Understanding Random Numbers

With SYSTOC's Random number generator you can generate a list of random employees by number assigned and you can view the assigned numbers by looking at the Random Pool History Details.

When you ask for both drug and alcohol selections, the larger sample (usually drug) is used as the group from which the smaller alcohol sample is selected. This is for the convenience of the client company—it causes the minimum disruption of the workplace because the total number of persons selected is smaller than it would be if two separate random drawings occurred.

Occasionally there are concerns that the same employee is selected for random testing again and again. This is partly a result of the size of the pool, and partly the nature of random numbers: no matter how many times you have been selected previously, your odds of being selected the next time are exactly the same (assuming the pool size has not changed), just as a coin toss always has a 50-50 chance of being heads every time, even if it has been heads for the past 30 tosses.

We have prepared a letter that explains how the random selection process works. You can obtain a copy of the Random Pool Compliance letter from the Customer Resource Center: https://ul.custhelp.com (login required). Customize the letter to include your clinic’s name and address, and send it to your random drug testing clients.