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
On-site workplace screening across South Orange County, with the rest of Orange County by arrangement. Collections follow 49 CFR Part 40 procedures from the moment the donor walks in: split-specimen urine collection on site, with evidential breath alcohol testing planned and MRO review and Clearinghouse reporting coordinated through TPA services once agreements are signed. 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 collections follow 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 confirmation is run on an evidential breath testing device (EBT) on the NHTSA Conforming Products List and the sequence is run exactly as written. When breath alcohol testing launches, a qualified Breath Alcohol Technician will run the screen and confirmation on site using a device from the NHTSA Conforming Products List, so nobody drives anywhere between the two tests.
Planned: an evidential breath testing device (EBT) on the NHTSA Conforming Products List, not a handheld screener. Every subject gets a fresh mouthpiece, every test prints a numbered record, and an air blank runs 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 an evidential breath testing device (EBT) 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.
Under Part 40, every hand-off from the sealed kit to the verified result is a controlled step. Nothing skips the laboratory, and nothing skips the Medical Review Officer. Apex performs the collection; laboratory routing, MRO review and Clearinghouse steps are planned through contracted partners once agreements are signed.
Federal rules require every regulated specimen to go to an HHS-certified laboratory. No exceptions, no local shortcuts. Apex laboratory routing agreements are planned.
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.
The MRO, a licensed physician, reviews every non-negative, contacts the donor, and evaluates any legitimate medical explanation before verifying. Coordinated through a contracted MRO once agreements are signed.
Only the MRO-verified result reaches your designated employer representative. Raw laboratory data does not go to your desk.
FMCSA requires a full query before a driver performs a safety-sensitive function, and a limited query at least once every 12 months thereafter. Planned under TPA services.
Violations, refusals, actual knowledge, negative return-to-duty results, and completion of a follow-up plan must be reported. Planned under TPA services once agreements are signed.
Signed collection records will be retained for the periods the regulations require, with copies available on request for 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 procedure, 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 Program Support 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.
We come to your depot, job site, or office across South Orange County, with the rest of Orange County by arrangement. That 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, ask us about options before booking.
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.
It has to. When breath alcohol testing launches, a qualified Breath Alcohol Technician will run the screen and confirmation on site using a device from the NHTSA Conforming Products List. A screening result of 0.02 or higher goes to a confirmation test on an evidential breath testing device (EBT) after a minimum 15-minute wait, and the confirmation reading is the governing result.
Not as a substitute for the federal test. Today DOT drug testing is urine-based. Part 40 also allows oral fluid testing once HHS-certified labs are available for it. Hair testing is not authorized for DOT. 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.
Planned, not live yet. The Clearinghouse requires a full query before a driver performs a safety-sensitive function, a limited query at least once a year, and reporting of violations, refusals, negative return-to-duty results, and follow-up plan completion. Apex plans to support queries and reporting under TPA services, coordinated once agreements are signed, alongside random pool and consortium administration (planned).
Scheduled service is by appointment, and after-hours and weekend STAT is by arrangement. Call the STAT line directly to confirm a window, 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 or a non-DOT panel build, send a request or call the dispatch line. Random pool administration is planned.