At the program’s inception, this automotive industry giant operated 14 manufacturing plants and over 1,500 dealerships, employing over 30,000 people.

“Safety is a priority in everything we do.”
With a firm commitment to safety, this company’s goal is to provide team members and their families with a safe work environment, and to deliver its customers a safe, quality product.

To achieve its safety goals, the company implemented a Psychemedics hair drug testing program in 1993 to screen job applicants for drug use. After seeing significant value in the results of the Psychemedics pre-employment hair testing program, and realizing what a positive impact an even more robust program could bring, the company also added a random testing program for the current workforce utilizing the same hair test. Random testing is a long-term deterrent to on-the-job drug abuse and is critical to maintaining a drug free workplace. It eliminates the problems caused when applicants temporarily stop drug use during the application process, passing the anticipated drug screen, and then resume use once hired. Random testing also detects and deters current employees with drug abuse problems. Implementing a random testing program in addition to pre-employment testing maximizes the overall effectiveness of a drug screening program.

The company chose Psychemedics because of its history as a pioneer of hair testing, and its leadership role in providing a proven test that detects habitual users by delivering a 90-day history of usage. Short term abstinence is eliminated as an evasion tactic. The company was also pleased with the quick turnaround time on results, and the exceptional client portal that allows MROs to view results.

To initiate the program, a sweep of the managers was first conducted, followed up by random testing of the entire workforce. Employees were first given the option to come forward and admit to drug use, which put them in a “monitoring program” where they took an initial baseline test, then were tested quarterly for two years (6% of employees at one plant came forward). Any positive results after the baseline test then resulted in termination.

When new sites are introduced to Psychemedics random testing, they begin by testing a higher percentage of the workforce. As the positive rates quickly decrease, the sites are able to gradually reduce the testing rate to a much lower percentage of the workforce.

The program’s deterrence value became apparent. As employees recognized that drug use would be detected usage declined and the overall positive rate steadily decreased.

This comprehensive dual approach maximizes savings by keeping drug users and their associated costs out of the workforce, and minimizes the cost of the program by reducing the rate of random testing over time.

The success of the random employee testing program led to the additional implementation of contractor testing (including random), to ensure that all workers on the premises are held to the same standard.

For over three decades, Psychemedics Corporation has been the world’s leading drug testing company using hair. Psychemedics’ patented hair analysis technology is trusted by Fortune 500 companies, police forces, courts, schools and parents all over the world.