Return-to-work Drug and Alcohol Testing
- Support an employee’s return to the workplace
- Fastest lab confirmations – next working day if required
- Nationwide sample collection network and sample collection training
- Rapid response on-site screening
- Test and confirm a wide range of drugs and their metabolites
- Maintain a safe working environment
- Essential for safety critical industries
- Bespoke testing solutions to meet your requirements
What is return-to-work drug and alcohol testing?
Return-to-work drug and alcohol testing – also known as ‘post-rehab’, ‘abstinence’ or ‘follow-up’ drug and alcohol testing – is one of the best ways of supporting an employee’s reintegration into work, following a previously confirmed positive drug or alcohol test.
Although drug and alcohol testing is often used to maintain a safe working environment for all, and to reinforce the company’s stance on substance misuse, it can also be used to aid an individual’s recovery from drug or alcohol dependency or misuse.
Implementing return-to-work drug and alcohol testing, alongside an individual’s treatment and rehabilitation programme, ensures the employee is given a second chance, and demonstrates compassion while also reducing staff turnover.
Get a quote online now or contact our Workplace team today on 0333 600 1300 (select option 2) or email workplace@alphabiolabs.com to discuss your bespoke testing package
A third of adults aged 16-59 have taken drugs at some point during their lifetime (ONS)
What are the benefits of return-to-work drug and alcohol testing?
There are many benefits of return-to-work or abstinence testing, including:
- Demonstrating support for an employee throughout the rehabilitation process
- Ensuring employees remain committed to abstinence in the workplace
- Reducing staff turnover
- Boosting morale and productivity
- Creating a supportive environment for employees struggling with substance misuse
However, before implementing return-to-work drug and alcohol testing, you must ensure that your business has a robust substance misuse policy in place.
A drug and alcohol policy is a formal corporate document that:
- Defines the company’s stance on drugs and alcohol
- Ensures employees are kept informed on testing methods
- Outlines the frequency and grounds for testing
- Makes it clear how substance misuse issues will be handled
Having a substance misuse policy, along with back-to-lab confirmation of any non-negative test results, helps ensure that your testing is legally compliant, should an employee decide to dispute the results of the test for any reason.
Our Workplace team can help you create a drug and alcohol policy to suit the needs of your business or review an existing policy to ensure it is legally sound.
We also recommend management and employee awareness training, to embed your policy in company culture, and educate staff on the risks associated with workplace alcohol and drug misuse.
Testing methods
We offer a variety of testing methods and solutions to suit all budgets, including Home Office type-approved testing devices from leading brands.
Each testing method offers a different detection window depending on your requirements.
We also understand that a non-negative result for drugs and alcohol can bring unwanted disruption and costs: that’s why we have developed a rapid testing service to provide laboratory confirmation results the next working day, if required.
The table below outlines the recommended testing methods for return-to-work or abstinence testing, along with their detection windows – the period during which substances remain detectable by a drug or alcohol test.
| Type of test | Tests for | Detection window |
| Breath | Alcohol | Here and now / immediate results |
| Oral fluid | Drugs | Up to 48 hours |
| Urine | Drugs | Up to 4 days |
Support an employee’s reintegration into work
Sample collection options
Our drug and alcohol testing has been designed to run as smoothly as possible, from sample collection to the analysis of samples at our laboratory, and the rapid delivery of results.
We have a nationwide network of professional clinicians, who are fully qualified to collect samples 24/7, 365 days of the year.*
We also follow strict chain of custody procedures for sample collections, to ensure our drug and alcohol testing is legally defensible should an employee dispute the results for any reason.
Choose to book your sample collection with us:
- at a location of your choice, with one of our expertly-trained sample collectors
- at one of our nationwide walk-in centres – perfect if you don’t want an employee to come onto company premises for testing
We also understand that some companies may prefer to collect their own samples in-house rather than use an external sample collector.
We have therefore designed our sample collection training specifically for this purpose, so you can be confident that your staff are fully equipped to collect a variety of samples for drug and alcohol testing.
Choose from in-person training, or online training followed by an in-person, practical assessment.
For more information on our sample collection training, call our Workplace team on 0333 600 1300 or email workplace@alphabiolabs.com
*Subject to contract.
Get in touch with one of our workplace testing experts today for a no obligation quote
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