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Drug & Alcohol Testing Industry Association
1325 G Street, NW
Suite 500#5001
Washington, DC 20005
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800-355-1257
202-315-3579
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DOT Publishes Final Rule - Effective October 1, 2010 |
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The following is a summary of the Final Rule:
1) The Department is required by the Omnibus Transportation Employees Testing Act (Omnibus Act) to follow the HHS requirements for the testing procedures/protocols and drugs for which we test.
2) Primary laboratory requirements in this final rule include:
- Testing for MDMA (aka. Ecstasy);
- Lowering cutoff levels for cocaine and amphetamines;
- Conducting mandatory initial testing for heroin;
3) The Department brought several testing definitions in-line with those of HHS.
4) Each Medical Review Officer (MRO) will need to be re-qualified – including passing an examination given by an MRO training organization - every five years. The Final Rule eliminated the requirement for each MRO to take 12 hours of continuing education every three years.
5) An MRO will not need to be trained by an HHS-approved MRO training organization as long as the MRO meets DOT’s qualification and requalification training requirements.
6) MRO recordkeeping requirements did not change from the five years for non-negatives and one year for negatives.
7) The Final Rule does not allow the use of HHS-Certified Instrumented Initial Testing Facilities (IITFs) to conduct initial drug testing because the Omnibus Act requires laboratories to be able to perform both initial and confirmation testing but IITFs cannot conduct confirmation testing.
8) The Final Rule is effective October 1, 2010.
Read the full update here.
- DATIA Headquarters |
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DOT Publishes New Final Rule |
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The Department of Transportation published a final rule authorizing the use of an updated Alcohol Testing Form with a mandatory start date of August 1, 2010. The Department subsequently learned the industry might not use all the forms by that mandatory use date. To avoid wasting the forms, the Department is extending the mandatory use date to January 1, 2011.
This rule is effective July 2, 2010.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For program issues, Bohdan Baczara, Office of Drug and Alcohol Policy and Compliance, 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE., Washington, DC 20590; (202) 366-3784 (voice), (202) 366-3897 (fax), or
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ODAPC Publishes Proposed Rule on Alcohol Testing Form |
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The Department of Transportation published a Notice of Proposed Rule Making (NPRM) proposing to extend the date for mandatory use of the recently updated Alcohol Testing Form (ATF) to January 1, 2011. On February 25, 2010, the Department published a final rule revising the ATF. The mandatory use date for the new form is August 1, 2010. After publishing the February 25 revisions, DOT learned that vendors and users of the ATF will not be able to deplete their current supply of ATFs by August. Therefore, they propose only to extend the date for mandatory use. The NPRM can be viewed via this link http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2010/pdf/2010-10488.pdf. Comments can be posted to the docket [Docket # OST20080088] at www.regulations.gov. Comments are due by May 26, 2010. The new alcohol form can be downloaded here. |
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HHS Guidelines Effective Date Changed to October 1, 2010 |
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Posted for display in today's Federal Register (April 29, 2010) for publication tomorrow is a Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Final Rule changing the effective date of the Revisions to the Mandatory Guidelines for Federal Workplace Drug Testing Programs (Mandatory Guidelines) from May 1, 2010, to October 1, 2010.
The document can be viewed in pdf form here.
The purpose of the HHS Final Rule is to notify participants in Federal and federally-regulated workplace drug testing programs as soon as possible that they will not be expected to implement the revisions to the Mandatory Guidelines on May 1, 2010, so that they do not unnecessarily expend resources to comply on May 1, or risk compliance problems by prematurely implementing new provisions.
"On February 4, 2010 the Department of Transportation issued Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) to align its regulated-industry drug testing with the HHS laboratory drug testing requirements. The 60-day public comment period for the NPRM officially ended on April 5, 2010." |
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DATIA Submits Comments On DOT's CFR 49 Part 40 NPRM |
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DATIA submitted its official comments on the DOT’s proposed rule change earlier today. In its comments, DATIA suggested changes to the DOT’s proposals for new definitions, reiterated concerns regarding chain of custody issues when transferring specimens from an IITF to a SAMHSA laboratory, provided comments on what MRO information should be made available to auditors, supported the proposed changes to cutoff levels and drugs to be tested for, and weighed in on the proposed MRO certification process among other items. DATIA encourages ALL DATIA members to submit comments to the DOT on their own letterhead as well. The more comments that the DOT receives, the more likely they will be to follow the recommendations of the industry. DATIA members may feel free to copy DATIA’s comments. Read DATIA’s full comments here in PDF and Word. |
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DATIA's 2010 Courses - New Line-Up, New Courses and New Savings! |
For the first time, DATIA is offering special pricing for anyone who takes advantage of our new educational track. We have extended our outstanding curriculum with an improved line-up for 2010, including the addition of a brand new course - Supervisor Training: A Train the Trainer Workshop! Each training location now boasts four days of educational training, allowing participants to take advantage of more DATIA courses at one location thereby saving on travel costs and allowing them to take advantage of our multiple course discount.
DATIA is now offering a three day educational pass! For those who choose one half-day course along with two full-day courses it will be $575 for members and $875 for non-members. For those who choose three full-day courses it will be $699 for members and $999 for non-members. An average savings of $170 per attendee! Attendees who choose two courses will receive a $100 discount, double the usual cost savings! We take our position as the largest, most prominent association for the drug and alcohol testing industry very seriously and hope this new pricing scale will help our participants be able to enjoy DATIA's innovative training curriculum.
Training and development can help re-energize your staff in these crucial times when commitment is critical. Please call or register on line today! |
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