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Building Trades National Drug and Alcohol Program

Background

INTRODUCTION

The affiliates of the Building and Construction Trades Department, AFL-CIO (BCTD), along with Owners and Contractors, are committed to providing a safe work place for those working within the organized construction industry. A workplace unencumbered by the influences of illegal/controlled drugs and alcohol is necessary to assure this goal. Cooperative effort is needed to overcome the adverse impact of substance abuse on workplace safety, productivity, and quality of work. As a result of that effort, the BCTD has developed this National Multicraft Industry-Wide Drug and Alcohol Testing Program and Policy. This Program and Policy establishes a single minimum testing standard to be utilized to conduct testing for illegal/controlled drugs, substances and alcohol on participating-member job sites This Policy applies to all employees and potential employees of contractors and subcontractors at all tiers, including bargaining unit and non-bargaining unit employees.

The mark of a successful drug-free workplace program also depends on how well employees are informed of the hazards of drug use. Equally important is the assurance to employees that personal dignity and privacy will be respected in reaching the goal of a drug-free workplace. Therefore, this plan includes policies and procedures for: (1) employee assistance; (2) supervisory training; (3) employee education; and (4) identification of illegal/controlled drug use through drug testing on a carefully controlled and monitored basis.

RECIPROCITY

The goals of this Program and Policy will be met by recognizing similar efforts, either on a regional or national basis that meet or exceed the minimum standards set forth herein. A regional or national program can obtain reciprocal status and may transfer data to the national database when all of the following conditions are satisfied:

  1. The program is embodied in a written policy;
  2. The panel of drugs tested must include those set forth herein;
  3. The cutoff values for each drug must meet or exceed the values set forth herein;
  4. Testing is at least as frequent as set forth herein;
  5. The program implements substantially similar procedural safeguards to ensure the integrity of the testing process, including the use of Medical Review Officers (MROs);
  6. The policy provides for applicant testing, annual testing, random testing, for cause testing, post-accident testing, return-to-duty testing and follow-up testing;
  7. The policy contains a bona fide dispute resolution process;
  8. The policy uses a bona fide method of discipline that imposes similar consequences for failing a drug test;
  9. The policy provides means and methods for employee rehabilitation through a Substance Abuse Professional (SAP);
  10. The policy provides for reasonable cause training.

Programs that have been granted reciprocal status will submit, on a daily basis, employee testing data to the national database.

COMMITMENT TO CONFIDENTIALITY

Protecting the confidentiality of the employee is a primary interest of labor, owners, and contractors. Towards that end, there will be designated Medical Review Officers (MRO) who will be the sole individuals who have access to employee medical records and the MRO and Policy Administrator will be the only individuals who have access to employee drug testing results. MROs shall be licensed physicians with knowledge of substance abuse disorders and the appropriate medical training to interpret and evaluate all positive test results together with an individual's medical history and any other relevant biomedical information. Where applicable, MROs shall follow the procedures set forth in 49 CFR Part 40.

  1. Contractors will designate a specific representative as the contact person who will be the only individual to receive information from the MRO and Policy Administrator, as well as an alternate representative to receive such information in the event that the primary representative is absent or unavailable.
  2. The following procedures and guidelines regarding confidentiality will be strictly observed:
    1. Except as otherwise provided herein, individual test results or medical information about an employee shall not be disclosed to third parties without the employee's specific written consent. A “third party” is any person or organization to whom other subparts of this Policy do not explicitly authorize or require the transmission of information in the course of the drug or alcohol testing process.
    2. Information pertaining to an employee's drug or alcohol test may be disclosed without the employee's consent in certain legal proceedings.
      1. These proceedings include a lawsuit (e.g., a wrongful discharge action), grievance (e.g., an arbitration concerning disciplinary action taken by the employer), or administrative proceeding (e.g., an unemployment compensation hearing) brought by, or on behalf of, an employee and resulting from a positive drug or alcohol test or a refusal to test (including, but not limited to, adulterated or substituted test results).
      2. These proceedings also include a criminal or civil action resulting from an employee's performance of safety-sensitive duties, in which a court of competent jurisdiction determines that the drug or alcohol test information sought is relevant to the case and issues an order directing that the information be produced.
      3. In such a proceeding, the information may be released to the decisionmaker in the proceeding (e.g., the court in a lawsuit), with a binding stipulation that the decisionmaker to whom it is released will make it available only to parties to the proceeding.
    3. The Medical Review Officers and Policy Administrator will be the only individuals who have detailed information concerning employee drug testing.
    4. The Medical Review Officers and Policy Administrator may disclose only whether an employee is current or not current with the Policy.
  3. The Policy Administrator will only be allowed to advise a designated contractor representative and union representative that the employee is either “current,” “pending” or “not current” with this Program and Policy. No information about the test results, the substance that an employee may have tested positive for, levels of , testing, or any other specific information will be shared.