Podcast: Hair Drug Testing

In this edition of MRO Talks, Dr. Todd Simo, HireRight’s Chief Medical Officer discusses the benefits of using hair as a specimen for pre-employment drug testing programs. Compared to urine testing, hair is resistant to subversion tactics (adulteration or substitution). Rather than the hours or days covered by a body fluid test, hair covers a period of months, which helps ensure that a drug user cannot evade the test by simply abstaining for a few days. Review the podcast below to learn more about the benefits of hair testing.

HireRight Podcast

The Advantages and Benefits of Hair Drug Testing
By: Dr. Todd Simo
Length: 2:59

      Hair Drug Testing

Audio Transcription:
Welcome to the next edition of MRO Talks, this is Dr. Todd Simo the Chief Medical Officer of HireRight. In this edition, I’m going to talk about hair testing. I know in the last several months I’ve done a great deal of talks, webinars and papers on oral fluid testing and I believe now is the time to give hair its fair shake. So, hair testing in my opinion is the ideal specimen for pre-employment testing. The reason I say this is as follows: Hair testing has a long detection window. Therefore you can’t just stop using drugs over the week prior to your pre-employment test and pass that hair test. The testing window for hair depending on hair length can go up to 90 days. Hair testing is subversion resistant. Therefore you can’t really study for a hair test by buying adulterants or trying to subvert the specimen when it is being collected. Hair testing is not time sensitive. Donors don’t need to be compelled to go to a collection site during a narrow window of detection. Urine has a detection window of about two to three days for most analytes looked at in this testing and about seven days for marijuana. Hair testing with its long window does not require that the donor go quickly to get a test. Therefore, a donor can wait and you as a company can wait to have that drug screen collected since hair testing is not time sensitive. And this built-in delay is actually a very positive thing for the candidate experience. Hair testing has a very high donor fear factor. I’ve been quoted before as saying “10 out of 10 people who use illicit drugs know it.” And when they know it and they are trying to get a job with a company, they may look at what is published on that company’s recruiting website and they may see that hair is used as a specimen and so they won’t, so to speak, apply for that job. When your policy alone deters drug users from applying that is actually the drug test that has the highest return on investment. No money spent and you mitigated them from coming aboard. So for these reasons, I recommend hair testing. This is Todd Simo signing off, have a safe and productive day.

HireRight

HireRight is a leading provider of on-demand employment background checks, drug and health screening, and electronic Form I-9 and E-Verify solutions that help employers automate, manage and control background screening and related programs.

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