Recent News

Upcoming Events

In an effort to educate the transportation industry and others that provide service in accordance with the Department's drug and alcohol testing programs, our staff participates in conferences, trainings and seminars throughout the country.  Events, dates, locations, and registration information will appear here as it becomes available.

• November 20, 2008
  Published in today’s Federal Register is a Final Rule dealing with 40.67(b) – direct observation for return-to- duty and follow-up testing. That section of the regulation will read, pending further order of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, as follows:
  
  § 40.67 When and how is a directly observed collection conducted?
  
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       (b) As an employer, you may direct a collection under direct observation of an employee if the drug test is a return-to-duty test or a follow-up test.
  
  [Click here to view the Federal Register notice]   



• 12/06/2008 – ASAM, Washington, DC
  
  Guest Speaker, Bohdan Baczara
  Policy Advisor
  Office of Drug & Alcohol Policy & Compliance, U.S. DOT



• November 12, 2008
  The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit has again [November 12, 2008] delayed the mandatory Direct Observation (DO) requirement for DOT return-to-duty and follow-up tests. This is a "stay" that will remain in effect until the court issues a decision on the merits of the petitioners’ challenge to the provisions of 40.67(b).
  Therefore, DO for return-to-duty and follow-up testing will continue to be an employer option, rather than mandatory.
  All other requirements of 49 CFR Part 40 that went into effect on August 25, 2008 – to include the DO provision at 40.67(i) [checking for prosthetic and other devices used to carry “clean” urine & urine substitutes] – remain in effect.
  
  [Click here to view the Stay Order]    



• October 31, 2008
  The U.S. Court of Appeal for the D.C. Circuit has temporarily delayed the November 1st Direct Observation (DO) requirement for DOT return-to-duty and follow-up tests. This is an “administrative stay” until the Court completes its review on the matter. [Click here to view Administrative Stay Order] Therefore, DO for return-to-duty and follow-up testing will continue to be an employer option, rather than mandatory. We will let you know when the Court makes a decision on the matter.



• ODAPC is providing a printable on-line "handout" so that collectors & observers fully understand the DOT's direct observation procedures. This document is also useful for employers, employees, and Medical Review Officers. Click here to view the DOT Direct Observations PDF document.
  
  
• 49 CFR Part 40 - August 25, 2008
  • The Department is changing the effective date for mandatory direct observation (DO) for follow-up and return-to-duty testing. DO for FU and RTD drug testing will remain an employer's option until November 1, 2008. The Department is also seeking comments [for 30 days] about whether DO for FU and RTD testing should be mandatory.
  • The rest of the June 25, 2008, final rule goes into effect on August 25, 2008, as scheduled - including the new DO procedures which require observers to check for prosthetic and other devices when specimen collections are observed. For more information click here.
    
    
• New 49 CFR Part 40 Questions and Answers
  • Today – July 31, 2008 – the Office of Drug and Alcohol Policy and Compliance, with the Office of General Counsel, issued 49 CFR Part 40 Questions and Answers.   Like all ODAPC/OGC Qs & As, these constitute official and authoritative guidance and interpretation concerning Part 40.
    
    The four Qs & As issued today are available on our website at: http://www.dot.gov/ost/dapc/qanda.html
    
    One Q & A addresses how, during periods of hot weather, Medical Review Officers are authorized to deal with laboratory results reported as invalid because of pH in the 9.0-9.5 range.  Two Qs & As address the time period given employees to provide an adequate amount of urine.  The final Q & A deals with tracking information that can be placed onto the DOT Alcohol Testing Form.

• Revised Collector Guidelines – Effective 08/25/2008
  1. Because the new Part 40 Final Rule published June 25, 2008, is effective August, 25, 2008, the DOT Urine Specimen Collection Guidelines – which are also effective August 25, 2008 – have been updated to reflect changes to the collection process.
  2. Summary of the new Guidelines:
     1. New direct observation procedures require the observer to check for devices designed to beat the drug test when an employee is subject to an observed collection.
     2. Employees having observed collections must be instructed to raise clothing, just above the navel; lower clothing, to mid-thigh; then turn around to show the same gender observers they do not have prosthetic devices for beating the tests.  If no device is detected, the employee is permitted to return clothing to its proper observed-collection position.  Then the observed collection will take place.
     3. The following refusals to test are noted in the Guidelines:
        1. An employee admits to the collector that he or she adulterated or substituted their specimen.
        2. The employee behaves in a confrontational way that disrupts the collection process.
        3. The employee fails to follow the observer’s instructions to raise and lower their clothing and to turn around to permit the observer to determine if the employee has a prosthetic or other device that could be used to interfere with the collection process.
        4. The employee possesses or wears a prosthetic or other device that could be used to interfere with the collection process.
        5. The employee refuses to wash his or her hands – after being directed to do so.
  3. To view the new Guidelines in their entirety, click here.

