Goldstar Transport waves goodbye to urine drug testing

Container logistics expert now controls drug testing in house with hygienic and fast fingerprint method, supporting FORS guidelines and promoting driver safety
“We are saving time on each and every drug test by switching from urine testing to the fingerprint method,” Nick Tolley, Goldstar Transport

Goldstar Transport, the UK’s market-leading container haulier, has switched out urine tests for fingerprint drug testing. The company employs approximately 600 LGV drivers, 170 office staff and 40 container lifter staff and is now using fingerprint drug testing to promote health & safety adherence across its 14 site UK-wide operations. The company purchased six portable readers from Intelligent Fingerprinting and has been conducting random drug tests each month to adhere to FORS (Fleet Operator Recognition Scheme) guidelines, whilst also using the in-house system to support for cause testing.

Nick Tolley, Driver Compliance Manager, Midlands Depot Manager for Goldstar said: “We had looked at fingerprint drug testing a few months back, but it was still quite a new technology, so we held fire. However, we have been tracking it carefully and with more and more companies switching from urine to fingerprint sweat for workplace drug testing I can now see why! We’ve purchased six readers to use across our 14 sites and, together with the single use sample collection cartridges, we can do the initial random and suspicion drug testing ourselves in-house.

“We’ve now been using it for around four months and everyone prefers it over the old urine tests. Intelligent Fingerprinting’s approach is much more hygienic and less intrusive for both our employees as well as those in charge of the testing. It takes less time so has less impact on productivity – saving 5-10 minutes on each test soon adds up! Drivers consistently provide a fingerprint sweat sample, so we aren’t subject to the delays due to not being able to gather a sample etc, and we have on site results with one of our six in-house scanners in 10 minutes. In comparison to the urine tests where we were equipped with gaffer tape, toilet blue and rubber gloves, Intelligent Fingerprinting is a lot more straightforward!”

Terry Elvin, Goldstar’s account manager at Intelligent Fingerprinting said: “Fingerprint drug testing has actually been successfully used in the workplace for a while now. It is reliable, accurate and saves time and therefore costs for our clients – not only in the transport and logistics space but in other workplaces as well. With six readers across 11 locations the Goldstar team has the in-house facilities to test as and when they like, enabling the company to positively promote driver safety.”

Intelligent Fingerprinting’s simple fingerprint-based sweat test takes around 10 minutes to screen for cocaine, cannabis, opiates and methamphetamine, using a portable reader and disposable test cartridges. The system is hygienic and easy to use, and offers a more dignified and convenient approach to drug testing than conventional tests which require urine or saliva sample collection. Goldstar Transport is using fingerprint drug test for random testing – to help ensure drivers are fit for driving – and also to support for cause testing, should an accident occur, or suspicion be raised. The digital reader displays the results on screen – eliminating the need for interpretation of results by colleagues and therefore acting as an impartial part of the process.

Fingerprint-based drug testing – how it works
Intelligent Fingerprinting’s drug testing system features a small, tamper-evident drug screening cartridge onto which ten fingerprint sweat samples are collected, in a process which takes less than a minute. The Intelligent Fingerprinting portable analysis unit then reads the cartridge and provides a positive or negative result on-screen for all drugs in the test in ten minutes.

An introductory video demonstrating fingerprint-based drug testing in action is available here.
For media information contact Cheryl Billson at Comma
Email: [email protected] Tel: +44 (0)7791 720460

About Intelligent Fingerprinting
Intelligent Fingerprinting’s portable Drug Screening System works by analysing fingerprint sweat. It is non-invasive, fast and cost-effective, with sample collection taking seconds and simultaneous screening for multiple drug groups in ten minutes. A laboratory confirmation service is also available.

The system has applications within many sectors and customers include employers in safety-critical industries such as construction, transport and logistics firms, drug treatment and family safeguarding organisations, as well as UK coroners. The company has distributors across the globe, including the USA.

Founded in 2007, Intelligent Fingerprinting was a spin-out company from the University of East Anglia (UEA). The company is based in Cambridge, England, employs around 40 people. On the 4th October 2022 GBS Inc. (Nasdaq: GBS), a life sciences company developing non-invasive, real-time diagnostic testing for patients and their primary health practitioners at point of care, announced it has acquired Intelligent Fingerprinting Limited (IFP), thus expanding the GBS platform of rapid, non-invasive diagnostic testing technologies. You can read more about the acquisition here www.intelligentfingerprinting.com

About Goldstar Transport
With its head office in Felixstowe, Goldstar has an extensive UK network of 14 depots across England. The company was established in 1998 with a fleet of four Scanias. By 2015 annual turnover hit more than £110 million, with Goldstar handling over 1,400 movements per day. The company specialises in container transport, specialist trailer services and expertise for non-standard jobs and provides off-dock storage facilities at four key locations around the UK www.goldstartransport.co.uk