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Discrepancies in Drug Tests for DOT Compliance

This was issued by Datia or more formerly The Drug and Alcohol Testing Industry Association.  For those in the trucking and transportation industry,it is important to remain current with DOT compliance issues. As the Drug Test is one of the major background checks concerning DOT compliance, I encourage all trucking and transportation companies to review this posting.

 

During a conference call with Department of Transportation (DOT) officials earlier this week, DATIA learned of numerous errors being seen in regards to DOT specimen collections. These errors were brought to our attention due to the large numbers of occurrences being seen. As such, and at the request of the DOT, DATIA would like to bring focus to these errors as well as provide you with best practices that can be used to ensure compliance with applicable DOT regulations. Should you have questions on any of these items, please do not hesitate to contact DATIA.

 

€              Custody and Control Forms (CCFs) received are illegible. **Collectors

should review all copies of the CCF prior to distributing them to ensure that they are legible. In regards to copies that are to be faxed, if the writing is light then collectors should make a darker copy to be sent via fax.

 

€              MROs and Employers are reporting that they are not receiving their

respective copies of the CCFs despite multiple requests. Per DOT regulations, collectors must send the CCFs within 24 hours or the next business day and must keep their copies of CCFs for at least 30 days. **A best practice in ensuring that this requirement is met is to maintain a copy of the fax transmittal form with the CCF. Just because you hit ³send² on the fax machine does not mean it went through. Only with a fax transmission receipt (can configure any fax to do this) can delivery be confirmed.

 

€              Collectors are not marking step 1D in the CCF to indicate the

transportation mode that the collection is for (FAA, FRA, FTA, FMCSA, etc.).

**This is a new step for the CCF and collection sites should be sure to post notices within the collection area reminding collectors to mark this information on the CCF. As with other steps, this automatic inclusion will become second nature with time.

 

€              The donor initialing of the specimen bottle labels is being done while the

labels are on the CCF contrary to DOT regulations that require the labels be signed on the specimen bottle. **Again, collection sites are encouraged to post reminders to complete this step as required within the collection area.

 

 

€              Collectors are not adequately informing donors that leaving the collection

site prior to the completion of the collection process (with the exception of pre-employment tests) is considered a refusal to test. **A best practice to ensure that this is not an issue within your collection facility is to instruct collectors to make a note in the remarks line that states, ³Donor notified that leaving prior to completion of the collection is considered a refusal to test.² This way the notification is documented.

By Gordon Basichis

Gordon Basichis is the Co-Founder of Corra Group, specializing in pre-employment background checks and corporate research. He has been a marketing and media executive and has worked in the entertainment industry, the financial, health care and technology sectors. He is the author of the best selling Beautiful Bad Girl, The Vicki Morgan Story, a non-fiction novel that helped define exotic sexuality in the late twentieth century. He is the author of the Constant Travellers and has recently completed a new book, The Guys Who Spied for China, dealing with Chinese Espionage in the United States. He has been a journalist for several newspapers and is a screenwriter and producer.

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