Code of Federal Regulations > 49 CFR Department of Tran... > A Office of the Secretary > 40 Procedures For Transpo... > F Drug Testing Laboratories

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§40.84 — How long does the laboratory retain specimens after testing?

(a)

As a laboratory testing the primary specimen, you must retain a specimen that was reported with positive, adulterated, substituted, or invalid results for a minimum of one year.

(b)

You must keep such a specimen in secure, long-term, frozen storage in accordance with HHS requirements.

(c)

Within the one-year period, the MRO, the employee, the employer, or a DOT agency may request in writing that you retain a specimen for an additional period of time (e.g., for the purpose of preserving evidence for litigation or a safety investigation). If you receive such a request, you must comply with it. If you do not receive such a request, you may discard the specimen at the end of the year.

(d)

If you have not sent the split specimen to another laboratory for testing, you must retain the split specimen for an employee's test for the same period of time that you retain the primary specimen and under the same storage conditions.

(e)

As the laboratory testing the split specimen, you must meet the requirements of paragraphs (a) through (d) of this section with respect to the split specimen.

§40.84 — DOT Regulatory Guidance

Question 1: What are the retention requirements for blind specimens and records of blind specimen tests?

Guidance: Laboratories, employers and other parties required to retain specimens and records of tests should retain blind specimens and records of blind specimen tests in exactly the same way and for the same periods of time as they do actual employee specimens and test records.

For example, an employer would keep a record of a blind positive test for five years and a blind negative test for two years.

Laboratories would keep blind specimens for negatives in accordance with their SOPs and non-negatives for one year.

Reason: