and reasonable suspicion testing.
