Author: Kiarna Suckling

People can adulterate a sample in a number of ways. As a tester it pays to be aware of what substances and methods can be used in adulteration.

• Water – Water is a very common adulterant used to dilute the level of drugs present in a urine sample. Dilution can be done by scooping or pouring water into the drug cup, or simply drinking excessive amounts of water before providing a sample.
  We recommend using Blueing tablets to help prevent urine samples being tampered with.
• Bleach – Bleach can be added to the sample to interfere with the detection of drugs and cause false results. This is often smuggled in under the fingernails.
  We suggest asking the donor to thoroughly wash their hands with warm soapy water before providing a sample.
• Salt – This can be added to make a sample more concentrated in the hope of covering any presence of drugs.
• Creatinine – All cups verified to the standard will test for creatinine levels. If you see a low level of creatinine, the sample is likely to have been diluted. A high level of creatinine can mean synthetic creatinine has been added to the sample to mask the drugs present.
• Synthetic Urine – This can be used instead of the donor providing a sample. Synthetic urine can be hard to detect once it has been provided as a sample, but is often easily found on the donor prior to a test.
  Temperature checks on most urine cups can also help detect if synthetic urine has been used.

This is only a few of the most common methods of adulteration – unfortunately, there are plenty more.

Bleach, Drano powder and pool cleaning chemicals are all oxidants and can be used to adulterate a drug test.

After you have asked the person to:

• remove shoes and outer clothing, and
• pat themselves down

… get them to wash their hands well, using soap and water. It is important to make sure that their is attention to the donor washing underneath all fingernails.

This will prevent any chemicals being smuggled in that could be dropped into the drug test.

Following the provisions of the Privacy Act generally means that you get rid of information as soon as you no longer need it. However, this is overruled by other forms of legislation which require records to be kept for longer.

Regarding drug testing, there is nothing explicitly spelt out in any standard or legislation.

Here’s how it’s handled for other forms of testing:

• The National Pathology Accreditation Advisory Council (Australia) recommends 7 years, for laboratory reports
• The Health (Retention of Health Informaion) Regulations 1996 specifies that healthcare providers keep patient records for a minimum of 10 years from when they last provided services to that patient
• The Health and Safety at Work 2016 Act has a section regarding storage of health monitoring records. This specifies at least 30 years after the record is made, if the testing is non-asbestos-related. If it involves testing for asbestos-related diseases, 40 years.

It’s possible that if you conduct drug testing, you’d be considered a provider under the Health (Retention of Health Information) Regulations 1996.

4 Definition of provider
…(k) any other person who provides, or holds himself or herself or itself out as providing, services to the public or to any section of the public, whether or not any charge is made for those services.

How long you should keep drug test results ultimately comes down to what you say in your company policy.
To be safe, you should keep them a minimum of 10 years. If you’re carrying out health monitoring also, keep the drug test results for 30 – 40 years!

If you carry out random drug testing on 5% of your team each month (60% yearly), you will:

1. catch out people who are impaired at work
2. create a culture of awareness where people don’t come to work impaired

The second reason is the biggest benefit of drug testing.

It’s similar to police carrying out roadside alcohol testing.
The possibility that there might be a checkpoint on the road tonight encourages people to plan ahead so they don’t drive drunk.

The possibility that there might be a random drug test tomorrow encourages people to avoid taking drugs which will impair them at work.

Like police checkpoints, drug testing needs to be:

• Regular (there’s a possibility that testing will be happening)
• Unpredictable (but I can’t predict with certainty whether they’ll be there, best to play it safe)
• Consequential (if I get caught out, I could lose my job… it’s not worth it)
• Ongoing (I’ve got away with it so far, but testing keeps happening and I know I’ll get caught out at some point)

The Medix pro-split drug cup and the Sure Step drug cup are very identical. They look the same, are used in the same way, cost the same, and are made by the same people.

The only difference is the Medix cup has one less test strip than the Sure Step. This means the Medix is more likely to run a consistent test, as there is more urine available per strip!

