Have a BIT & Carrier Inspection and
You Need Your MIS Report?

Well the New Year is here and many of you may be preparing for your California Highway Patrol BIT or Biannual Inspection of Terminal and your drug program’s Carrier Inspection. It’s important to understand that these are actually two separate inspections typically performed at the same time for efficiency purposes. One-of the items that the inspector normally requests before your Carrier-Inspection is your drug testing laboratory MIS or Management Information System report.

What is the MIS (Management Information System) report?

The specific regulations in 49 CFR Parts 382 & 40 state the following:

§382.403 Reporting of results in a MIS.

(a) An employer shall prepare and maintain a summary of the results of its alcohol and controlled substances testing programs performed under this part during the previous calendar year, when requested by the Secretary of Transportation, any DOT agency, or any State or local officials with regulatory authority over the employer or any of its drivers.

(b) If an employer is notified, during the month of January, of a request by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration to report the employer’s annual calendar year summary information, the employer shall prepare and submit the report to the FMCSA by March 15 of that year. The employer shall ensure that the annual summary report is accurate and received by March 15 at the location that the FMCSA specifies in its request. The employer must use the Management Information System (MIS) form and instructions as required by 49 CFR part 40 (at §40.26 and appendix H to part 40). The employer may also use the electronic version of the MIS form provided by the DOT. The Administrator may designate means (e.g., electronic program transmitted via the Internet), other than hard-copy, for MIS form submission. For information on the electronic version of the form,
see: www.fmcsa.dot.gov/safetyprogs/drugs/engtesting.htm.

(c) When the report is submitted to the FMCSA by mail or electronic transmission, the information requested shall be typed, except for the signature of the certifying official. Each employer shall ensure the accuracy and timeliness of each report submitted by the employer or a consortium.

(d) If you have a covered employee who performs multi-DOT agency functions (e.g., an employee drives a commercial motor vehicle and performs pipeline maintenance duties for the same employer), count the employee only on the MIS report for the DOT agency under which he or she is randomly tested. Normally, this will be the DOT agency under which the employee performs more than 50% of his or her duties. Employers may have to explain the testing data for these employees in the event of a DOT agency inspection or audit.

(e) A service agent (e.g., Consortiam/Third party administrator as defined in 49 CFR 382.107) may prepare the MIS report on behalf of an employer. However, a company official (e.g., Designated employer representative) must certify the accuracy and completeness of the MIS report, no matter who prepares it.
[66 FR 43103, Aug. 17, 2001, as amended at 68 FR 75459, Dec. 31, 2003]

§40.26 What form must an employer use to report MIS data to a DOT agency?

As an employer, when you are required to report MIS data to a DOT agency, you must use the form and instructions at appendix H to part 40. You must submit the MIS report in accordance with rule requirements (e.g., dates for submission; selection of companies required to submit, and method of reporting) established by the DOT agency regulating your operation. [68 FR 43952, July 25, 2003]

Your MIS report can be provided by AADT upon request. Should you choose to complete it on your own, you have also been provided with a form in the DOT Regulations Appendix H to Part 40 of section five in your AADT Company Compliance Manual should you choose to complete it on your own. At one time, AADT mailed the MIS report automatically each year but we found that many times it was misplaced, never received, thrown away, etc. Therefore, under these circumstances, the best solution is to generate the reports upon request. Legally, if you are going to have a Carrier Inspection, the CHP and the DOT are required to give you at least 48 hours or two business days to get this information. So, it is important that you tell us immediately when you are notified so that we can provide all the needed documentation for your inspection relating to drug and alcohol testing.
In our compliance manual and on our website, we provide helpful hints to prepare for your Carrier Inspection. See “Form G” under the “What to Do” section for details. Please note that even though you may use a TPA/Consortium as an administrator for your drug & alcohol testing program, the ultimate responsibility lies with you, the motor carrier company or owner/operator motor carrier; the “employer” is ultimately responsible for compliance!

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Very Cold & Wet Winter Hinders
Drug Testing Results Processing

Due to unusually inclement winter weather throughout the entire U.S. this year, please be aware of the service interruptions and/or delays affecting many areas, including both Medtox and LabCorp’s laboratories. The Customer Service National Call Centers for both labs are open and operating with limited staff.

We strongly encourage clients to contact their collection sites or patient service centers (PSCs) in storm affected areas prior to sending an individual in for specimen collection. Delays in specimen transportation have occurred in areas where flights were cancelled due to unsafe traveling conditions. These are delays which can not be helped, but please rest assured all the labs and collection sites with whom we are contracted are working diligently working to minimize the winter storm’s impact upon your businesses drug testing programs. We will provide additional information as it becomes available when these closings and delays arise.

Does anyone wonder what happened to all that global warming?

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2010 Changes to SAMHSA Mandatory
Guidelines for Fed. Workplace Drug Testing

Changes to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) Mandatory Guidelines for Federal Workplace Drug Testing Programs, effective May 1, 2010, require that all laboratories collect the Testing Authority for each SAMHSA regulated drug screening account.

To facilitate gathering of the required information, the laboratories have sent spreadsheets to companies and TPA’s like AADT. These entities are responsible for filling out the forms with the correct information relating to each organization’s account numbers designated for SAMHSA regulated drug testing.

The Testing Authorities include:
Health and Human Services (HHS), Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), Federal Motor Carrier Safety Authority (FMCSA), Federal Aviation Authority (FAA), Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), Federal Transit Administration (FTA), Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA), United States Coast Guard (USCG).