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.