AlphaBiolabs has seen a 68% rise in sales for employee drug and alcohol testing over the past 12 months and will now offer clients workplace medical assessments. Tony McDonough report

DNA and drug testing business AlphaBiolabs is now offering workplace medical assessments as part of its service to meet soaring demand from clients.

The Warrington firm, which carries out DNA testing on behalf of ITV’s Jeremy Kyle Show, has seen a 68% rise in sales for employee drug and alcohol testing over the past 12 months.

Now it is investing a six-figure sum to roll out medical appraisals nationwide through its network of walk-in centres and sample collectors. The move will help AlphaBiolabs meet demand from companies across a range of sectors.

The company has introduced fit-for-work medicals to examine physical and mental capacity for specific jobs or tasks, assessments for people working at height, in safety-critical roles, confined spaces and specialist environments, and personal track safety assessments for Network Rail trackside roles.

The assessments include blood pressure, hearing, sight, lung function, oxygen levels, mental health, musculoskeletal fitness and cholesterol. They are tailored to sectors including construction, rail and other forms of transport, oil and gas, utilities, manufacturing and logistics.

Rachel Davenport, commercial director at AlphaBiolabs, said: “Our drug and alcohol testing service has been producing legally-defensible results for companies across the UK for over 14 years.

“Combining our testing know-how with medical assessments makes perfect sense for our customers and the business, and is a natural extension to our portfolio of services.
“Over the past 12 months we have increased workplace drug and alcohol testing sales by 68%.

“As a result of this growth, the number of related inquiries for medicals to accompany those tests has increased significantly, so we have decided to invest in this new complementary workplace medicals service to offer a complete testing package.”

AlphaBiolabs also sells home DNA testing kits via Liverpool-based discount retailer Home Bargains. The kits have provided extremely popular and are priced at just £4.99 – although people then have to pay £99 to have the results tested at the lab.