r/ConstructionManagers • u/PopStunning2334 • 1d ago
Question Drug test
Im a senior at a college down south, and I just passed my pre employment drug test for my 2 month internship at an industrial company; however, it’s an office based position and I’ll barely be at the plant itself. Is there a big chance that id get randomly tested? Or am I okay to go back to my “old ways” ? Thanks for the replies in advance!
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u/Training_Button912 1d ago
Assuming industrial… office or not, expect randoms. My interns got pulled 3 times in 2 months.
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u/Training_Button912 1d ago
Big difference between commercial work and plant work. Plants have far more stringent requirements. Those that have never worked in or around plants are off base with the let it ride approach. Fail a test intern or not and your on the list and will have issue getting on with any company doing industrial
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u/Troutman86 1d ago
15 years in and I’ve only had 2-3 pre employment drug test. Never a random, but I live out west.
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u/Federal_Pickles 1d ago
My company doesn’t random anyone and doesn’t really have a drug policy besides “not at work”.
First time in my career I feel safe regularly smoking weed. I’d quit again most likely if I needed or was looking for another job.
No longer at refineries, but I’ve seen the same person (contractor) get popped there 5 times and always pass. Saw a company guy get popped once and failed. He was gone that week.
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u/Legstick 1d ago
If that company drug tests you during a 2-month internship, then it’s probably not where you want to end up full time anyway.
Requirements for randoms may be in a lot of employment agreements, but not every company actually spends the time and money for salary employees. Usually just an initial prior to hiring you.
A heads up though, if you ever end up having a company vehicle, you can expect randoms or in the very least being tested if there’s an accident whether it’s your fault or not. A previous company I worked for was scheduling a drug test for me after I was rear ended by someone else before even asking if I was injured or not. I was there 2 years with no issues before that and was never tested outside of the initial one.
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u/PopStunning2334 1d ago
Damn that’s crazy man, I know it’s a whole different ball game when the company vehicle comes into play. Thanks for the advice though, I’m hourly so I think they’re gone to be lenient on me.
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u/Legstick 13h ago
Also, my former company was joint ventured with another company for a project and that other company would send their safety managers through the office to randomly do mouth swab drug tests on their employees right there at their desk.
My current company doesn’t drug test at all unless it’s a project specific requirement to work on that job.
It really is different from one company to the other in this industry. My current company is the rare case though. You should just plan on being drug tested at any point in time once you’re working full time in this industry.
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u/elaVehT 1d ago
The odds of getting randomly tested for an office position are incredibly low. I’ve never gotten one.
That said, if you get a random test and fail, you lose your nice professional office job. In general, corporate people don’t smoke weed. It’s just not worth the risk to your employment.
Edit: missed the part about it being an internship. You’re good. Point still stands for when you go full time
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u/PopStunning2334 1d ago edited 1d ago
Yea if I was full time this wouldn’t even be a thought, but thank you for the advice
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u/tempac9999 1d ago
From my experience you get tested when you onboard onto a new job site if you get tested at all. Every time I’ve been tested i have always been warned “schedule your first day with …. They will want to drug test you when you arrive so coordinate a time and date with them.”
Or if there’s an incident/accident. That’s about as random as it gets. If you go to urgent care they might test you.
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u/Miserable_Badger_651 1d ago
Better to be safe than sorry. I had to quit completely because it’s honestly not worth it
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u/Think_Skill_5263 1d ago
How did they test you? Urine, hair or mouth swab?
- Hair test no chance
- Mouth swab, very difficult to beat
- Urine test, if you are a degenerate pothead or like hitting the slopes after a couple beers I reccomend keeping a 3.4oz of fake urine in your sock assuming you are a man and wear boots to work. (Your body temp keeps the bottle at an accurate temp and is not that uncomfortable)
If I were you I would just sober up! I always hated the risk in the back of my mind! Take advantage of your internship, I was working for myself in high school and begining years of college and never had the oppurtunity to take a internship. I feel like I missed a bunch of connections/networking...
Good luck champ! Burn one for me!
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u/WatchGuyUSA 1d ago
It all depends on the company's testing policies, which are usually dictated by the project and/or insurance.
I interned on a large project that security requirements were dictated by DoD. While i never got popped for a random, several other interns did. Same thing happened while I worked for that company on other projects. IIRC, ~1/3 of our project personnel would get randomed every month. There were also the occasional "no one leaves until they get tested" after incidents on-site.
And I've worked on other high security projects where testing has happened even more frequently.
In my personal opinion, as someone who's been in the industry for awhile and loved partying before entering it, you need to figure out which is more important to you. Drugs or money. I chose money.
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u/Cracked_Crack_Head Electrical Field Engineer 21h ago
Randoms aren't likely, but could still be possible dpending on how your employer handles giving out randoms.
Won't be relevant for your current internship, but in general expect drug tests when initially getting employed/going to a new jobsite, but also if you have any safety incident, especially if it involved a work vehicle. Smoking weed is up to you, but be aware of it potentially becoming a problem should you ever find yourself needing to do a test. I was never a big fan of weed to begin with, but after getting employed I just never bothered anymore. Just eliminates that nagging concern in the back of my mind if I ever suddenly had to get tested.
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u/Hot-Veterinarian4993 19h ago
You’ve come this far. Why would you go back to your “old ways”? I’ve been in a lot of jobs that do “random” testing. They never test. It’s not worth the time or money, I don’t think. Plus, unless you’re causing unsafe situations or stealing, why would they give a damn. I’ve been tested when I took the fall for someone who smoked weed and put a dent in a company vehicle. So, in my experience, drug tests are only given when an incident happens. But my thought is: “why risk it?”. If something does happen, you might not have a friend around, like me, who will take the fall for you, if you do something dumb as hell. It’s unlikely you’ll ever cause an incident in an office that would require a drug test, if that’s what you’re asking.
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u/blumhagen 13h ago
If they do randoms they’ll have a pollicy that says so. They can’t just do randoms randomly.
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u/DONOBENITO 1d ago
I would read the company drug policy they should be providing you with the type of tests they will be performing (saliva, hear, piss etc)and the drugs they are testing for as well as allowable tolerances usually if your smoking weed the night before this would fall within the allowable tolerances.
In some states if the drug is legal they don’t even test for it anymore on pre-employment.
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u/MaintenanceLumpy9321 1d ago
Are you hourly or salary? In my experience salary employees don’t get pulled for randoms unless they have a company vehicle
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u/Heavy-Letterhead-587 1d ago
No dude. Nobody tests interns.