Drug and alcohol testing

Transportation Department, National Highway Traffic Safety, Procedures for transportation workplace drug and alcohol testing programs. Fed Reg 2000 65 79462 Fed Reg... 

The number of regulations motor carriers and their employees must follow can be mind-boggling. Compliance with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations (FMCSRs) alone ranges from employee drug and alcohol testing to vehicle inspection and maintenance. 

Procedures for Transportation Workplace Drug and Alcohol Testing Programs. 

Regulations to inform all parties who conduct drug and alcohol tests as required by the Department of Transportation (DOT) on how to conduct these tests and what procedures to use. 

Part 40 applies to all parties involved in DOT drug and alcohol testing, including employers, drivers, and service agents. 

This term (C/TPA) includes, but is not Limited to, groups of employers who join together to administer, as a single entity, the DOT drug and alcohol testing programs of its members. 

Must an employer check on the drug and alcohol testing record of employees it is intending to use to perform safety-sensitive duties ... 

Other violations of DOT agency drug and alcohol testing... 

Pre-Employment Test Inquiry — The employer must also ask the driver whether he/she has tested positive or refused to test, on any pre-employment test for any employer to which he/she applied for, but did not obtain safety-sensitive transportation work covered by DOT agency drug and alcohol testing rules during the past 2 years. 

The purpose of a public interest exclusion (PIE) is to protect transportation employers and employees from serious noncompliance with Department of Transportation (DOT) drug and alcohol testing rules by ensuring that employers conduct business only with responsible service agents. 

The DOT uses PIEs to exclude from participation in its drug and alcohol testing program any service agent who, by serious non-compliance, has shown that it is not currently acting in a responsible manner. 

Drug and alcohol testing is allowed from a single pool. 

Previous employer drug and alcohol test results. 

Background, rationale, and coverage of the DOT s drug and alcohol testing program ... 

All time spent providing a breath sample or mine specimen, including travel time to and from the collection site, in order to comply with drug and alcohol testing requirements in Part 382 when directed by a motor carrier and... 

Able to pass drug and alcohol testing Physically fit... 

Part 40 — Procedures for transportation workplace drug and alcohol testing programs... 

Your DOT drug and alcohol testing program must take priority over, and be completely separate from, any non-DOT testing program. This is required under 40.13 How do DOT drug and alcohol tests relate to non-DOT tests . 

Keep your non-DOT records separate. The DOT requires you to keep records of your drug and alcohol testing program (see 382.401), but not your non-DOT program. 

Though the Part 40 regulations are complex, you do not have to face them alone. 40.15 May an employer use a service agent to meet DOT drug and alcohol testing requirements , allows you to use service agents to carry out the DOT testing requirements. 

A service agent means any person or entity, other than an employee of the employer, who provides services specified imder this part to employers and/or employees in connection with DOT drug and alcohol testing requirements. This includes, but is not limited to, collectors, BATs and STTs, laboratories, MROs, substance abuse professionals, and C/TPAs. To act as service agents, persons and organizations must meet the qualifications set forth in applicable sections of this part. Service agents are not employers for purposes of this part. 

Shop around, but verify compliance Given the variety of tasks involved in any drug and alcohol testing program, it makes economic sense to shop around for companies that can provide those services cheaper and more efficiently than you can perform them in-house. 

For a motor carrier, this may be one of the most important sections of Part 40. Within 30 days of hiring someone, you must obtain information about his or her past drug and alcohol tests. 

Aiiowing an empioyee to drive before finding out about his or her past, in terms of drug and alcohol testing, puts your company at risk. 

You must provide all the information in your possession concerning the employee s DOT drug and alcohol tests that occurred in the two years preceding the inquiry. This means that non-DOT tests are excluded, but that you must also provide information you may have received about the employee from former employers. 

One specific area of concern for many safety professionals has been, Do HIPAA and patient confidentiality rights extend to DOT required drug and alcohol testing The answer that the DOT and FMCSA regulations do not require the driver s signature on anything except the CCF and ATF did not ease many safety professional s worries. 

The DOT has now directly addressed the question of signature requirements for the release of information pertaining to drug and alcohol testing. In a guidance issued in July 2005, the DOT clearly states that the information pertaining to a DOT required drug or alcohol test can be released to the... 

You must not release individual test results or medical information about an employee to third parties without written authorization, according to 40.321 What is the general confidentiality rule for drug and alcohol test information ... 

At present the following states have, or will soon have, a rule requiring the reporting of drug and alcohol testing results ... 

Incorporate procedures and standards into your company policies to ensure that all driver applicants are thoroughly investigated in terms of their drug and alcohol testing history. 

Prepare for problems in drug and alcohol testing by reviewing Subparts I and N and establishing policies where necessary. 

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