The First and Second Draft Mandatory Guidelines
for Federal Workplace Drug Testing Programs
Compared to the Comments Submitted by DATIA

DATIA is pleased to announce major progress on the issue discussed at the recent Board Conference call and on our web site - the HHS Mandatory Guidelines for Federal Workplace Drug Testing Programs. As you will remember, our members had major concerns about the first set of guidelines from HHS, and DATIA provided a detailed comment to HHS to attempt to address these issues.

We would like to thank the Division of Workplace Programs for their openness to receive and evaluate DATIA's comments that were provided in response to the first draft of the HHS Mandatory Guidelines for Federal Workplace Drug Testing Programs. The second draft of the guidelines, which was made available on September 6, 2000 shows their sincere interest in working with the drug and alcohol testing industry and in encouraging an open forum of communications to address important issues.

There were a total of 26 separate comments submitted regarding the draft guidelines, of which DATIA is included. DATIA was exceptionally pleased to see that over 80% of its comments and suggestions were incorporated into the second draft of the guidelines. Below is a comparison of the first and second drafts of the Mandatory Guidelines for Federal Workplace Testing highlighting the major changes of importance to DATIA members.

This process in far from over. The re-write of the HHS mandatory guidelines is actually more significant in scope and impact than the recent DOT 49 CFR 40 regulations, as they serve as the foundation for both mandated and non-mandated testing. Of major significance is the inclusion of on-site and alternate testing methods.

 

 

Draft One	DATIA's Comments	DRAFT Two
A "trained tester" under the supervision of a Responsible Technician, (RT) must perform point of collection tests (POCT).	Certified Collectors/Testers can perform tests. No RT is needed at a POCT Provider.	RT Requirement removed from guidelines. Collectors required to be certified by an HHS-approved POCT Certification Program
Oral fluid testing allowed for post accident and reasonable suspicion testing only.	Allow oral fluids for all test reasons (pre-employment, random, reasonable suspicion, post accident, return to duty, follow-up).	Oral fluid allowed for all testing reasons.
Summary Reports sent on a quarterly basis.	No need to require frequent summary reports to be sent.	Summary reports sent only when requested by the agency.
POCT Providers must employ a Responsible Technician to monitor analytical performance of all controls and standards; document the validity, reliability, accuracy, precision, and performance of each device used.	No Responsible Technician needed by POCT Provider. Too expensive, very impractical for industry.	Requirement removed from guidelines.
At least one negative and one positive (25% above cutoff level) quality control sample tested daily	Test quality control on device lots, not daily	At least one negative and one positive (25% above cutoff level) quality control sample tested daily OR a positive quality control sample tested after each presumptive positive
POCT Providers required to be certified by SAMHSA	Do not need to certify POCT Providers since collectors/testers are certified, and devices are FDA approved an on conforming products list	Removed from guidelines
POCT Providers required to be inspected by SAMHSA	Not needed-costly and impractical. See above	Removed from guidelines
No training or certification requirements for Medical Review Officers	Medical Review Officers, as the gatekeeper, should be certified	Medical Review Officers required to be certified by an HHS-approved Certification program

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