The first time Mark Williams Sr. took a drug test, he was surprised that the person collecting his urine had to make sure it passed a temperature test.
“They put a temperature thing on the bottle,” says Williams, 27, who took his most recent drug test last September so he could work for Certified Mechanical Co. Inc., a plumbing, heating and air conditioning company in Apopka, Fla. In his adult life, he has passed more than a half-dozen pre-employment or random drug tests.
“I never even thought about how people could bring in something with them,” he says.
As a drug-test veteran, Williams now understands that screening employees must follow strict procedures to discourage cheating during the five-minute tests. For example, requiring the urine to register a temperature between 90 and 100 degrees Fahrenheit makes it more difficult for a drug-user to smuggle in a “clean” sample provided by a friend.
There are other procedural requirements. So if you’re going to take a urine-based drug test for the first time, here’s what to expect:
– Be ready to prove your identity by producing a drivers license, passport, employee badge or other official-looking picture identification. For a job-related drug test, your supervisor can vouch for your identity in person.
– The person administering the test starts “chain of custody” procedures to limit tampering opportunities. You provide some basic personal information such as your Social Security number and address, and the person administering the test breaks the seals on the collection kit. “You’re allowed to see that the kit hasn’t been tampered with,” says Christine Claussen, owner of RN Expertise Inc., a drug-testing company in Altamonte Springs, Fla.
– You have to remove your coat and hat and empty your pockets. “They don’t have to strip, but they have to take off their outer garments,” says Pat James, health services and facilities consultant supervisor for the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration in Tallahassee.
If you carry a purse or briefcase, you must surrender it during the test. You can keep your wallet with you as long as the screening agent is allowed to check it for possible contaminants. “We are not allowed to frisk or search anyone in any way,” Claussen says. This part of the procedure makes it harder for people to smuggle in liquids or other materials that could be used to dilute the sample.
– Next, you will be led into a bathroom, where you’ll have to wash your hands with soap.
– After that, you might be led into another bathroom — one that doesn’t contain anything that could dilute the sample. “The toilet has to have blueing in it so you can’t dilute the sample with the water from the toilet,” says Barbara Bauer, supervisor of Florida Hospital Corporate Health, a drug-testing company in Orlando. Other water sources, such as the top of the toilet tank and the sink spigots, should be covered with tamper-evident tape.
– In most cases, you will be allowed to do your business in private, but the test administrator must stay close. “We listen at the door for any rustling,” Bauer says, adding that test-takers have as long as three hours to produce a sample. “If they cannot supply a specimen, then it’s assumed that they choose not to supply.”
If you can’t go, you fail, unless you can prove that you are medically incapable of urinating.
– You will be told not to flush the toilet when you finish. “You might be able to dilute the sample with fresh water if you flush,” Claussen says.
– When you return the sample to the test administrator, he or she will note the sample’s temperature, Bauer says. The sample has to be between 90 degrees and 100 degrees Fahrenheit. Most fresh samples will be slightly cooler than the normal body temperature of 98.6 degrees.
If the sample’s temperature is out of range, you might have to provide another, and you might have to provide it with someone of the same sex watching over you.
– After filling the collection cup, you’ll return it to the test administrator, who will place a seal over the top of the container and then place it in a tamper-evident plastic bag. Then everything goes into a box, which also is sealed. The person taking the drug test initials every seal on the sample container to limit opportunities for tampering.
Says Claussen, “You get to watch every move I make.”
– Your sample is then taken to a lab, where it is tested for between five and 10 illegal drugs. The most common “five-panel” test screens for marijuana, cocaine, amphetamines, PCP and opiates.
About 5 percent of the people Bauer screens test positive for illegal drugs. About 2 percent of RN Expertise customers fail their tests, Claussen says.
Now that Mark Williams has done the drug-test drill, he’s no longer shocked by any part of the procedure. “I have no problem with it,” he says. “If people can’t pass the test, it just opens up more jobs for me.”
