• Motor carriers will receive fines and penalties from the FMCSA for mistakes made by service agents contracted to assist with facets of DOT drug and alcohol testing.
• To help ensure compliance, motor carriers should verify a service agent’s credentials and practices.

When a motor carrier establishes and maintains a drug and alcohol program under the authority of the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT), it assumes complete responsibility for compliance regardless of the actions of its service providers. This means, in realistic terms, a motor carrier will be the party to receive fines and penalties for violations, which are the result of someone else’s errors such as a collector that USDOT has no authority over.

What is a service agent?

Service agents include businesses and individuals that contract with a motor carrier as part of its DOT drug and alcohol compliance program. They include consortium/third-party administrators (C/TPAs), medical review officers (MROs), collection sites, labs, and substance abuse professionals (SAPs). All except the C/TPAs have minimum requirements in order to act as a service agent. Employers are responsible for ensuring the business meets the minimum criteria to act as an agent.

Consortia/Third-party administrators

This vendor is not one that requires any formal training of its program administrators. The services range from running random selections to full management of programs and auditing and storage of records.

You may wish to ask a potential or current C/TPA about its training, security of records, and vetting of its employees. The information they are handling requires not only a detailed understanding of the regulations, but also the utmost concern for confidentiality and security, as personally identifiable information is on the documents they will be processing.

Contracting with labs

It is easiest to confirm the laboratory’s qualifications to play a role in your DOT program. Only Health and Human Services certified laboratories may process your drivers’ specimens for drug screens. The lists of approved labs appears monthly in the Federal Register via an entry through the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Service Administration (SAMHSA). The updated list appears on SAMHSA’s website.

Labs may be certified to analyze urine and/or saliva for the presence of drugs.

MRO credentials

Only licensed physicians (Doctors of Medicine or Osteopathy) who meet the criteria in 40.121 may act as an MRO. This entails a “basic knowledge” about controlled substances abuse disorders, medical explanations for confirmed drug test results, and issues relating to adulterated and substituted specimens, and an understanding of the “DOT MRO Guidelines.”

MROs must undergo an initial “qualification training” that includes an exam. Once every five years, the MRO must satisfactorily complete “requalification training” followed by successful completion of another exam.

The MRO must maintain documentation of the training and make it readily available to an employer or C/TPA negotiating services.

SAPs training

Similar to MROs, SAPs must be licensed counselors with qualifications that fit within the scope of titles listed in 40.281(a). Plus, SAPs must meet the “basic knowledge” requirements on diagnosis and treatment of alcohol and drug-related disorders and have a good grasp of the document, “DOT SAP Guidelines.”

The SAP must successfully complete “qualification training” on DOT protocols and pass an exam. SAPs must, within three years, partake in continuing education courses. The SAP must maintain documentation of the training and make it readily available to an employer or C/TPA negotiating services.

This is important to employers, since they may be asked by DOT (in the event of an investigation) if they have verified the names on their SAP list. This is the actual list the employer would intend on providing to a driver who tests positive or refuses a DOT test. Employers cannot assume that SAPs have met the continuing education stipulation and should therefore check to make sure SAPs are still qualified.

Collection sites

Both drug collections and alcohol tests require specific training for the personnel. This involves knowledge in basic information and keeping current with changes, qualification training, initial proficiency demonstration, and refresher training once every five years.

In addition, if the collector, breath alcohol technician (BAT), or screening test technician makes a mistake in the testing process that causes the test to be canceled (i.e., fatal flaw or uncorrected flaw), the collector must undergo error correction training. The facility must ensure this take place within 30 days of the date they are notified of the error that led to the need for retraining. The retraining must be documented.

The collection site must maintain documentation and make it readily available to the employer or C/TPA negotiating services.