Saliva, hair or urine: which type of workplace drug testing is right for you?
The Alcohol and Drug Foundation reports that in Australia, ‘…one in nine [people] have worked under the influence of illicit drugs, like methamphetamine or opioids.’ This presents a serious risk to workplace safety, productivity, and legal compliance, and it should be a priority for businesses to have proper workplace drug testing measures in place.
Choosing the right drug testing method is a critical decision for any workplace. It affects not only the accuracy and relevance of the results but also how the process aligns with your safety policies, operational needs, and workforce expectations.
Plus, it’s important to consider what your team can work with the best.
We’ve broken down the three most common types of workplace drug testing: urine, saliva and hair testing. And help you determine which is most suitable for your workplace.
Urine workplace drug testing: reliable for recent drug use over several days
Urine testing is the most widely used method for workplace drug testing and is ideal for detecting drug use over the previous 2 to 5 days, depending on the substance.
Urine ‘…cleans out the blood and, as a result, it contains a record of what a person has been ingesting in the recent past. Thus, urine tests can usually detect use in the previous 1 to 3 days, but not longer term use.’
The urine test can detect a range of substances, including amphetamines, methamphetamines, benzodiazepines, barbiturates, cannabis (marijuana), cocaine, PCP, methadone and opioids.
Advantages:
Detects a broad range of drugs over a longer period than saliva tests.
Suitable for pre-employment testing, random testing, and return-to-work programs.
Complies with Australian Standard AS/NZS 4308:2023, ensuring legally defensible results.
Considerations:
Requires bathroom facilities for sample collection.
Some employees may perceive it as more invasive than saliva testing.
Does not directly measure current impairment, just recent use.
Urine testing is suitable for:
Industries where impairment poses serious safety risks, such as mining, construction, manufacturing, logistics and government agencies.
Workplaces seeking a reliable method for identifying patterns of drug use, not just recent use.
Saliva (oral fluid) workplace drug testing: detects recent use and current impairment risk
Saliva testing detects the presence of drugs used within the past 12 to 24 hours for most substances, with cannabis typically detectable for up to 12 hours.
Advantages:
Simple, fast, and non-invasive.
Can be performed anywhere onsite—no need for bathroom facilities.
Reflects recent use, making it a good indicator of possible current impairment.
Complies with Australian Standard AS/NZS 4760:2019.
Considerations:
Has a shorter detection window than urine.
Particularly effective for cannabis, detecting active THC rather than inactive metabolites, meaning it measures more immediate risk of impairment.
Suitable for:
Industries where testing for current impairment risk is critical, such as transport, aviation, logistics, construction and healthcare.
Businesses looking for high acceptance rates from employees due to the less intrusive nature of the test.
Hair workplace drug testing: the long-term view
Hair testing provides a view of drug use over the previous 90 days or longer, making it highly effective for uncovering patterns of repeated use.
‘Hair grows at about half an inch per month and usually a one-and-half-inch sample is required to detect drug use in the previous 90 days…’ according to Australian Institute of Criminology Research and Public Policy Series.
Advantages:
Detects long-term patterns of drug use.
Difficult to cheat or tamper with.
Useful in situations requiring thorough screening, such as legal disputes, executive roles, or sensitive security positions.
Considerations:
Does not detect recent or one-off use in the past few days.
More expensive than urine or saliva testing.
There is no formal Australian standard for hair testing, but AusHealth adheres to the Society of Hair Testing international guidelines, ensuring best-practice collection and analysis.
Suitable for:
Pre-employment screening for high-trust roles, such as executives, law enforcement, healthcare professionals, transport operators, mining and construction workers, and anyone in positions involving safety-critical tasks, sensitive data, or significant financial, legal, or compliance responsibility.
Court proceedings, tribunal matters, or any scenario requiring evidence of historical drug use.
It’s worth considering which test is right for your workplace. The right choice depends on your objectives, detecting current impairment risk (saliva), monitoring drug use over several days (urine), understanding long-term use patterns (hair).
As well as your needs and policy, it comes down to the timeframe you are working with. Results from our saliva and urine workplace drug testing are available within minutes. Non-negative results and hair tests are sent to a lab for confirmation; results can take 7 to 10 business days.
At AusHealth Diagnostics, we support businesses, government agencies, and industries across Australia with comprehensive drug and alcohol testing services. It’s also really important to know that as a registered charitable organisation, our profits directly support Australian medical research. That means we offer your business a socially responsible choice without compromising on quality, accuracy, or compliance.