- Complete all random selections in the quarter selected. This goal is easy to do if you stay on top of your random selections and are diligent about making sure all random selections are performed in the quarter in which they are selected. For FMCSA this is especially important, as not doing a selection in the quarter selected is a violation if you did not remove the employee selected from the random pool for a legitimate reason, so an alternate selection could be made.
- Keep your random selection roster up to date so it includes only employees who were eligible in that quarter for random selection. Again, this is easy if remedy you update your rosters as you hire and can do this on-line, like you can with our Drug-Free Business software. Once you have a negative test result, it will show the employee is "pending" meaning you may or may not "hire" them based on other factors like a background check or physical. Once you select "hired" they will be put immediately into your DOT random pool. Alternately, if an employee no longer works for you or is expected to be absent and not in a safety-sensitive function for at least 30 days or more (i.e., vacation, illness, injury, family leave, temporary labor), you'll need to remove them (terminate) from the random test pool.
- Update your DOT drug test policy. The beginning of the new year is an especially good time to review your DOT and NON-DOT policies to make sure they are current. A DOT violation can occur when you don't have a written record of your employees receiving or acknowledging a copy of the current company DOT policy or required training. Make sure your policy focuses out the most important factors employees need to know: If they are a supervisor, DER Supervisory Reasonable Suspicion Training is required as well. Your policy should also include an overview of the drugs of abuse which are being tested, possible interferences with over the counter or prescribed medications and the consequences of not following the regulations (i.e., company policies on having a positive drug test or refusal to test (reporting the result to the FMCSA Clearinghouse), loss of CDL licensing, the SAP process and possible job consequences (i.e., suspensions, last-chance agreements or termination of their job). Be sure you also address how an employee can safely self-disclose a substance abuse disorder without being in violation of DOT regulations and how to get help through the company EAP or other resources.
- Review your employee training materials. As part of onboarding new hires, review the training programs you use to keep those current as well. Keep records of how you communicate these programs to your employees, whether it's with company newsletters, written materials, interactive videos, on-line training or in-person training programs. It's also important you keep an active record of when this training took place and some kind of written acknowledgement that the employee completed this training (certificate, signature on training roster, etc.) before they are assigned a "safety-sensitive' duty. Not having this documentation is a DOT violation.
- Do the pre-hire FMCSA DOT Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse Query before you allow a new hire to do a "safety-sensitive' function. Allowing a driver to start driving before getting this done is a big no-no and many employers were surprised last year when they were fined for allowing new hires to drive before the pre-hire drug test or before an FMCSA drug and alcohol screening had been completed. The FMCSA Clearinghouse query, in most cases, should not take long. You will need to have written permission from the applicant/driver to do an initial limited query which in most cases is immediate and, in most cases, does not bring up any violations. If there is a violation, then you'll need to do the full query, and the applicant/employee will need to give you electronic permission through the Clearinghouse to review their record.
- Do an annual Clearinghouse query for all employees who are in your DOT random testing pool. The annual query is to verify all drivers in your pool have not violated the drug and alcohol testing regulations. This is especially important if you hire part-time drivers or seasonal drivers who do not drive exclusively for your company alone. You won't be notified of a violation from another company unless YOUR query was within the last 30 days. The annual query can be done all at once for all drivers, or you can do it individually for each driver on their anniversary date of hire, whatever works best for you. Keep in mind, the minimum number of queries is the pre-hire query and the annual query, but you can always elect to do them more often, for safety's sake. Again, failing to do an annual query is a DOT violation both for employers and owner/operators.
- Do follow the Federal Clearinghouse Regulations for employers by reporting all required refusals to test, positive breath alcohol tests and "actual knowledge" of a driver's drug and alcohol use to the Federal Clearinghouse within 3 days after you have verified and documented this information and keep all records made for your decision as failing to do so, is a DOT violation.
- Do verify information is accurate before reporting it to the Clearinghouse as reporting "false" information is a DOT violation as well. For example, you can't report an "actual knowledge" of an employee's drug and alcohol use based on rumors or innuendo, but you can report it if you witnessed it firsthand or by an employee freely admitting it to you (i.e., you inform an employee they have to report for a random breath alcohol test and they freely admit they were drinking on duty and may not pass their test). Be sure you keep records of these interactions and have the employee sign and acknowledge the violation of company policy.
- Do keep all DOT drug and alcohol required records before purging or deleting them. There are individual timelines on how long to keep these records (i.e., one year for negative results) but in general 5 years is the maximum required for refusals to test, positive drug or alcohol tests and any paperwork related to those events. Luckily in today's digital age, it's easy than ever to keep records indefinitely in a cloud-based system, but if you have anything of a sensitive nature that could lead to litigation, we'd recommend you keep a paper trail, as a back-up, just in case. You are also required to keep these records in a secure location with limited electronic or physical access.
- Do keep up to date on your DOT random selections so by the end of the year, you'll easily have met your quota for both drug and alcohol selections and be able to turn in your MIS report if requested by DOT. Failing to meet your random selection rate or turn an MIS report when requested can result in $1,000 per day fine for every day it is delayed.
