Implementation Guidelines - Federal Transit Administration - U.S. ...

employees who have problems with
prohibited drugs. Of course, you must make
clear which parts of your policy and testing
program apply to employees who are
covered under the FTA drug and alcohol
testing regulation and which parts apply to
those who are not.
Given the DFWA requirement for the
establishment of an “ongoing” substance
abuse awareness program, you may also
wish to retrain employees and supervisors
on a regular basis. In addition, if your
system has regular safety meetings, you may
wish to include discussions of substance
abuse to keep the issue in your employees’
minds.
Section 6. SERVICE AGENT
TRAINING REQUIREMENTS
You must ensure that the service agents
who provide the testing services for your
agency are appropriately educated and
trained. This includes urine specimen
collectors, breath alcohol technicians (BAT),
screen test technicians (STT), Medical
Review Officers (MRO), and Substance
Abuse Professionals (SAP). These
individuals must possess certain credentials,
have a basic knowledge of the program,
attend qualifications training, undergo
periodic refresher training, and demonstrate
knowledge either through an examination in
the case of MROs and SAPs, or the
demonstration of proficiency in the case of
collectors, BATs, and STTs. Even though
this training will be conducted by
professional organizations, professionals
within the area of expertise, or by equipment
manufacturers, it is your responsibility as
the regulated employer to assure that the
training has occurred. You need not be
concerned about the training of DHHScertified
laboratory personnel as DHHS is
responsible for laboratory oversight.
Urine Collection Personnel
Individuals who conduct urine specimen
collections under the DOT drug testing
program must meet the following
requirements:
Basic Knowledge. Urine collection
personnel must be knowledgeable about Part
40 and its requirements, DOT agency
regulations applicable to the employers for
whom they perform collections (i.e., FTA,
Part 655), and the current “DOT Urine
Specimen Collection Procedures
Guidelines.” This publication is available
from the DOT Office of Drug and Alcohol
Policy Compliance (ODAPC) at
http://www.dot.gov/ost/dapc. Collectors
must also take action to remain current with
regulatory changes.
Qualifications Training. Collectors
must receive qualification training that
addresses all of the steps necessary to
complete a urine specimen collection
correctly, including problem collections
(e.g., shy bladder, attempts to adulterate,
temperature out of range), fatal flaws,
correctable flaws, and corrective actions.
The training must cover the proper
completion and transmission of the Custody
Chapter 5. Training 5-8 August 2002