US Drug Test Centers Blog

Breath Alcohol Testing

Posted: Jun 15 2015

By: Ashlee Arnold

US Drug Test Centers offers breath alcohol testing at over 20,000 locations throughout the United States. Breath alcohol testing is conducted for both DOT and non-DOT testing programs including probation, court-ordered, and personal tests.

Breath alcohol testing devices, commonly known by the term for one type of device — breathalyzers — measure how much alcohol is currently in the blood. Our breath alcohol technicians are trained and qualified to perform the proper breath alcohol testing and provide qualified alcohol results expressed in terms of blood alcohol levels (BAC).

Personal Breath Alcohol Testing

If you need a breath alcohol test for personal reasons, give us a call. We can also help with breath alcohol testing for court-ordered tests, probation tests, child custody cases, divorce or separation cases, and other legal matters requiring testing.

DOT Breath Alcohol Testing

Employers regulated by the Department of Transportation (DOT) will need breath alcohol testing for post-accident alcohol tests, reasonable suspicion alcohol tests, and random alcohol tests. These tests are conducted on a DOT breath alcohol testing form. Be sure to specify when you need a DOT-regulated breath alcohol test. These tests are performed with evidential breath testing (EBT) devices listed on the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) conforming products list (CPL) for evidential devices. These are the only devices you may use to conduct alcohol confirmation tests under 49 CFR Part 40.

US Department of Transportation regulations considers a .04 a positive alcohol test requiring removal from driving or other safety-sensitive tasks. This is a violation of the DOT results. Results of .02-.0399 require the employee to be removed from the safety-sensitive position for 24 hours.

Non-DOT Breath Alcohol Testing

Employers that are not regulated by the Department of Transportation may also be interested in breath alcohol testing for post-accident alcohol tests, reasonable suspicion alcohol tests, and random alcohol tests. These tests will be conducted on a non-DOT breath alcohol testing form. Alcohol is the most widely abused drug, so alcohol testing is common.

shots of alcoholWhen an employee is suspected of being under the influence of alcohol, a supervisor should take the employee in for the breath alcohol test. The employee should not be allowed to drive.

Pre-employment alcohol testing is not common. However, job applicants may be required to be screened for drug and alcohol use prior to being hired. Employees may be tested for drugs or alcohol in the workplace, where permitted by state law.

US Drug Test Centers also offers urine alcohol testing, blood alcohol testing, and EtG/EtS alcohol testing. Ethyl Glucuronide (EtG) and Ethyl Sulfate (EtS) are direct ethanol metabolites reduced by a minor pathway of the liver. EtG and EtS are considered highly sensitive, water-soluble, non-volatile metabolites that can be detected at quantifiable levels in hair, urine, saliva, plasma, and body tissues up to 80 hours after use, whereas parent alcohol testing is limited to eight to 12 hours for detection of consumption.

EtG/EtS testing is sensitive down to the lowest levels of exposure and results should always be interpreted with this in mind. Many testing laboratories choose to set low cut-off levels for EtG and EtS and allow the customer to interpret results according to the individual program requirements. Testing agencies should take caution and evaluate the needs of their programs to set realistic expectations for ethanol exposure due to incidental opportunities in the environment.

Food products, Nyquil, mouthwashes, hand sanitizers, some medications, and even non-alcoholic beverages contain concentrations of alcohol that will impacts results for EtG and EtS. Presently, EtG levels above 500 ng/mL and/or EtS levels above 100 ng/mL are popularly accepted in the drug testing industry as the threshold values where direct alcohol consumption must have occurred.

US Drug Test Centers offers breath alcohol testing for DOT testing program, non-DOT employers, court-ordered alcohol tests, probation alcohol tests, and testing for other legal requirements. Contact us today with questions or to get started.


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