• The DOT requires employers to keep specific records for minimum amounts of time.
• The time varies by record.

Specific Department of Transportation (DOT) testing records and the minimum amount of time employers must keep the records have been identified in 382.401 and 40.333. Employers are not prohibited from keeping the records longer than the minimum retention periods. For instance, if a record is needed as a part of a court case, the company attorney may suggest keeping them longer.

The categories of records include:

• Records related to the collection process. This group of records includes items for both the testing facility and motor carrier, such as:
  • Collection logbooks (if used),
  • Documents related to the random selection process,
  • Calibration documentation for evidential breath testing devices (EBTs),
  • Documentation of breath alcohol technician (BAT) training,
  • Documentation of reasoning for reasonable suspicion testing,
  • Documentation of reasoning for post-accident testing,
  • Documents verifying a medical explanation for the inability to provide adequate breath or urine for testing, and
  • Consolidated annual calendar year summaries.
• Records related to the driver’s test results. This collection of documents includes records that a motor carrier handles on a more consistent basis:
  • Employer’s copy of the alcohol test form, including results;
  • Employer’s copy of the drug test chain of custody and control form;
  • Documents sent to the employer by the medical review officer;
  • Documentation of any driver’s refusal to submit to a required alcohol or drug test;
  • Documents provided by a driver to dispute results of test; and
  • Previous employer alcohol and drug test results, including:
    • Documentation that the driver meets the pre-employment exception (382.301(d)), and
    • DOT drug and alcohol testing history (382.413).
• Documentation of any other violations of drug use or alcohol misuse rules. An example includes an alcohol test result that is 0.02 or greater but less than 0.04.
• Records related to evaluations. Items include records pertaining to a substance abuse professional’s (SAP’s) determination of a driver’s need for assistance, and records concerning a driver’s compliance with an SAP’s recommendations.
• Records related to education and training. This is another category that includes items for both the motor carrier and testing sites.
  For the motor carrier, training records include:
  • A copy of the DOT drug and alcohol policy and materials provided to the drivers on the effects of drug and alcohol use;
  • Signed receipts from the drivers showing they received the policy and educational materials; and
  • Documentation of supervisor reasonable suspicion training.
    For the testing facility, it must retain documentation of training for its breath alcohol technicians.
• Records related to alcohol and drug testing. These documents deal with carrying out the administration of the program:
  • Agreements with service providers, i.e., labs, collection sites, medical review officers (MROs), SAPs, consortium/third-party administrators (C/TPAs);
  • Names and positions of officials and the role in the employer’s drug and alcohol testing program;
  • Semi-annual statistical summaries of urinalysis received from certified lab (40.111(a)); and
  • The employer’s alcohol and drug testing policy and procedures.

If a company performs DOT drug or alcohol tests onsite, it must retain the testing site records identified in the regulations.