Employers are often looking for a vender for drug testing and sometimes hard to find. Many venders today do not answer their phone or respond to voice mail or e-mail.
It is important to use a professional company for your drug testing of applicants or employees. These professional companies are commonly referred to as a Third-Party Administrator (TPA) or Consortium/Third Party Administrator (C/TPA). Your local occupational health clinic may be able to collect urine for drug testing, but the question is do they know anything about DOT or State regulations or best practices for drug testing.
The National Drug & Alcohol Screening Association has a program to award TPA’s a status of Accredited TPA. Those companies holding the NDASA Accreditation certificate will be recognized as having a seal of approval from industry peers and experts demonstrating they are a trusted and reliable partner who is voluntarily subject to accreditation oversight audits and reviews.
National Drug Screening (NDS), a nationally recognized TPA has received the NDASA TPA Accreditation. This accreditation assures employers that NDS maintains skills and knowledge in a variety of subject areas related to drug and alcohol testing management. These competency skills and knowledge subject areas include:
- Ethical Standards, Integrity and Confidentiality
- Regulatory issues
- Drug Testing Programs with Legal Defensibility
- Random Testing and Consortium Services
- Training, Development and Leadership
- Services and Product Offerings
- Breath Alcohol Testing, Drug Test Collections and Procedures
Pre-employment Drug Testing
Today most employers look to pre-employment drug testing to help ensure illicit drug users are not being hired. Most attorney’s will tell you that if you hire a liability, you own that liability. Spending a few extra dollars to hire a clean and sober employee can save you a bundle in the long run. For those employers regulated by the United States Department of Transportation (DOT), the pre-employment drug test is a requirement. National Drug Screening (NDS) can help employers arrange a pre-employment drug test in all areas of the United States. Order a drug test today!
DOT Drug Testing Requirements
There are other mandatory requirements for those employers regulated by DOT. These include:
- Pre-employment drug testing
- Random drug and alcohol testing
- Reasonable suspicion drug and alcohol testing
- Post-accident drug and alcohol testing
- Return to duty drug testing
- Follow up drug testing
- Employee Education
- Supervisor Training for Reasonable Suspicion
- Appointment of a company Designated Employer Representative (DER)
For these DOT regulated employers, failure to follow the mandatory requirements can lead to fines and penalties.
Non-DOT Drug Testing
Those companies not regulated by the United States Department of Transportation (DOT) are often called non-regulated or non-DOT employers. There are no mandatory requirements for drug testing with some exceptions based on State laws. These drug testing programs should follow best practices often which make the program look like a DOT program but different in that the DOT Federal regulations are not required. It is with best practices that a drug testing program can be legally defensible. There are many more non-regulated employers in the United States as compared to DOT regulated employers. Check out our blog post on the differences between DOT and Non-DOT Testing.
NDS offers a comprehensive resource to check on the State laws in your area concerning drug testing in your State. Marijuana is also a concern as it is legal in many States, check out our complete guide to Marijuana in the Workplace.
More on employer drug testing programs:
Set up an employer drug testing account
Drug Free Workplace Policy
DOT Compliance for DOT Regulated Employers
