Motor Carrier Liability
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Your DOT Drug Program Service Agents
Your DOT Drug Program Service Agents
Today we’re starting a blog-post series covering the roles of what the DOT/FMCSA call “Service Agents.”
The FMCSA describes Service Agent as “...any person or entity, other than an employee of the motor carrier, used to help implement the DOT/FMCSA drug and alcohol testing regulations.”
When you think of Service Agents (SA) here’s who we’re talking about:
The trained urine collector (at your local collection site) who takes your employees through the approved urine collection process for DOT drug screening.
The alcohol technicians trained to perform DOT approved alcohol screening and confirmation services using Approved Breath Alcohol Testing devices with your employees having alcohol tests.
The laboratory that is responsible for processing your employees’ collected urine specimen according to the federal guidelines required by the DOT.
The doctor who serves as a Medical Review Officer (MRO) reviews results, researches and makes determination about positive results and reports your urine drug screen results to your company.
The substance abuse professional that follows DOT guidelines to work with an employee who has violated the testing regulations or gotten a positive result, or come forward to request help with a related problem and helps them get back to work.
The third-party administrator (TPA) that helps coordinate any number of services for you including random selections, notifications, reports, for individual employers and those with drivers in a consortium pool.
According to the the FMCSA you can hire service agents to help with many different aspects of your DOT regulated drug program but they still hold you 100% accountable for compliance with the regulations.
So obviously it’s crucial you understand the role and responsibilities of the Service Agents you work with, what they do, what you still need to do, and how to work with them.
Mydrugtestingprogram.com is Service Agent-TPA that helps our clients with their DOT drug and alcohol testing programs including setting up with other service agents such as collection sites, lab, and MROs.
Keep watching for the new entries in the Service Agent series helping you get to know what you need to about each.
DOT Cuts Random Drug Testing Amount in Half
DOT Cuts Random Drug Testing Amount in Half
In case you didn't know it, the DOT and the FMSCA has cut the required amount of random drug testing in half.
The required amount of random drug testing was cut in half to only 25%. The change is applicable whether the random pool your company’s employees are in is made up of only your own employees or a consortium pool made up of employees from multiple companies.
This is not the first big cut in DOT random testing requirements
When the DOT Drug Free Workplace regulations came out in 1996 the required random drug testing percentage was 50% of the average number of drivers in the pool and 25% for random alcohol testing. Also drug and alcohol screening were required for pre employment at that time.
But the DOT keeps track of how the testing regulations are working out industry wide and makes adjustments to the requirements based on that research. In one case they eliminated pre-employment alcohol testing and a few years after the regulations came into effect they reduced the amount of random alcohol testing from 25% to 10%.
Why it's great news
This is all great news in many ways as the DOT has seen a reliably low rate of positive results on random drug tests and felt it safe to reduce the amount of random drug testing needed. That also means less money spent on testing for employers and less employee time lost in testing related activities.
If you want to know more about the required testing rates and how much drug and alcohol testing your company is required to do you should check out the blog post for that right here.
How much random testing do you need to do?
Do you have enough random drug and alcohol tests for the year?
As a motor carriers required under federal regulations to have a random drug and alcohol testing program your program must meet the mandated minimum amount of random testing required.
So how much testing is your company or organization required to do?
The answer to that depends on several factors including the type of random pool your drivers are in, whether we’re talking random drug testing or random alcohol testing, and the federally set minimum amounts of testing allowed for each.
Two types of DOT random selection pools:
The first type of random selection pool your drivers may be in is a “Consortium” pool. These are pools run by Consortium/Third Party Administrators (C/TPAs). Consortium pools are typically made up of drivers from multiple companies and the random selections amounts are determined based on the total amount of drivers in the pool from all companies not just yours.
The second type of random selection pool is one that is made up of drivers that are only from your own company. In that type of pool the random selections amounts are determined based only on the amount of drivers in your company alone.
