Why Your Employees Like Hound Labs

I want to shift the conversation and focus on employees. This blog outlines the reasons why employees like the HOUND^® CANNABIS BREATHALYZER and why employers should consider adding testing for recent cannabis use to their drug testing programs.

1. SAFETY 1^ST

Employees in the United States have insisted upon safe and reasonable working conditions for centuries. Unions began forming as early as 1794 to protect workers, and in 1970, Richard M. Nixon signed the Occupational Health and Safety Act to assure safe and healthful conditions for working men and women.¹ As my colleague Louisa Ashford wrote in a recent blog, safety issues related to cannabis misuse catalyzed the Federal government to mandate drug testing in 1991. In an era when most adults in the U.S. can choose to legally use cannabis, safety still matters. Employees do not want to sacrifice safety because the legal status of cannabis has changed. One human resource professional shared that most people do not care what their coworkers choose to do after work hours, they just do not want their coworkers to use cannabis during the day and create safety concerns for others. That’s where the HOUND® CANNABIS BREATHALYZER can help – it pinpoints recent cannabis use which aligns with the impairment window.

2. FAIRNESS MATTERS

As much as safety matters to employees, so does fairness. The fair treatment of workers can also be traced throughout the history of unions – from the formation of the National Labor Union (CLNU) in 1869 to improve the working conditions and quality of life for African Americans² to the 1909 “Uprising of the 20,000” women working in the New York shirtwaist industry³. Fairness continues to be at the forefront of modern-day employment discussions, especially now that the legal status of cannabis has evolved. Conventional cannabis tests have long windows of detection, providing positive results for days, weeks, or months after impairment subsides. So, the legalization of cannabis created an unexpected dilemma for most American working adults: How do I balance my right to legally use cannabis with my need for safety? Luckily, Dr. Mike Lynn, CEO of Hound Labs, Inc., created a cannabis breathalyzer which balances workplace safety and employee. privacy because it only measures recent cannabis during the few hours that it remains in breath.

3. OBJECTIVE AND UNBIASED RESULTS

The scientists and engineers who developed the HOUND® CANNABIS BREATHALYZER focused on automation – simplifying many complex steps to avoid human error. As Dr. Lynn wrote about in his blog about evaluating a cannabis breathalyzer, the Hound Labs team automated the process of analyzing breath samples to ensure objective and unbiased results. This greatly benefits employees because the Hound^® solution provides instrument-read results – avoiding the need for humans to interpret test results and eliminating the potential for bias when deciding if a sample is considered negative or positive.

4. EASY-TO-USE

Employees who used the HOUND® CANNABIS BREATHALYZER on-site liked its ease of use. Some liked the fact that the HOUND^® CANNABIS BREATHALYZER stopped automatically when a sufficient breath sample had been collected. Others commented on how easy it was to self-administer the test – simply breathe into the handheld portion of the unit for approximately two minutes.

5. IT’S NOT MESSY OR GROSS

Another aspect of the HOUND® CANNABIS BREATHALYZER that employees noticed – no mess. They thought providing a breath sample did not have the “yuck” factor that they’ve experienced with providing oral fluid or urine samples. In addition, some employees noted that providing a breath sample took much less time (approximately two minutes) compared to an oral fluid sample. A couple of employees spent almost 8 minutes providing an adequate oral fluid sample.

6. PRIVACY, PRIVACY, PRIVACY

When employees choose to drink alcohol after work, their employers do not know about this personal choice – that’s because if an employer collects a breath sample via an alcohol breathalyzer, it will not provide a positive reading for employees who drank a beer at a BBQ days, weeks, or months before the test. That’s another issue with conventional cannabis tests of oral fluid, hair, or urine – the long windows of detection provide information to employers about whether an employee chose to use cannabis – a choice that most employers agree should remain private. The HOUND® CANNABIS MARIJUANA BREATHALYZER has a detection window of just a few hours, which means that employees who use cannabis on Friday night will not risk positive results on Monday morning.

7. ON-LOCATION COLLECTION AND PROCESSING

The vast majority of employees test negative during workplace drug testing and, therefore, should return to work as quickly as possible. That’s why on-location or point-of-care (POC) testing appeals to employees (and employers). From an employee’s perspective, workplace drug testing can be divided into two main steps: providing a sample during the collection process and waiting for results to be returned. The HOUND® CANNABIS MARIJUANA BREATHALYZER collects, analyzes, and reports on breath sample results within minutes without creating the need for employees to leave the workplace. This means less time spent with the logistics of the collection process.

8. RESULTS WITHIN MINUTES

The second step of the process – waiting for results – sometimes requires employees to miss work while they wait for a lab to process results. The waiting period, even if employees continue to work, can be anxiety producing. The HOUND® CANNABIS BREATHALYZER will provide on-site collection and analysis, delivering answers within minutes and creating peace of mind for most employees who will test negative.

9. RECOGNITION OF THE RIGHT TO CHOOSE TO USE CANNABIS

Another reason that employees like the HOUND® CANNABIS MARIJUANA BREATHALYZER is that it offers employers a way to demonstrate to employees that they respect their individual choices. By implementing the Hound solution to test only for recent cannabis use, employers reduce the risk that employees will test positive for past cannabis use. Reducing positive results from cannabis use days, months, and weeks before the test protects employees’ jobs and their privacy – demonstrating that employers respect and want to retain their workforce.

10. GREAT DOG LOGO

While it might not rank #1 on the list of reasons why your employees like Hound Labs, we receive very positive feedback on our logo. At one location, after using the HOUND® CANNABIS BREATHALYZER, employees proudly wore their Hound Labs gear to show to their coworkers. The Hound^® dog logo serves as a good reminder of what makes the HOUND® CANNABIS BREATHALYZER unique: Dogs have an ultra-sensitive sense of smell (they can sniff in parts per trillion⁴) – like the ultra-sensitivity of our breathalyzer, which can measure in parts per trillion. The ultra-sensitivity of the HOUND® CANNABIS BREATHALYZER allows employees to feel confident that their safety can be balanced with fairness when employers use it provide objective results that identify only recent cannabis use.