Employing New Drug Testing Technologies to Tackle Evolving Safety Challenges

Recreational marijuana laws are forcing employers to reassess drug testing to ensure workplace safety. New technologies are helping them contend with this challenge.

  • By David Kopf
  • Apr 24, 2024

Workplace drug testing has existed for decades with lab-based urine testing being the dominant test method for much of that time. However, new technologies have ushered in new approaches, which could have come at a better time given how recreational marijuana laws could impact worker safety. Bill Current, the president and founder of the Current Consulting Group, joins the OH&S SafetyPod to talk about those laws, innovations such as oral fluid testing, and how those technologies are helping employers maintain safe and healthy workplaces.

Download or stream this episode today at Apple Podcasts, Spotify and more.

A special thank you to OraSure Technologies

 OraSure’s drug and alcohol testing portfolio is a minimally invasive, observed collection to detect recent drug use. The Intercept® and OralTox® Oral Fluid Tests offer a simple collection process, reduce sample tampering, and provide accurate results. Q.E.D., OraSure’s point-of-care alcohol test, offers quantitative ethanol detection with a high correlation to blood levels, and SwabTek our newest product launch can detect drugs on surfaces, and in suspected paraphernalia, within 30 seconds. Visit www.orasure.com to learn more.

About the Author

David Kopf is the publisher and executive editor of Occupational Health & Safety magazine.

Product Showcase

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  • Safety Knives

    The Safety Knife Company has developed a quality range of safety knives for all industries. Designed so that fingers cannot get to the blades, these knives will safely cut through cardboard, tape, strapping, shrink or plastic wrap or a variety of other packing materials. Because these knives have no exposed blades and only cut cardboard deep, they will not only protect employees against lacerations but they will also save product. The Metal Detectable versions have revolutionary metal detectable polypropylene knife bodies specifically for the food and pharmaceutical industries. This material can be detected and rejected by typical detection machines and is X-ray visible. 3

  • SwabTek® Cannabis Test Kit

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