DOT Random drug testing amount requirements
Both types of pools must complete enough random drug tests equal to or greater than 25% of the average number of drivers in the pool and enough random alcohol tests equal to or greater than 10% of the average number of drivers in the pool. If the number of tests required comes out to a fraction then the amount done must be rounded up.
Examples of random selection amounts requirements
So if a pool has an average of 100 drivers in it, then it must complete 25 random drug tests and 10 random alcohol tests during the calendar year. That means if you have your own pool of 100 drivers you must complete 25 random drug tests and 10 random alcohol tests with your own employees.
If your drivers are in a consortium pool (drivers from more than one company) with an average of 100 drivers then the administrator of the pool must ensure that 25 random drug tests and 10 random alcohol tests are completed by the end of the calendar year.
So how many random drug and alcohol tests does your company need to complete when your drivers are in a consortium pool?
If your drivers are in a consortium pool in can vary greatly from year to year. The DOT requires that each time a selection is done every driver in the pool must be eligible to be selected. So it’s possible to have a driver or drivers selected out of a pool multiple times in a calendar year.
There's no guaranteeing or predicting how many times an individual driver will be selected or if they are selected at all. One driver in a pool may miss being selected for a period or a whole year while others are selected once, twice, or even possibly every time in a true random selection system.
If your drivers are in your own pool, then to determine how many random drug and alcohol tests you need to complete you can follow this formula:
How many random drug tests required:
Step 1: Average number of employees in your pool ________
Step 2: Multiply that number X 25% _____________ (rounded up)
This determines the required amount of random drug tests that must be completed by the end of the year.
How many random alcohol tests required:
Step 1: Average number of employees in your pool ________
Step 2: Multiply that number X 10% _____________ (rounded up)
This determines the required amount of random alcohol tests that must be completed by the end of the year.
This is something you should pay close attention to as any failure in the amount competed will be a violation of the rules and could result in fines or even being shut down in some circumstances.
Mydrugtestingprogram.com carefully monitors our DOT compliance consortium pools as well as our clients with their own pools to ensure the proper amount of DOT random testing is completed each year.
Supervisor Training Required by the DOT
Supervisor Training Required by the DOT
When you're setting up your new drug-free workplace program, one of the crucial areas to make sure you get right is your required training of supervisors. What type of supervisor training is required?
Supervisor reasonable Suspicion Training
The regulations state: “Each employer shall ensure that...” all supervisors of CDL holders “...receive at least 60 minutes of training on alcohol misuse and...60 minutes...on controlled substances use.
The purpose of the training is to familiarize supervisors (of CDL holders) with “...the physical, behavioral, speech, and performance indicators of probable alcohol misuse and use of controlled substances to determine whether reasonable suspicion exists to require a driver to undergo testing...”
In practical terms this is to ensure that those who are supervising CDL holders will be able to spot a drug or alcohol problem with the employee and deal with it proactively.
The consequences of not doing the supervisor training can be devastating to the public, to the employee, and to the company both financially and legally.
In one case I knew of a CDL driver in a semi veered off the road and ran over and killed a State Trooper who was doing a traffic stop on the side of the road. It turned out that the driver (who survived) had used controlled substances and was severely impaired.
In this case the problems for the company potentially went far beyond the cost of damages and insurance rates. When an accident like that happens it spurs an investigation into the employer too, and the authorities will be looking to see if the required supervisor training was done.
They would want to see the records of who was trained, and any records pertaining to the employee. If the company had done everything required that would go a long way to mitigate any liability on their part.
However if they hadn't done the required supervisor training, then they would be in trouble, possibly with state and federal authorities, likely to be sued for negligence, face stiff fines, and possibly face criminal charges for endangering the public. Additionally the federal DOT can determine a company deserves a Public Interest Exclusion (PIE) and shut them down for good.
Mydrugtestingprogram.com offers complete supervisor training that complies with the DOT regulations. Its a part of our membership and is available 24/7 to download and play or stream online on any type of device. We also provide a Supervisor reasonable Suspicion Training Certificates to those completing the training and submitting the “Post Test.”
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