Most large manufacturing companies have some form of drug testing in place to reduce these risks and costs, according to the American Management Association. The typical method is to use lab services. But lab testing is expensive and can require up to three days for results, which can create additional expense and risk. Technically, there is little difference between onsite drug testing and lab testing. Typically, a lab utilizes an immunological-assay for initial screening of urine samples, which is similar to most rapid drug test technology.
Onsite testing follows the same procedures.
Utilizing onsite drug testing reduces logistics and scheduling conflicts associated with getting a job applicant to the lab, and it eliminates no-shows at the lab. Because results are immediate, the risk of applicants accepting an offer from another competitor are reduced. Onsite drug testing also works well for temporary personnel or daily workers because results are available in minutes. Usually, a supervisor must accompany an employee sent to the lab for drug testing, but onsite testing reduces the expense of travel time and interrupted work flow. When testing follows an incident, all affected employees and a supervisor must travel to the lab.