Does a reading of “.001” indicate alcohol use?

Does a reading of “.001” indicate alcohol use?

No.  Even for programs with a “zero tolerance” policy we recommend using a cut-off level to define a positive test.  When using an Alco-Sensor instrument we recommend a cut-off level no lower than .01 for substance abuse treatment programs, and no lower than .02 for workplace.  

That means that for substance abuse programs a result of .009 would be treated as a negative test, and a workplace program would treat a result of .019 as a negative test.  See our related article on zero tolerance testing for a more in depth discussion.