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What Employers Need To Know About DOT Drug and Alcohol Testing

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<strong>What</strong> are “blind specimens” <strong>and</strong> am I required to submit them?<br />

<strong>DOT</strong> requires you to send quality control specimens – or blind specimens – to the laboratory or laboratories<br />

you use as one way of making sure that testing is accurate. Some blind specimens will have known amounts of<br />

drugs or contaminants in them, <strong>and</strong> some will contain no drugs or contaminants. <strong>To</strong> ensure that laboratories<br />

cannot tell a blind specimen from any other, blinds have to be sealed, identified, <strong>and</strong> packaged just like the real<br />

thing. Your MRO will compare the known results with the laboratory results.<br />

You can submit the blind specimens yourself or you can have a service agent – such as a C/TPA – do it for<br />

you. Figuring out if you have to submit blinds <strong>and</strong> how many to send <strong>and</strong> when, can be a little difficult. That<br />

is why the <strong>DOT</strong> does not make employers with less than 2000 safety-sensitive employees send them in.<br />

C/TPAs serving less than 2000 total covered employees don’t have to send any in, either.<br />

For the rest of you – employers with, <strong>and</strong> C/TPAs serving, more than 2000 covered employees – here are some<br />

of the ground-rules for sending in blind specimens:<br />

Don’t send them to laboratories that test less than 100 specimens annually for you.<br />

The number of blinds should equal 1% of the total specimens you send to the laboratory.<br />

The number of blinds you need to send to any laboratory is capped at 50 per quarter.<br />

75% of your blinds must be certified as negative.<br />

15% must be positive for one or more drugs for which <strong>DOT</strong> required you to test.<br />

10% must be adulterated <strong>and</strong> / or substituted.<br />

They must be submitted throughout the calendar year.<br />

CCFs accompanying blinds to the laboratory must be filled-out like any other CCF.<br />

You can find makers of blind specimens on the HHS website:<br />

http://workplace.samhsa.gov/<strong>Drug</strong><strong>Testing</strong>/pdf/BlindSampleSuppliers081409.pdf<br />

<strong>What</strong> <strong>Employers</strong> <strong>Need</strong> to <strong>Know</strong> <strong>About</strong> <strong>DOT</strong> <strong>Drug</strong> <strong>and</strong> <strong>Alcohol</strong> <strong>Testing</strong> – October 1, 2010<br />

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