• ODAPC Issues Final Rule on Specimen Validity Testing
  • Published in today’s Federal Register is a Department of Transportation Final Rule:
    Procedures for Transportation Workplace Drug and Alcohol Testing Programs
    
    In summary:
    
    1. This Final Rule makes it mandatory for laboratories to test all DOT specimens for specimen validity (i.e., adulterants and urine substitutes) and for laboratories to follow all Department of Health and Human Resources (HHS) protocols for doing so.
    2 . Observed collections will afford less privacy in order to guard against employee use of items designed specifically to beat the testing process
    a. Directly observed collections will continue to occur only when there is a specific reason to believe that an employee may be attempting, or have sufficient reason, to evade the testing process.
    b. Items such as prosthetic devices designed to carry clean urine will be checked for by observers with both male and female donors.  The observer will have the employee raise and lower clothing, and then put it back into place for the observed collection.
    3. In an effort to thwart those who would manufacturer products designed to adulterate specimens, the Final Rule will no longer have easy-to-follow tables and charts outlining the adulterants for which laboratories are testing and the scientific cutoff levels at which laboratories are testing them.
    4. Definitions in the Final Rule have been changed to harmonize with the HHS.
    5. During an invalid result Medical Review Officer (MRO) review, an employee admission of adulterating or substituting a specimen is now a refusal to test. 
    6. Pursuant to MRO requests, the Final Rule will close the potentially endless loop on invalid specimen results; and employees requiring negative results [for example, pre-employment tests], when they have medical reasons for providing invalid results, will be able to obtain them through medical evaluations to rule out signs and symptoms of drug use.
    7. The Final Rule will also streamline and simplify the potential myriad of complicated laboratory-confirmed and MRO-verified drug test results.
    8. The Final Rule requires drug testing laboratories to report to DOT semi-annual statistical summaries on all of their DOT testing.
    9.  The Final Rule effective date is August 25, 2008.
    
    To view the Final Rule in its entirety, please go to our Federal Register publications page

• ODAPC Issues Interim Final Rule
  • ODAPC published an Interim Final Rule (IFR) [73 FR 33735] permitting state commercial drivers license (CDL) issuing authorities to receive commercial motor vehicle (CMV) driver positive and refusal drug and alcohol test results from employers without driver written consent.  The IFR also permits these state licensing authorities to receive owner-operator positive and refusal results from Consortia / Third Party Administrators (C/TPAs).
    
    So, when a state law requires employers and C/TPAs [for owner-operators] to report CMV driver positive and refusal results for tests conducted under 49 CFR Parts 382 [FMCSA] and 655 [FTA] to a state licensing authority, there are no barriers, real or perceived, in part 40 preventing them from doing so.
    
    To view the IFR in its entirety, please go to our Federal Register publications page

• 09/15-09/19/2008 – SAPAA, St. Louis, MO
  Guest Speaker, Patrice Kelly
  Acting Deputy Director [Policy]
  Office of Drug & Alcohol Policy & Compliance, DOT

• ODAPC is pleased to announce the availability of a new on-line document designed to help employers implement the DOT’s drug and alcohol testing regulations. “What Employers Need To Know About DOT Drug and Alcohol Testing” offers best practices and clear instructions for having a quality DOT program. Topics, which range from program implementation, employee education, selecting service agents, record keeping, to preparing for DOT Agency program reviews – are among the topics discussed.
  
  So, no matter which DOT Agency or USCG regulates your company’s program, this is the one on-line document you need for quick reference.
  
  Just go to our home page to download a PDF version of “What Employers Need To Know About DOT Drug and Alcohol Testing.”