Drug testing is a process whereby companies make use of scientific methods to determine whether their employees use illegal drugs within the workplace. Although the practice, the practice violates fundamental individual human rights that can have negative effects on the morale of the workers. The issue has also generated lots of debate due to its controversy. Those for, argue that it has been effective in knowing whether employees are engaging in activities or behaviors that can damage a companies image and reputation. The process usually involves obtaining urine samples from the suspected worker and sampling it for the suspected drug.
The introduction of drug tests in the United States has improved the working conditions significantly and workers’ morale has gone up because they feel safe within their environment and this has resulted in increased production hence companies can enjoy financial health because the employees are healthy.
In the contrast, those against drug testing claim that it is very invasive and violates human rights on privacy. Testing workers to some extend, imply that employers do not trust their workers. The big question is whether the process is ethically or socially desirable to the employees as some employers demand. In some cases, the employee’s right to privacy is violated if employers collect their personal information and use it in other ways to undermine the employee either willingly or unwillingly, resulting in a poor employee and employer relationship.
In my opinion, many drug-testing laboratories do not operate according to the required standard and regulations. This has made them less reliable, thus their standards should be harmonized throughout different states to ensure they conform to the general standards.
To eliminate biases within workers, the companies must carry out more than one test on the identified worker; this is an additional cost that small company may not bear thus pushing their operational cost at the expense of concentrating on production.
The future of drug testing within the American institutions is bound to even increase as most companies tend to ensure safe working conditions as increased production and low liabilities remain their main agenda in business. It is expected that new guidelines will change the regulations regarding workplace drug testing, and the range of samples taken widened to cover other forms of body fluids that can give better results in comparison with the old method that relied on urine as the main fluid to test for drugs. The specimens collected should be examined for drug traces immediately under the new regulations to avoid cases of contamination or substitution will other specimens that are to be tested giving a false report on certain employees.
In conclusion, persons who use drugs within the organization became a huge liability to themselves, the public, and colleagues in the workplace. Their production levels are usually very low when compared to other workers who do not use drugs. They have a high injury level which means a high cost to the company in treating the affected workers.
The idea is noble but workers need to be prepared in advance through all the available communication channels. The main critic of drug testing claims that it does not spot causes of workplace accidents and inefficiency especially fatigue.