As the owner of a small trucking company or small bus company, if you are unsure of what you’re doing regarding your drug testing requirements, you are not alone. Following are what we see most often.
- Drivers put into service before a negative pre-employment drug test is received. This major violation happens frequently with our DOT and non-DOT clients. For non-DOT employers, a positive test means more than “not hiring” someone. You now need to deal with a termination. For DOT employers, this is a major violation as you have been using an unqualified employee in a safety-sensitive role. Imagine if that driver were involved in an accident? At InOut Labs, we can have these employees tested TODAY, so you can put them to work legally ASAP.
- No random drug testing program at all. Rarely intentional, many small bus and trucking companies do no drug testing at all. Huge fines can result. Huge.
- Using a local medical clinic. Many of these facilities know how to collect your drug test specimens but do not know anything about compliance and your responsibilities with the DOT regulations.
- Poorly executed or non-compliant random drug and alcohol testing. Smaller companies must be enrolled in a random drug and alcohol testing consortium. A consortium is pool of drivers from many different companies. If the consortium is in compliance, so are all of its members. Make sure the company managing your random testing understands DOT and FMCSA regulations.
- Using a driver who tested positive for drugs or alcohol on a DOT-required test. Any regulated employee (i.e. driver, under FMCSA) MUST complete the Return To Duty Process before returning to safety-sensitive work – REGARDLESS OF WHOM S/HE WAS WORKING FOR WHEN THE POSITIVE RESULT OCCURRED. How do you know? You have to ask.
This very serious violation can result in huge fines and potential revocation of your operating authority.
