Alexandria, VA, June 4, 2003: The Drug and Alcohol Testing Industry Association (DATIA) announced during its 7th Annual Conference that it will offer training on alternative specimen collection and on-site testing. “The industry has been anxiously awaiting federal guidelines on the use of these new technologies, however, it is apparent that they will not be issued any time soon. Therefore, DATIA is taking the lead and will provide education to the industry on the best practices and standards to follow when performing alternative specimen collections and on –site testing,” stated Laura Shelton, Executive Director.

The majority of drug tests performed are non-mandated, therefore, the new course will have non-mandated testing as a priority. The course, however, will still provide instruction on DOT testing, and will continue to meet and exceed the DOT’s training requirements for specimen collectors. Participants of the course will be eligible to be certified though DATIA as Certified Professional Collector Trainers™ (CPCT), and will be recognized as being certified in urine and alternative specimen collections.

The first course providing this much needed instruction, will be September 19, 2003 in Salt Lake City, UT. Additional courses will be in Orlando, FL and Kansas City, MO. Instructors for the course will be Sherri Vogler of Houston Medical Testing Services and John Corpus of Aurora Health Care. Both Ms. Vogler and Mr. Corpus have been DATIA Instructors since 1998, and have been responsible for the popularity of DATIA’s collector training courses. Their knowledge of the collection process is unparalleled and they are both skilled at passing this knowledge onto their attendees.

DATIA was founded in 1995 and has grown to represent over 1,100 members from all facets of the drug and alcohol testing industry. DATIA works closely with key policy makers in Federal Agencies and in Congress to ensure that the interests of the industry are heard and taken into account when changes are proposed involving drug and alcohol testing rules. DATIA works to ensure that these changes foster rather than hinder our members’ and the industry’s growth. DATIA further works to educate the industry on current standards of service and regulatory policies and procedures. For complete information on the association and its programs, visit www.datia.org.

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