Review of the Updated DOT Drug Testing Rules
As a Department of Transportation (DOT) mandated employee, your job involves performing and maintaining your safety-sensitive duties and completing random drug tests. The DOT requires every employee to create and maintain a safe working environment for their co-workers, as well as the general public. The updated DOT Drug Testing Rules apply to every DOT employee before and during their employment. All DOT employees must follow the established updated DOT drug testing rules and adhere to these DOT regulations on drug and alcohol misuse.
What are The Updated DOT Drug Testing Rules?
When the US Congress passed “the Omnibus Transportation Employee Testing Act of 1991”, the DOT sector changed how they dealt with employees after recurring occurrences of accidents at sector workplaces. The DOT agencies were asked to mandate drug testing to all safety-sensitive employees in the transportation industry. This was to facilitate Zero drug and alcohol-related transportation accidents.
The DOT agencies include:
- The Federal Aviation Administration
- The Federal Transit Administration
- The United States Coast Guard (USCG)
- The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration
- The Federal Railroad Administration
- The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration
Each agency/administration is governed by their specific regulations. In total, the regulations cover over 12.1 million-DOT employees who undertake safety-sensitive positions.
These regulations have been updated. They now specify which employees receive testing, when they should be tested and what processes should be executed if a DOT mandated employee fails a drug test. All DOT employees performing safety sensitive tasks must take all mandatory drug and alcohol tests, as pertained in that industry.
The DOT regulations state what specimens should be collected, who is authorized to perform the drug and alcohol tests, the procedure in conducting those tests, how and when to carry out the testing, and the mandatory requirements of an DOT employee to complete in order to return to duty to safety-sensitive service after violating a DOT drug and/or alcohol regulation(s).
Follow the Updated DOT Drug Testing Rules with SRS
It is required by the DOT for all mandated employees who wish to return to safety-sensitive duties to get in touch with a Substance Abuse Professional (SAP) after they fail a mandated drug or alcohol test. The test might be a pre-employment screening, a test due to reasonable suspicion or a stipulated random drug test.
A SAP is a person qualified to evaluate employees/applicants. After an employee refuses to take or fails a DOT drug test, they are relieved of their safety-sensitive duties until they undergo and successfully complete a SAP program. After a careful evaluation, a SAP will make recommendations concerning further treatments, follow-up testing, education, and aftercare. The SAP holds the final say whether a DOT employee can submit to a DOT return-to-duty test. The DOT’s and SAP’s jobs are to protect the public. The SAP cannot advocate for either the employee or the employer.
Failing a DOT drug test doesn’t have to be the end. SAP Referral Services (SRS) knows that if an employee has a DOT testing violation they need to find a SAP quickly so they can get back to work. To find a SAP quickly, SRS offers a FastTrack Enrollment Program, which is aimed at connecting employees with SAP providers with minimal effort on the part of the employee. To learn more about SRS’s FastTrack Enrollment Program click here.
SAP Referral Services (SRS) is the leading facilitator for mandated substance abuse evaluations. SRS maintains an extensive network of qualified providers in more than 3,000 locations nationwide for testing violations that originate from any of the DOT’s modes including FMCSA, FAA, FRA, FTA, USCG and PHMSA, or a company’s internal drug and alcohol testing policy.
Sources:
https://www.transportation.gov/odapc/omnibus-transportation-employee-testing-act-1991
https://www.transportation.gov/odapc/agencies
https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2017-11-13/pdf/2017-24397.pdf
https://www.transportation.gov/odapc/part40