Are you being asked to join DISA as part of your requirements in ISNetworld®? This is a common requirement for pipeline operators but is becoming more and more prevalent for Non-DOT contractors as well.
What is DISA, you ask? DISA Global Solutions is a company that specializes in helping companies manage a drug & alcohol random testing program. They are the organization that we (JJ Safety) recommend for drug and alcohol program management. DISA has proven to be able to provide the needed documentation and components to fully comply with the most stringent of drug & alcohol requirements.
If you’re stressing out about having to implement a random testing program, be assured it is nothing to lose sleep over. DISA’s customer portal is super user friendly and makes it easy to manage your random program. Better yet, for a small fee to save you even more time and hassle, JJ Safety will manage your DISA Program for you.
Why all this fuss about drug and alcohol requirements in the first place though? Aside from the direct benefit of being awarded contract work from your clients, a drug and alcohol program is beneficial for your company in so many ways. Studies show that companies with an effective drug and alcohol program experience less employee turnover, safer work environments, increased productivity, lower workers comp premiums, less absenteeism, reduced healthcare costs, and improved overall company morale. It just makes sense ethically and financially.
When it’s time to set up your drug and alcohol program, the first step is to identify the best program for your company. This will depend on your client requirements as well as regulatory, i.e. DOT or Non-DOT. Once you have identified the type of program needed, call DISA and provide them with the details. DISA will get you set up with log-in information and a URL to your customer portal. It normally takes 24 hours after payment is processed for the portal to be active.
Once our portal is active, you can go in and begin completing the company profile and employee information, for initial drug screening. You’ll need your employee’s information like dates of birth and social security numbers in order to set them up for the initial screening. Once you’ve got them set up in the system, you’ll be able to download the authorization forms and provide them to your employees.
What if your employees have already been pre-employment tested?
Maybe you already have a drug testing provider but now you’re switching? The answer to this question is important. DISA will accept a list of your employees via excel sheet, but only for Non-DOT programs. If setting up DOT and/or consortium programs, the employees must “test” into the pool. In other words, they need to provide a specimen at a collection facility in order to be added.
Perhaps your employees work all over the country? Not to worry, DISA partners with hundreds of collection facilities throughout every major metropolitan area and the majority of rural areas as well. The customer portal allows you to perform a search by location and find a testing facility where your employees are located. Once your employees have either tested or been added to your roster via excel sheet, then we are all set. Disa will now inform you of random pulls via email. For client requirements within ISNetworld® or NCMS, these are usually performed quarterly. However, depending on how stringent the client, they can be as often as monthly.
Normally your customer will provide you with guidelines. If you have an audit with an organization like NCMS, the guidelines can be pulled from within the account. If you inform DISA who your client is, they will also usually have a list of guidelines for that customer. This is something that will be established at time of registration.
In addition to random testing, you can also perform Pre-employment testing, reasonable suspicion, post-accident, return-to-duty, periodic, follow-up, and wall-to-wall testing all through DISA’s customer portal.
So, if you need DISA as part of your requirements through ISNetworld® or a direct requirement from your customer, rest assured, this doesn’t have to be a headache. JJ Safety can help guide you through the process or fully manage it to save you all the time and hassle! We will work to manage your drug & alcohol program so that you can concentrate on working for your clients! Feel free to contact us with any questions.
Call 866-627-3850 or email sales@jjsafetyllc.com to learn more about how JJ Safety can help you.