If you do not want to employ any individual who uses drugs, you can make sure that you have a drug free workplace by requiring employees to take a drug test. This could be a condition of gaining employment and you can also require random drug tests of your employees as well. Keep in mind that if you want to drug test your employees, the burden of paying for the drug tests falls on you. There are two different types of drug tests that you should know about, oral fluid drug testing and hair drug testing.

Oral Fluid Drug Testing

With oral fluid testing, generally one's urine is collected. Urine can allow you to detect drugs that are in someone's system right now. If you want to use random drug testing on your employees, oral fluid testing is a good choice. With an oral fluid testing, you can know right away if your employees are using drugs right now.

This can be useful if an accident happens on the job or if an employee acts suspicious or strange on the job. This is where an oral fluid drug test can work, assuming you have the employee take the drug test on the same day the accident or strange behavior happens; this will allow you to see if any drugs were impacting the actions of your employees. You are liable for your employee's actions, so an oral fluid drug test can help you reduce your liability.

Hair Drug Testing

If you want to make sure that an employee has not used drugs for an extended period of time, a hair drug test is the way to go. An employee's hair can provide you with a longer drug-use history. When drugs are metabolized from your body, they can get incorporated into your hair as they exit your bloodstream. For a hair drug test, multiple strands of hair are required, not just one. A hair drug test can let you know if the person you are hiring has been drug free for the past three months. This will help you hire someone who did not just give up drugs for a week or a weekend, but who you know is committed to a drug-free life. 

Oral fluid drug tests work well if you need to know if an employee is using drugs right now, and hair drug tests work better at letting you know if an employee has been using drugs over the past few months. For more information about these methods, contact companies like Pecos Drug Testing.