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Where to Find? ..... Urine Specimen Collection
Guidelines Office of Drug and Alcohol Policy and Compliance
United States Department of Transportation
Version 1.0
August 2001
www.dot.gov/ost/dapc
Fax on Demand
(800) 225-3784
Substance Abuse Professional Guidelines
Office of Drug and Alcohol Policy and Compliance
United States Department of Transportation
August 2001
www.dot.gov/ost/dapc
Fax on Demand
(800) 225-3784
The information presented on this page
should be used to update Chapters 4 and 10 of the revised Implementation
Guidelines.
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Common Audit Findings—Old and New
In 1997, the Office of Safety and
Security began auditing grantee drug and alcohol testing programs to
determine compliance with the FTA drug and alcohol testing regulations. The
audit process has evolved over time and the process continues to be
streamlined, shortened and made more grantee-friendly.
The audits give FTA the opportunity to identify common
compliance issues that can be the focus of training, information sharing,
and other technical assistance efforts. Many of the compliance issues
commonly found in recent audits are related to the regulatory revisions that
went into effect in August, 2001 while others have plagued grantees since
the program was first implemented. The following list of procedural errors
is a sampling of common audit findings.
- Collection sites commonly conduct the drug test prior
to the alcohol test. However, §40.241(b) requires the alcohol test to be
conducted first.
- Substance Abuse Professional (SAP) referrals are
required anytime a covered employee or applicant tests positive or
refuses a test (§40.287). Many transit systems Drug and Alcohol Program
Managers (DAPM) fail to refer applicants to a SAP.
- Random testing is performed during limited hours and
days of the week rather than being reasonably spread throughout the
year, week and day so as not to establish a predictable pattern
(§655.45(g)).
- Post-accident tests are often conducted when the FTA
criteria for an accident are not met (§655.44). If transit systems
choose to exceed the FTA requirements for post-accident tests, they may
do so if the test is conducted under the employer’s own authority and a
non-DOT Custody and Control Form is used.
- Many transit system Designated Employer
Representatives (DER), Medical Review Officers (MROs), specimen
collectors, and Breath Alcohol Technicians (BATs) convey confidential
information over the telephone using voice recognition as the only means
of identifying the other party. Voice recognition is not an acceptable
method of identification. You must establish a mechanism to establish
the identity of the other party (§40.167 (b)(2) and §40.255(b)(1)).
Auditors recommend a password system be used to confirm identities.
- BATs and urine specimen collectors commonly fail to
explain the basic collection procedures to the employee or show the
employee the written instructions provided on the back of the Alcohol
Test Form (ATF) or the Custody and Control Form (CCF) as required
(§40.61(e) and §40.241(e)).
Other common audit findings will be discussed in future
issues of the Updates.
Policy on Negative Dilute Must Be Stated
A dilute specimen is a specimen with creatinine and specific gravity values
that are lower than expected for human urine. If the test is reported as a
dilute positive, the test should be treated as a verified positive test
result. If the test is reported as a negative dilute, the employer may, but
is not required to direct the employee to take another test. The retest must
not be conducted under direct observation.
Since the regulation gives discretion in this manner, the employer must
establish policy indicating whether retests will be required for negative
dilutes. All employees must be treated the same for this purpose and must be
informed in advance of the policy. A covered employer may not remain silent
on this issue. |