Companies are always looking for ways to save money and one of the best ways of doing that is in health costs. Health insurance is an expensive thing and any savings in that regard are good savings. A lot of companies are now offering discounts on health insurance for non smokers as these employees generally cost less in terms of healthcare. The issue that the companies have has is that people tend to lie to get the discount, for this reason various tests to check a person for traces of nicotine have been developed.
Oral Swab
A sample is taken from the employee through the use of a swab which is rubbed gently on the inside of their mouth. The sample is then put into a collection vial and sent to a lab for analysing. It takes around two weeks for the results to arrive and they’re generally sent out by post.
On-Site Saliva Test
Employees give a saliva sample by spitting into a funnel which transfers the sample into a collection tube. This saliva is used on a testing card which will show nicotine traces in just over 20 minutes. This method is fast and efficient
Nicotine Finger-stick Blood Test
A small sample of blood is put onto a collection cards, normally just a drop. This sample is sent off to the labs and are analysed, results are made available to the employee five to ten days later. This test is much more accurate as it’ll show nicotine in the blood and let the company know if an employee has smoked over a lot longer period of time.
All of these tests are viable are suited to different situations, it’s down to you to decide which is most useful and whether the savings made would be worth putting a system like this into place.
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