Watch this short video below to learn more:

Random drug testing is carried out on a random selection of the team.

The intention of random testing is awareness: to ensure people think “It’s work tomorrow and I could be tested” so they make choices that will keep them and others safe at work.

We encourage customers to ensure their random testing is actually random.
It’s fairly common to carry out “random” testing which happens to include someone you are suspicious of.
If you are suspicious of them, it’s for a reason! Have a discussion with them, test them under a reasonable cause provision, and take action on a confirmed positive drug test – or have a further discussion about what else might be wrong if you get a negative drug test.

Actually-random testing often means picking up problems that you aren’t aware of, before it escalates.

If you’re having troubles with controls, it’s more likely to be the controls you are using, rather than the cups you are testing!

A large part of this is due to the storage requirements for controls. Here’s an outline of what the spec sheet for the Detectabuse brand of controls says:

Unopened:
Stable until the expiration date when stored in the freezer (-10ºC to -20ºC) or the fridge (2ºC to 8ºC).

Opened:
Stable for up to 6 months when stored in a freezer (-10ºC to -20ºC). Can be thawed/frozen up to 5 times.
Stable for 31 days when stored in the fridge (2ºC to 8ºC).

Most testers around the country are storing controls solutions in the fridge, but are unaware that the controls will become unstable after a month!

The Lifeloc FC10 is our recommended breathalyser for personal use testing. It is very reliable and will last you 10 + years if looked after! This breathalyser is verified to the AS 3547:1997 standard. It does not comply with the new AS 3547:2019 breathalyser standard.

These great little gadgets help us to keep New Zealand families safe, particularly on the road. They have the ability to test in passive and auto mode, and come with a water-proof, shock-proof case!

If you have any questions, give us a call on (02) 7255 1279.

When you consume alcohol, it goes through the digestive system and into your bloodstream.
As your blood circulates through your lungs, it releases ethanol vapour which comes our in your breath.

Any alcohol content in your breath has come from deep down in your lungs, and is constantly renewed from the alcohol content in your bloodstream.

There’s a lot of myths about what you can do to reduce your alcohol level. They’re almost all based on doing something in your mouth, which doesn’t work, because the alcohol comes from… your lungs!

For example:

• Eating mints doesn’t reduce your alcohol level. It makes your mouth feel fresh, but it doesn’t do anything for the alcohol from your lungs.
• Sucking on a lemon also doesn’t work.
• Sucking on coins doesn’t work for the same reason.
• Using something to soak up liquid in your mouth will only work (briefly) if you have alcohol in your mouth. It won’t do anything for the alcohol on your breath.
• Having liquid air fresheners in the car doesn’t do anything to help your alcohol level, and are actually counter-effective! These are usually made up of fragrances dissolved in ethanol. When you clip an air freshener onto the air vents in your car, the air blows through and sends the ethanol circulating around your car. You’ll end up with a low level of alcohol in the air of the car… not enough to affect you, but enough to be picked up by a breathalyser.
• Pills and medications such as Quick-Eze don’t work… These go into your digestive system, and it’s multiple hours before they’ll do anything to your alcohol level (if they even do anything at all).

There are things that do work to reduce your alcohol level: drink plenty of water, and eat plenty of food. These take time, and reduce your alcohol level by diluting the amount of alcohol present in your bloodstream.

Does your company experience any of the following?

• Repetitive staff absences with little or no explanation
• Constant low-level machinery and vehicle damage
• Instances of dishonesty and theft
• Large variations in productivity from day-to-day with individual people, i.e mood swings, erratic behaviour, and forgetfulness
• Tasks completed poorly or not at all
• High levels of disciplinary actions undertaken
• Sudden unexplained drops in performance
• Particular individuals that pick fights, or are often irritable

These are common symptoms seen when someone is abusing drugs. If they’re erratic at work, they’re also unsafe at work.

If they get hurt in an accident, what is your legal liability in that case?

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