According to WPCI, The nation’s premier comprehensive drug program administrator, the following are
audit findings conducted by the FMCSA:
1. 2009 Company Reviews:
a. 67% of the reviews had acute violations of the Drug & Alcohol program.
b. 90% of the 67% either had no program or failed to randomly test their employees.
c. 7,430 enforcement actions were taken and 49% of those actions included Drug & Alcohol violations of which $11 million in penalties were leveled.
2. An employee should not be hired until a negative drug result is received. It is a violation and will continue to be.
What can Office Tenders do to help?
A COMPANY is fully in charge of their hiring practices. We can only sign a new driver up with drug & alcohol testing and/or Driver Qualification Files when contacted by the company.
Companies must make “Pre-employment Drug testing” part of the application process…not something to do after the employee is hired.
3. There is still a lack of good faith effort to check to past history of new employees or not having it done at all. Documentation of more than 1 attempt to retrieve the information from previous employers for the 3 years period must be kept on file.
WHAT DOES OFFICE TENDERS DO TO AID COMPLIANCE
When a client elects to have Office Tenders do DRIVER QUALIFICATION FILES, we complete the appropriate forms for the employee to sign. The employer must mail the completed forms to previous employers for the past 3 years.
We also provide a checklist that remains with the employer. That checklist, if used properly, is to remind the employer to follow-up if no response is received within 2 weeks of the previous employer receiving the inquiry. Room is provided for documenting the responses received.
