Secon Brochure by North American Constructors Journal

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SECON:

Keeping Your Workplace Safe and Substance-Free SECON of Lafayette, LA provides the collection and screening services necessary for companies to enforce a drug-free environment Written by Kevin Doyle Produced by Stephen Marino

www.drugscreen.com

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www.drugscreen.com

orking safely in industry today requires strict enforcement of a zero tolerance substance abuse policy. SECON of Lafayette, LA provides the collection and screening services necessary for companies to create that drug-free environment. Established in 1982, SECON was purchased by DISA Global Solutions, Inc. in November 2017 and provides service for more than 1,000 domestic and international Gulf Coast clients in the oil & gas, construction, transportation and manufacturing industries among others. The company is involved with more than one million collections and tests each year and the deep experience of its staff makes it a leader in substance abuse management and testing. Managing Director Stacy Breaux has been in the business for 26 years and with SECON for the past seven. “We are unique because we offer both TPA (Third Party Administrator) services and we have a collection site where we perform drug, alcohol, hair, saliva, and DNA collections/ testing. We service customers 24 hours a day, seven days a week and 365 days a year,” she says. “We will travel where the customer needs us to, when they need us to, whether it is offshore, at a hospital or out of the region. If it is needed, we will fly and conduct tests in the middle of the

www.drugscreen.com

SECON | 4 night, no ifs, ands or buts.” The company employs a modest staff of approximately 40 at its Lafayette headquarters and at a collection site in Houma, LA and its mastery of technology sets it apart. The company provides secure results that employers are able to retrieve at any time from a system that securely stores each client’s information. “Because of our IT platform, we know what goes where and we know what we need to keep and what we don’t need to keep (recordkeeping per DOT requirements),” Breaux explains. “Industry requires monitoring and safety comes first. The customer wants a clean partner and we are in the business of saving lives and keeping insurance costs down. We make a difference for employers and their employees’ lives,” she adds.

People and Training SECON’s labs are SAMHSA certified and its Medical Review Officers are certified by multiple agencies. Especially noteworthy is the fact that two SECON employees are Certified Substance Abuse Program Administrators (C-SAPA’s) authorized to run drug-testing programs. Fewer than 150 individuals hold that certification in the United States. The company invests in intense

“We have a network of sites for urine collection and alcohol testing. We just don’t hire someone and put them out there. There is a lot of training after hiring an individual or a subcontractor. Our subs are all certified in the areas they need to be. The vetting process is substantial,” Breaux points out. The company seeks individuals with specific personality traits and skill sets. Its turnover rate is

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Industry requires monitoring and

safety comes first. The customer wants a clean partner and we are in the business of saving lives and keeping insurance costs

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training upon hiring new employees, or when bringing aboard a new sub-contractor.

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down. We make a difference for employers and their employees’ lives.

- Managing Director Stacy Breaux

www.drugscreen.com

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relatively low and many employees pre-date Breaux’s arrival.

individuals who may be ready to take that next step.

“We do look for certain traits. We want longevity, we want folks that want to grow with us, and we want folks that have a certain set of skills. All of our staff goes through a massive amount of training. As part of the training they take a day to work in each department in the company so they get a feeling for the work flow,” Breaux says.

“Folks that want to grow into leadership and management are able to attend conferences to help them to refine their skills for those roles,” says Breaux.

SECON’s preference is to promote from within and the company’s small size makes it easy to observe those

www.drugscreen.com

“I know each employee and the managers and I work closely observing the staff to see who is good at what they do and is ready for the next step. When a leadership role opens we let folks know what we are looking for. The employees know who would fit into the role,” Breaux says.

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Day to Day Breaux spends the majority of her time in the office, implementing company policy and strategic plans while working closely with six top-level managers.

“The seven of us have 75 (combined) years of industry experience. It is much easier knowing I have them backing me up,” says Breaux, who also works hand in hand with the company’s Business Manager to allocate and monitor finances.

SECON’s service and the quality of its work are unmatched. In addition to its drug and alcohol testing screening services for private industry, the company performs laboratory services for the criminal justice sector, including drug courts and pre-trial diversion programs, and also offers background checks, collection site management and DNA testing. “Basically, we can handle your total program. We find collection sites, we do training and our employees really care about what they are doing for each of our customers. Clients are

www.drugscreen.com

SECON | 8 synthetic product commonly called K2 and Spice. Synthetic marijuana compounds are linked to numerous serious side effects that can be life-threatening, including seizures.

loyal to us because we are their one-stop shop and they know they can count on us. There are a lot of companies that say they are 24/7/365 but they don’t answer the phone – we do,” Breaux points out. “Our employees are knowledgeable and friendly. When a customer calls here, whoever answers the phone should know the answer to their question. Our response time is amazing. Our employees love what they do and it shows in their work,” she adds.

Meeting The Challenge SECON is equipped to test the entire spectrum of illicit drugs – amphetamines, barbiturates, bath salts, buprenorphine, etc. – but the newest compound is a

www.drugscreen.com

“Employers don’t know what to do and it is causing a lot of havoc in the workplace. As soon as labs find out how to test for (K2), the people manufacturing it change the compound. There are more than 30 compounds. It is very dangerous and it is not regulated,” Breaux notes. Medical marijuana is another big issue. Keeping up with each state’s laws and knowing whether they are allowing medical or recreational

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Education is the key –

and not just the classroom, but the “street” knowledge and keeping up with what is going on in the world and

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our cities.

- Managing Director Stacy Breaux

SECON | 9 marijuana use can be very challenging. We keep current in order to help our clients with policy development and unemployment/ ADA issues. “Education is the key – and not just the classroom, but the “street” knowledge and keeping up with what is going on in the world and our cities. In order to keep up with day-to-day issues, we attend conferences like SAPAA or DATIA Our industry is very good about sharing information,” Breaux concludes. Whatever it takes in the interest of safety.