Let’s start with the basics
What are pre-employment drug and health screenings?
Pre-employment drug and health screenings include occupational health tests and controlled substance checks to determine a candidate’s fitness and eligibility for a role. Employee drug testing and pre employment medical screening can look like clinical or traditional drug screenings, onsite drug screenings, and occupational health screenings.
Why is understanding a candidate’s health important?
Workplace Safety
Health and drug screens help determine a candidate’s ability to safely perform certain roles. Industries like transportation, healthcare, and manufacturing regularly run employment drug testing to stay compliant and reduce the risk of accident or injury.
Compliance Standards
Following industry regulations to meet compliance standards is imperative, especially when hiring at scale. In order to safeguard your business, you need a trusted partner to easily manage pre-employment physical and drug screens.
Checkr’s drug and health screenings
Multi-Panel Drug Screening
Test for the presence of alcohol and controlled substances to determine a candidate’s fit and eligibility for a role.
DOT Pre-Employment Screening
This package is a commercial-grade test regulated by the DOT and includes a seven-panel drug screen, physical, detailed employment verification, and commercial MVR check.
Lab-Based Drug Screening
Lab-based drug screens are the most accurate way to test for the presence of drugs, though they may take longer than on-site screenings.
On-Site Drug Screening
A faster and less expensive alternative to lab-based drug screenings, the accuracy of on-site drug screens is lower, but they are a viable option for certain industries/workplaces.
Occupational health screenings
Determine a candidate’s physical fitness for a job with a specialized medical evaluation. Checkr’s integrated suite facilitates candidate self-schedule and aggregates documents. Tests include:
- Audio
- Blood pressure
- Mental Health/Stress
- Musculoskeletal
- Respiratory
- Skin
- Urinalysis
- Vision
- Titers and Vaccines for MMR, Varicella, TB, and others
What is occupational health?
Occupational health screens include physical tests, vaccines, and other pre-employment health screenings that assess a candidate’s physical job readiness.
Who needs an occupational health screen?
Any worker who must be physically fit to do their job must meet certain fitness tests such as warehouse workers, drivers, and those who work with hazardous materials. Occupational health checks allow you to test for the physical requirements of a position, including vision tests, respiratory fit tests, and tests for TB and other communicable diseases. Similarly, many healthcare workers require verification of immunizations before working with patients.
Clinical and on-site drug screenings
Screen for the presence of alcohol and controlled substances with Checkr’s nationwide network of 600+ labs. Our panels can be customized for your hiring needs. Tests include:
- Alcohol
- Amphetamines
- Barbiturates
- Benzodiazepines
- Cocaine
- Marijuana
- Methadone/Methaqualone
- Opiates
- Phencyclidine
- Propoxyphen
How do pre-employment physical and drug screenings work?
1. Requesters issue an invitation to participate in the pre-employment drug test or occupational health screen.
2. Candidates must then schedule and complete their appointment before the deadline set by customers.
3. Results are posted to the Checkr Dashboard as follows:
When an occupational health check or pre-employment drug screening has been completed, results are posted to the Checkr Dashboard and to the Candidate Portal.
Once the pre-employment drug testing has been completed, results are returned to Checkr as Negative or Positive and can be viewed in your Checkr dashboard.
- Negative indicates that the employment drug screen revealed no evidence of the listed substance.
- Positive indicates that the test revealed evidence of one or more of the listed substance(s)
4. All results are submitted to a Medical Review Officer (MRO) for additional processing.
In accordance with the interview findings and relevant prescription information, the MRO will make a final determination of the result. Once the result has a verified disposition, Checkr returns the result through the Checkr Dashboard.
Keep in mind that some states have specific laws or guidelines relating to pre-employment drug tests and occupational health checks in relation to employment. For example, most states require a conditional offer of employment be made before requiring candidates to submit to a drug test or occupational health check. Please work with your legal counsel to ensure that you are meeting these requirements.
The Checkr difference
Oftentimes, recruiters get bogged down with calls and questions about lab locations and results. This is not only time-consuming, but these questions are often ones the recruiter can’t answer, so candidates get frustrated and drop out of the funnel.
Checkr’s technology helps recruiters manage the employee drug screen and occupational health screening process to improve the candidate experience, reduce candidate drop off, and improve report ordering efficiency.
What to keep in mind when performing pre-employment physical and drug screens
Candidate Experience
With Checkr’s efficient portal your team is able to filter clinic types and candidates can self-schedule. If a dispute arises a medical review officer will be engaged automatically.
Industry-specific regulations
Some industries, like commercial transportation and healthcare, are overseen by regulatory bodies which have specific requirements regarding pre-employment screenings.
Your company’s drug policy
Beyond legal sanctions, your company will define the terms for a given role. Work with your in-house legal counsel to create your drug and health screening policy.
Federal, state, and local laws
Be aware of the laws governing health and drug tests in your jurisdiction, which in some cases require screenings to be later in the hiring process. Work with your in-house legal counsel to understand your legal obligations.
Why combine health screenings into background checks?
Checkr’s integrated suite handles the logistics of scheduling candidates and interpreting results. So you can manage your data in a central system with tailored or turnkey solutions.
