I believe that every company should have a drug testing program. It can help to decrease accidents, insurance costs, theft, missed work, violence and it increases on the job productivity. Lab-based drug testing can provide these benefits. Companies just need to decide the importance of an assurance of accuracy that comes with a lab-based test.
Lab-based testing is the only drug testing method permitted by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) and the Department of Transportation (DOT). Due to these certifications, lab-based test results provide empirical data to prove accuracy claims. Lab-based testing also provides additional security in knowing non-negative results are tested a second time to confirm the screening result. They are then referred onto the Medical Review Officer for verification process. The MRO will contact the donor first, to verify if there is a legitimate medical explanation. If there is a legitimate medical explanation, the result will be medically downgraded to a Negative to the employer. If there is no legitimate medical explanation, the result will be verified as Positive to the employer.
If you would like to learn more about a Drug Testing Program, please contact me.
Thank you,
Mandy Croft
Vice President
Lytle Drug Testing Services, Inc.
160 Canal Street
Hollidaysburg, PA 16648
814-317-1811 Office
814-935-2795 Mobile
Are you ready for Road Check 2016?
The Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance’s (CVSA) 29th annual International Roadcheck will take place June 7-9, 2016.
CVSA’s 29th annual International Roadcheck will take place June 7-9, 2016. International Roadcheck is a 72-hour period when approximately 10,000 CVSA-certified local, state, provincial, territorial and federal inspectors in jurisdictions across North America perform large truck and bus safety inspections.
International Roadcheck is the largest targeted enforcement program on commercial motor vehicles in the world, with nearly 17 trucks or buses inspected, on average, every minute in Canada, the United States and Mexico during a 72-hour period. During the annual three-day event, CVSA-certified inspectors conduct compliance, enforcement and educational initiatives targeted at various elements of motor carrier, vehicle and driver safety.
Each year, International Roadcheck places special emphasis on a category of violations. The special emphasis for 2016 International Roadcheck is tire safety (i.e., measuring the tire tread depth, checking the tire pressure, checking to make sure that no items are lodged between dual tires and examining the overall condition of the tire to make sure that no deep cuts or bulges exist in the sidewalls of the tire). While checking a vehicle’s tires is always part of roadside inspections, CVSA is highlighting tire safety as a reminder to drivers and carriers.
During International Roadcheck, inspectors primarily conduct the North American Standard Level I Inspection, which is the most thorough roadside inspection. It is a 37-step procedure that includes an examination of both the driver and vehicle. Drivers are required to provide items such as their license, endorsements, medical card and hours-of-service documentation, and may be checked for seat belt usage and the use of alcohol and/or drugs. The vehicle inspection includes checking items such as the braking system, securement of cargo, coupling devices, exhaust system, frame, fuel system, lights, steering mechanism, driveline/driveshaft, suspension, tires, van and open-top trailer bodies, wheels and rims, windshield wipers, and emergency exits on buses.
International Roadcheck is a CVSA program organized in partnership with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, Canadian Council of Motor Transport Administrators, Transport Canada and the Secretariat of Communications and Transportation (Mexico).
Since its inception in 1988, roadside inspections conducted during International Roadcheck have numbered more than 1.4 million. International Roadcheck also provides an opportunity to educate industry and the general public about the importance of safe commercial motor vehicle operations and the North American roadside inspection program.
Stay Safe!
While the report shows that people using prescription pain relievers nonmedically were at greater risk of later starting heroin, it also shows that the vast majority of people using prescription pain relievers nonmedically did not start using heroin. In fact, only 3.6 percent of the people who initiated the nonmedical use pain relievers went on to use heroin within five years.
“Prescription pain relievers when used properly for their intended purpose can be of enormous benefit to patients, but their nonmedical use can lead to addiction, serious physical harm and even death,” said Dr. Peter Delany, director of SAMHSA’s Center for Behavioral Health Statistics and Quality. “This report shows that it can also greatly increase an individual’s risk of turning to heroin use – thus adding a new dimension of potential harm.”
The report’s examination of the association between the nonmedical use of prescription pain relievers and the initiation of heroin use is part of SAMHSA’s efforts to identify some of the factors which may explain the rise in the rates of heroin use, dependence and initiation that have occurred in the past few years.
The number of people reporting that they have used heroin in the past 12 months rose from 373,000 people in 2007 to 620,000 people in 2011. Similarly, the number of people dependent on heroin in the past 12 months climbed from 179,000 people in 2007 to 369,000 people in 2011. The number of people starting to use heroin the first time in the past 12 months also increased from 106,000 people to 178,000 people during the same period.
The report also found significant shift between 2008 and 2011 in heroin initiation levels and patterns. For example, although overall heroin initiation rose among all 12 to 49 year olds, these increases were only seen among adults aged 18 to 25 and 26 to 49, with no change in the rate among youths aged 12 to 17. Heroin initiation among people with annual incomes less than $20,000 or $20,000-$49,999 also increased during this time period.
Past-year heroin initiation rates went up sharply in all regions of the nation during this period except the South where the rate stayed lowest in country. Heroin initiation rates were also lower among Blacks than among other racial and ethnic groups.
This article was provided by SAMHSA.
DOT OFFICE OF DRUG AND ALCOHOL POLICY AND COMPLIANCE NOTICE
Recently, some states passed initiatives to permit use of marijuana for so-called “recreational” purposes.
We have had several inquiries about whether these state initiatives will have an impact upon the Department of Transportation’s longstanding regulation about the use of marijuana by safety‐sensitive transportation employees – pilots, school bus drivers, truck drivers, train engineers, subway operators, aircraft maintenance personnel, transit fire‐armed security personnel, ship captains, and pipeline emergency response personnel, among others.
We want to make it perfectly clear that the state initiatives will have no bearing on the Department of Transportation’s regulated drug testing program. The Department of Transportation’s Drug and Alcohol Testing Regulation – 49 CFR Part 40 – does not authorize the use of Schedule I drugs, including marijuana, for any reason.
Therefore, Medical Review Officers (MROs) will not verify a drug test as negative based upon learning that the employee used “recreational marijuana” when states have passed “recreational marijuana” initiatives.
We also firmly reiterate that an MRO will not verify a drug test negative based upon information that a physician recommended that the employee use “medical marijuana” when states have passed “medical marijuana” initiatives.
It is important to note that marijuana remains a drug listed in Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act. It remains unacceptable for any safety‐sensitive employee subject to drug testing under the Department of Transportation’s drug testing regulations to use marijuana.
We want to assure the traveling public that our transportation system is the safest it can possibly be.
Jim L. Swart Director Office of the Secretary of Transportation Office of Drug and Alcohol Policy and Compliance Department of Transportation December 3, 2012
Posted in the Federal Register on Wednesday, October 3, 2012 is a Department of Transportation Final Rule:
Procedures for Transportation Workplace Drug and Alcohol Testing Programs:
6-Acetylmorphine (6-AM) Testing
This rule adopts as final, without change, a May 4, 2012, interim final rule (IFR) which no longer requires laboratories and Medical Review Officers to consult with one another regarding the testing for the presence of morphine when the laboratory confirms the presence of 6- acetylmorphine (6-AM). Also, laboratories and MROs will no longer need to report 6-AM results to the Office of Drug and Alcohol Policy and Compliance. The rule also responds to comments on the IFR.
You can find this rule at: http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2012-10-03/pdf/2012-24337.pdf
