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Federal Regulations
Regulations quoted below are from CFR Part 382 Subpart B as pertaining to drivers of commercial motor vehicles regarding controlled substance use.
 | No driver "shall report for duty or remain on duty requiring the performance of safety-sensitive functions
while having an alcohol concentration of 0.04 or greater. No employer having actual knowledge that a driver has an alcohol concentration of 0.04
or greater shall permit the driver to perform or continue to perform safety-sensitive functions." |
| No driver "shall perform safety-sensitive functions within four hours after using alcohol." |
| No driver "required to take a post-accident alcohol test shall use alcohol for eight hours following the accident
, or until he/she undergoes a post-accident alcohol test, whichever occurs first." |
| No driver shall refuse to submit to a post-accident, random, reasonable suspicion, or follow-up alcohol test.
"No employer shall permit an employee who refuses to submit to such tests to perform or continue to perform safety-sensitive functions." |
Types of Tests Required
Because alcohol is a legal substance, alcohol testing is authorized only during, just before,
or just after the employee performs safety-sensitive functions.
| Random |
| Random testing of safety-sensitive employees is required at a rate of 10% of employees per year. This testing must be evenly spread
throughout the year and the selection process must be made by a scientifically valid method. NTA, Inc.'s clients may choose a random selection frequency
of weekly, monthly, quarterly, or annually. Our randoms are electronically generated by a computer program written to meet government standards. Each
time a selection is made, every employee has an equal chance of being chosen. |
| Companies with 7 eligible employees or less may be placed in a consortium. Consortiums are random testing pools that consist of employees
from many different companies. Selection percentages are met by the entire consortium and are spread evenly throughout the year on a quarterly basis. |
| Post Accident |
| Post accident alcohol testing is required within 8 hours of an accident where any of the following occurences have taken place: |
| the accident involved a fatality |
| any of the participants in the accident received bodily injury requiring
immediate medical treatment away from the scene |
| any vehicle involved received disabling damage requiring tow away |
| the driver was issued a citation |
| Reasonable Suspicion |
| An employee is required to submit to reasonable suspicion testing when a *trained supervisor or company official has reason to believe that
the employee has violated the prohibitions of CFR 382 subpart. The observations must be based on specific aspects concerning the appearance, behavior, speech,
or body odors of the employee and must be documented accordingly. |
| *Supervisor Training Information. |
| Return to Duty |
| Before an employee can return to safety-sensitive duties after testing positive, the employer must ensure that a return to duty test is administered
and a verified negative result is received. Before a return to duty test is performed, the employee must be evaluated by a substance abuse professional (SAP) and participate
in any assistance program prescribed. |
| Follow-Up |
| If a substance abuse professional determines that an employee needs assistance resolving
problems associated with alcohol abuse, the employer shall ensure that the driver is subject to at least 6 unannounced follow-up tests within the next 12 months of
employment. The SAP may determine follow-up testing for up to 60 months and may terminate the requirement for the follow-up testing at any time after the minimum
requirement has been met. Follow-up testing is in addition to required random and post-accident testing. |
Alcohol Testing Procedure
| Federal testing regulations require that an evidential breath testing device (EBT) approved by the NHTSA is used for
alcohol testing. This machine must be operated by a trained breath alcohol technician (BAT) following the procedures set forth in CFR 40 Subpart C. The
employer shall keep a current copy of the BAT certification on file as proof of required training. |
| Breath alcohol tests are performed by having the donor blow forcefully into the EBT's
mouthpiece for at least 6 seconds or until the EBT indicates that an adequate amount of breath
has been attained. If the result is less than 0.02, the test is considered negative. |
| If the result is 0.02 or greater, a confirmation test must be performed after a waiting period
of at least 15 minutes. The confirmation test must be completed within 30 minutes from
the completion of the original screening test. A new mouthpiece must be used and the
EBT must be tested to assure proper registering. |
| The BAT shall report all results to the employer in a confidential manner. This report
may be in writing, in person, or by telephone or electronic means. If the result is positive,
the BAT must ensure immediate reporting of the results to the employer to prevent the
employee from performing a safety-sensitive function. |
| Exceptions: Non-evidential screen devices may be used for the alcohol test, providing
they are approved by the NHTSA. If a test conducted by one of these devices is positive,
the donor must have a confirmation test performed using an EBT device within 30 minutes. |
Consequences of a Positive Alcohol Test
| A test is considered to be positive under any of the following situations: |
| A confirmation result of 0.04 or greater |
| Refusal to complete and sign the breath alcohol testing form |
| Refusal to provide breath |
| Refusal to provide an adequate amount of breath |
| Refusal to otherwise cooperate with the testing process |
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| Employees testing positive for any of the above reasons shall be subject to the following
disciplinary action(s): |
| If the company policy requires termination, the employee may be terminated but
must still be referred to a substance abuse professional. |
| If the company wishes to continue an employment relationship with the
employee, the employee must be removed from safety-sensitive functions and referred to a substance abuse
professional for evaluation and treatment. If there is a non-safety-sensitive job available, the employee
may be allowed to work in that function until evaluation, treatment, and a return-to-duty test have been
completed. |
| Circumstantial Provisions |
| An employee testing between 0.02 and 0.04 shall be suspended from safety-sensitive
functions for at least 24 hours following administration of the test. |
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