Reason 01
Pre-Employment
Before a candidate performs any safety-sensitive function. A verified negative is required first, and the Clearinghouse must be queried.
Authority382.301
QueryFull
Federally mandated workplace screening executed to 49 CFR Part 40, from the moment the donor walks in to the moment the verified result reaches your DER. Evidentiary breath alcohol, split-specimen urine collection, MRO review, Clearinghouse reporting. A voided screen is worse than no screen at all.
Federal regulation does not leave the reason for a test to interpretation. Each trigger carries its own timing, its own documentation, and its own consequence for getting it wrong. Apex collectors work the same Part 40 procedure for all of them, because the procedure is what makes the result defensible.
Before a candidate performs any safety-sensitive function. A verified negative is required first, and the Clearinghouse must be queried.
Unannounced selection from a scientifically valid pool. The employee reports immediately on notification, with no advance warning of the date.
Triggered by a qualifying event. The federal clock starts at the accident, not when someone gets around to calling a clinic.
Based on specific, contemporaneous observations of appearance, behavior, speech, or odor by a trained supervisor. The observation must be documented.
After a violation and completion of the SAP process. The collection is conducted under direct observation, every time, without exception.
An unannounced schedule set by the SAP, not by the employer. A minimum of six tests in the first 12 months, and the plan can run up to five years.
An alcohol result is only usable if the device is an approved evidential breath testing unit and the sequence is run exactly as written. Apex uses the Lifeloc Phoenix 6.0 and runs the full screen plus confirmation sequence on site, so nobody drives anywhere between the two tests.
A DOT-approved evidential breath testing device, not a handheld screener. Every subject gets a fresh mouthpiece, every test prints a numbered record, and the device runs an air blank before the confirmation reading so the result belongs to the donor and to nobody else.
Any screening result of 0.02 or higher requires a confirmation test on the same evidential device after a minimum 15-minute wait, during which the donor may not eat, drink, smoke, or put anything in the mouth. The confirmation reading is the only result that counts.
Split specimen handling, the temperature check, and the shy-bladder protocol. Get any one of these wrong and the laboratory never gets a usable specimen, no matter how clean the donor was.
Every federal urine collection is split into two bottles in front of the donor, sealed, and initialed before anything leaves the room.
The temperature strip is read within four minutes of the specimen leaving the donor's hands. After that window, the reading proves nothing.
An insufficient specimen is not a refusal and it is not a failure. It is a documented protocol with a clock on it, and the collector runs the clock.
A cancelled test is not a negative and it is not a positive. It is nothing. You paid for a collection, the employee lost a shift, and if it was pre-employment or return-to-duty, that person still cannot legally work. That is why a voided screen is worse than never testing at all: you carry the cost, the delay, and the exposure, and you hold no result to show for it.
From the sealed kit to the verified result on your desk, every hand-off is a controlled step. Nothing skips the laboratory, and nothing skips the Medical Review Officer.
Every federally regulated specimen is routed exclusively to an HHS certified laboratory. No exceptions, no local shortcuts.
Immunoassay screen at the federal cutoffs. A specimen that screens negative is reported negative and goes no further.
Nothing leaves the laboratory as a non-negative without confirmation by mass spectrometry at the confirmatory cutoff.
A licensed physician reviews every non-negative, contacts the donor, and evaluates any legitimate medical explanation before verifying.
Only the MRO-verified result reaches your designated employer representative. Raw laboratory data never lands on your desk.
Full query before a driver performs a safety-sensitive function, and a limited query at least once every 12 months thereafter.
Violations, refusals, actual knowledge, negative return-to-duty results, and completion of a follow-up plan reported as required.
Signed collection records held audit-ready for seven years by default and exportable as PDF on request from you or an auditor.
Private employers are not bound to the federal panel, the federal form, or the federal cutoffs. You define the panel, you set the thresholds in written policy, and the collection runs on a non-federal chain of custody form. What does not change is the collector, the seal discipline, and the record. In California, remember that AB 2188 reshaped how most non-federal employers may act on cannabis results, while federally regulated safety-sensitive testing continues under its own rules. Construction programs are covered in detail on the AB 2188 compliance page.
Urine screening on the panel your policy defines, from a basic five-panel to expanded synthetic and prescription opioid coverage.
A wide historical window for pre-employment and safety-critical private roles where a short-window test tells you very little.
A fully observed collection with a short detection window, which makes it the practical choice for reasonable suspicion and post-incident calls.
The questions safety managers, HR directors, and fleet compliance officers ask before they move a program. Direct answers, no fluff.
Collectors deploy from the Mission Viejo hub to your depot, job site, or office, which is the whole point of the service. Nobody loses half a shift sitting in a waiting room. For a single donor in an outlying area we can also arrange a partner collection site.
A fatal flaw: the specimen ID on the bottle not matching the CCF, a missing collector name and signature, a broken or tampered seal, or an unusable volume in the primary bottle. Those cancel the test outright. Correctable flaws, such as an omitted certification signature, are repaired with a signed memorandum for the record and the result stands.
Yes. It is a DOT-approved evidential breath testing device, which is the class of instrument federal alcohol testing requires. A screening result of 0.02 or higher goes to a confirmation test on the same device after a minimum 15-minute wait, and the confirmation reading is the governing result.
Not as a substitute for the federal test. DOT-regulated drug testing is a urine collection under Part 40. Hair follicle and oral fluid are excellent tools for your non-regulated program, and many fleets run both: the federal urine test to satisfy the regulation, a company hair test to satisfy the policy.
Yes. Full queries before a driver performs a safety-sensitive function, limited queries at least annually, and reporting of violations, refusals, negative return-to-duty results, and follow-up plan completion. Full program administration, including random pools and consortium membership, is covered under TPA services.
Emergency call-out runs 24/7/365 from the Mission Viejo hub. Call the STAT line directly, because the federal windows are unforgiving: alcohol testing within 8 hours of the event and controlled substance testing within 32 hours. Every hour you spend deciding is an hour off that clock.
Call directly for post-accident and reasonable-suspicion call-outs. For scheduled programs, random pools, or a non-DOT panel build, send a request or call the 24/7 dispatch desk.