After reading the article, Law on employees taking polygraph test, Anne-Marie Seale, a Hartbeespoort Dam-based forensic handwriting examiner with experience in forensic polygraph tests writes:
Thank you for the article on polygraph testing and here is further information.
There is no authority regulating polygraphists and their examinations in SA. There is a professional body, South African Professional Polygraph Association (Sappa), which polygraphists may join if they wish.
Sappa has strict guidelines according to which polygraphists must operate to ensure test validity. The association based its validity guidelines on that of the American Polygraph Association.
For a polygraph examination to be valid, certain procedures must be followed to stimulate examinees psychologically. If all the procedures are followed, the minimum duration of an examination is 90 minutes. A polygraph examination conducted in less than 90 minutes is, therefore, invalid since it is not accurate.
Did you know if you sent enquiries to most polygraph companies in South Africa, they will inform you proudly that their examinations have a duration of between 15 and 45 minutes, from start to end? This is unacceptable on too many levels.
When a polygraph examination is not accurate, innocent people fail their examinations. Which means money spent on an investigation could be written off as a waste since the problem will continue and innocent people may have been dismissed, becoming victims themselves. If a person, for example, worked at a company for more than 10 years and is fired because of a breach of trust where he failed a polygraph examination, he will not be hired again by any company because how is he going to account for those 10 years on his CV and the reason for his dismissal?
I have been in the industry since 2001 and I know of people who have been murdered or committed suicide as a result of polygraph results.
Most companies have it in their policies or employment contracts, that employees will be subject to polygraph examinations where honesty is questioned.
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