Drugs & Alcohol Screening
The drug and alcohol screening services is currently delivered by Synlab Laboratory Services and administered by HOPS. This service is available 24hrs a day, 7 days a week online or by phone.
If the line is busy you will hear an answerphone message. ALWAYS leave a message clearly stating your name and contact number and the Synlab Duty Manager will call you back.
Random Screening:
To arrange a random drug and alcohol screening visit, please call or email HOPS HQ. A confirmation will be issued by email confirming the booking. Two clear days’ notice is required to arrange a random screening visit.
The railway is responsible for the random selection of candidates for screening.
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You can share your PIN number for this service within your organisation as you wish, but beware that a service requisitioned using the PIN number commits the organisation to the cost. A purchase order number will not be required.
In the case of any problems, or for routine matters regarding the service, please contact HOPS HQ.
More Details
Location of Test Site
Sample collections can be made at virtually any business address in the UK, providing there are proper facilities as described below. On arrival at your worksite / premises, the collection technician will contact the nominated representative.
On-Site Facilities
It is essential that a representative from your company is present whilst the testing is in progress. This is to safeguard both the donor and the collection technician throughout the process.
The collection sites must be suitable and secure; for urine collections lockable storage or a secure area should be provided for the donor to hold valuables / pocket contents whilst the collection takes place. The facilities should afford visual and aural privacy for the donor and allow access only to authorised persons.
For urine collections, there must be a toilet and wash basin for the exclusive use of the donor(s).
The collection technician will advise your on-site representative about the fine detail and take precautions in accordance with best practice. For example, they will add a coloured dye to the toilet cistern and bowl and tape up any taps so that the urine sample cannot be diluted. They will also remove any potential adulterants such as bleach and cleaning fluids. Access to the site will be secured using signs.
Finally, a quiet area will be required so that the documentation, including details of medication taken, can be completed in private. This could be a small office or a quiet corner of a larger one.
It usually takes about 20 minutes to collect one sample from one donor; therefore, a combination of tests (e.g. urine and breath test) will take about 30 minutes to complete so you should arrange for donors to arrive for testing at these intervals. You should provide a suitable waiting area for them.
Sometimes a donor will have a ‘shy bladder’ i.e. they will be unable to provide a sufficient sample. In this case the donor will be asked to go to the waiting area and drink sufficient fluid to enable them to provide enough urine, i.e. up to 250mls of water every 20 minutes, with a maximum consumption of one litre.
During the waiting period a member of your staff should remain with the donor.
Donor Identification
Before the collection technician takes a sample, they will seek positive identification from the donor to ensure that they are whom they say they are, and that someone else isn’t giving the sample for them in order to ‘beat the test’. Photo identification is the surest method (e.g. passport or driving license), or confirmation from a railway manager who signs to confirm the donor’s identity. The railway manager identifying the donor must be in a position of authority over the donor and provide information stating who they are which will be recorded on the collection paperwork.
Existing Medication
Donors will be asked for details of any medication they have taken within the last 14 days.
Alcohol Test
The collection technician will collect a breath sample to measure alcohol levels using a Dräger 6810 / 6820 electronic breath alcohol monitor. The collector will take one breath sample from the donor. If the reading on the monitor is zero, there will be no further testing.
However, if the reading is anything other than zero, a second sample will be collected approximately 20 minutes later. This will determine whether the donor’s blood alcohol level is rising or falling, and your on-site representative will be able to make an informed decision about the donor’s suitability to return to work, and the nature of the duties that the donor can safely undertake.
A new mouthpiece will be used for each breath sample, even for the same donor.
The breath test will measure the amount of alcohol in the donor’s breath. The result on the Dräger instrument used will be expressed in either ‘mg/L’ (milligrams per litre) or ‘‰’ (promil). For comparison purposes, the drink drive limit in England and Wales is 80 milligrams per 100 millilitres of blood. On a Dräger 6810 / 6820 monitor, this would be equivalent to a reading of 0.80‰ or 0.35mg/L.
Drugs Test
The collection technician will collect a urine sample.
The sample will be packaged up under chain of custody conditions and sent to the laboratory for full analysis. No initial result will be available to you at the point of sample collection.
Laboratory Analysis and Reporting of Results
The laboratory screen involves initial immunoassay-screening to identify those samples that are non-negative. If at this stage the sample tests negative for the drugs in question the results will be communicated to the railway contact nominated at the time of setting-up the service, or deputy nominated by them. The account contact will be required to state the PIN number before the results will be communicated.
Samples identified as non-negative on the initial test will be subjected to further confirmatory analysis involving Liquid Chromatography / Mass Spectrometry (LC/MS). If the confirmation test detects a drug in the sample, a Medical Review Officer (MRO) will conduct a preliminary medical review. This will establish if this represents drug abuse or whether the drug has arisen from the consumption of a legitimate medication, either prescribed or over the counter. The final result will be conveyed to the railway contact in the manner described above, normally within five to six days of the sample reaching the laboratory.
Donor identities and results are known to HOPS HQ. There is no way to avoid this while maintaining a central account for all railway sites. As with all such data, HOPS maintains sufficient security to ensure the confidentiality of this data.
Test Results
The result of all on-site testing will be conveyed verbally by our collector to the donor and the railway representative. A copy of the testing form(s) will be forwarded to the railway representative. The donor will also be provided with a copy of the documentation and the printed result of the breath test.
It is important to note that collection technicians will not be able to provide advice or guidance on any test results.
If you would like help to understand the results obtained please contact HOPS HQ, and we will arrange for a qualified technician to discuss the results with you.
Subject identities and results are known to HOPS HQ. There is no way to avoid this while maintaining a central account for all railway sites. As with all such data, HOPS maintains sufficient security to ensure the confidentiality of this data.
Compliance With Your Working Practices
In addition to complying with their employer’s laboratory policies and procedures, collection technicians will comply with your rules and regulations, so far as they are known, including:
– No smoking
– Self-identification (photo ID badge)
– Booking in and out on your premises
– Parking on site
– Equal opportunities in service delivery
Please make any requirements known to the collection agent when they arrive. If you have any other special requirements that have not been addressed here, or a requirement that will cause an unduly time delay to the collection technician, please advise HOPS as soon as possible.
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