What happens if drug test comes back diluted

Creatinine is a waste product that is consistent in normal human urine. A urine specific gravity test compares the density of urine with the density of water. These two tests are routinely performed on every urine sample that is evaluated at the Lab.

When the lab reports a specimen as dilute, there are certain levels of creatinine and specific gravity that determine that the specimen may be dilute. This means that the donor consumed a larger quantity of water before providing the urine specimen.

This may be normal as many folks drink a lot of water for health reasons or because of a fear of not being able to urinate at the time of the drug test specimen collection. This may be abnormal as perhaps the donor is drinking an excessive quantity of water in an attempt to cheat on the drug test.

First and foremost, if the report from your Medical Review Officer is Positive Dilute, the result is Positive and the company should follow policy for the Positive result. The indication that the specimen was dilute may be interesting, but it is not relevant to the handling of the positive test result.

If you get a final result from the medical review officer MRO that says Negative Dilute, you have two options. You should choose one of these two for your drug free workplace policy and stay consistent. There should be no violation consequences for a negative dilute drug test result.

It is a negative result but could potentially be suspicious because of the amount of water in the urine. For negative dilute results, the first question is whether or not the testing program is a regulated program — Federal employees or DOT drug testing. If it is a regulated testing program the following guidelines apply:.

In the regulated drug testing program negative dilutes are managed in one of two ways depending on the creatinine levels. The policy should either be to accept the result as is or to have the donor go for a second collection. In other words, an employer may decide to re-collect all pre-employment dilute negatives, but not random dilutes, or vice versa.

Sample policy language for regulated DOT drug testing programs can be found in the section below. The above guidelines for negative dilute drug test results can also be used for non-DOT programs, this is a best practice.

Your Company drug free workplace policy could specific different options. In no situation should a negative dilute drug test result be considered a violation of company policy. In non-regulated drug testing programs, the decision on how to handle the Negative Dilute drug test is an employer decision. It is highly recommended that a policy is developed in advance on how to handle these results.

Sample policy language for non-regulated or Non-DOT drug testing programs can be found in the section below. With a positive diluted drug test, the laboratory picks up the presence of an illegal substance despite its dilution. With a negative diluted test result, it is unknown whether the person had any drugs in their system because there are two possible conclusions. First, the participant may be drug-free but simply consume a lot of fluids.

Second, the participant may engage in drug use but successfully disguise this through dilution. Your email address will not be published. Tips to avoid Negative Dilute Drug Tests Not drinking excessive water which may lead to false negative result as well as sample rejection Advise the client to have 1st morning urine because it is concentrated urine.

Second, the participant may engage in drug use but successfully disguise this through dilution. For this reason, an employer should not consider a negative diluted drug test result grounds for rejecting a job applicant or firing an employee. Instead, they should schedule a second drug test and do their best to prevent dilution the second time around.

To prevent both accidental and intentional dilution of drug test results, employers, participants, and testing centers are encouraged to use the following tips:. We can help you further explore your options so that you can select a testing methodology that reflects your wants, your needs, your concerns, and your budget.

With our corporate office based in Springfield, Missouri , we offer customized solutions to make drug testing simple, and our nationwide network of clinics and providers allows Tomo Drug Testing to be available anytime, anywhere.

For a free needs analysis, give us a call today at or contact us online. This would mean that the test, if positive , would not report to the clearinghouse as DOT only allows for DOT urine samples. The employer can choose other options like a hair follicle or saliva drug test , which are both conducted under direct observation. Contact our office for help in developing a testing protocol for a dilute drug test.

Illicit drug users who test negative dilute often slip through the system and get hired more often than one would think. Sometimes, these users will get caught through random testing or reasonable suspicion testing.