NCMS stands for National Compliance Management System, and it is a system that was developed to keep track of contractor drug and alcohol compliance. NCMS works with ISNetworld®, hiring companies and other contractor vetting platforms to mitigate the likelihood of drug and alcohol related incidents on worksites.
NCMS was established in 1993 and they primarily serve the Oil & Gas portion of the Energy Industry. They have 2 divisions : a pipeline division, which covers contractors under jurisdiction of the federal DOT’s PHMSA, and a Non-DOT but client required division. Based out of Hutchison, Kansas, NCMS is a leader in the contractor monitoring industry for drug & alcohol compliance.
If your company is required to sign up with NCMS, you will be informed by your customer or you will see criteria in your ISNetworld® scorecard that says “NCMS.” Once you get signed up with NCMS, you will be required to complete your initial audit, complete your company profile, complete acknowledgment forms.
You will also need to show evidence that your company has a random drug program in place, and that it meets customer guidelines or DOT guidelines, whichever is more stringent. In addition, you will be required to submit documentation, such as:
-
Your written drug & alcohol program
-
Copies of your employee acknowledgement and consent forms
-
Copies of Chain of Custody forms
-
Copies of the drug panel your company uses
-
Copies of the information for your lab (which must meet your customers guidelines)
The next step will be to disclose your sample collection site selection process, and how you choose your collection site? Your client, and NCMS, will need to know if you have consortium that helps you select testing sites, or if you send workers to the closest collection site.
The lab you use must be a SMSHA certified lab. If it’s DOT, be prepared to submit a copy of the MRO’s (Medical Review Officer) certification and previous history-check form for each employee.
In addition to submitting this documentation, you’ll also need to answer questions pertaining to the specifics of your program. You’ll need to know screening level percentages for the breathalyzers and what type and brand the collection site uses. They will ask for the name of the company’s SAP (Substance Abuse Professional). Does the selection process include a backup selection? Is the random selection process scientifically based? Does the MRO perform quality assurance reviews? These are just some of the questions that will be asked.
Once you’ve submitted all the documents and answered all the questions, the next step is to make sure your employee list is accurate. If you only have a few employees, you can enter them 1 by 1. If you have a long list, you may want to use the excel spreadsheet template provided by NCMS. You will need to know the last test date of each employee on the list. Once your list is updated you can submit for review.
ISN® will link directly to your NCMS account, so your NCMS status can be viewed in your ISN® account in real time, which is a great feature offered by ISNetworld®.
JJ Safety has the experience to help contractors through these audits. We have helped hundreds of contractors meet requirements in NCMS and become approved.
So, give us a call at 866-627-3850 or send us an email at sales@jjsafetyllc.com. Whether you’re dealing with NCMS or just looking to get a drug & alcohol program in place, we will be happy to help.