We were asked to draft a sample policy related to accepting items from passengers or strangers while on duty. As mentioned at UMA, we wanted to get this sample verbiage out for consideration. If you are using a TSS system, this can be added to the Drug and Alcohol Addendum. If you are not a TSS customer, you are welcome to cut and paste this information into your existing resources. This has been placed in a section of a policy for context and reference.

 

Employees who are convicted of off-the-job drug activity may be considered to be in violation of this policy.  In deciding what action to take, management will take into consideration the nature of the charges, the employee’s present job assignment, the employee’s record with COMPANY NAME and other factors relative to the impact of the employee’s arrest upon the conduct of COMPANY NAME’s business.

Accepting items from passengers, customers or co-workers for ingestion while operating in a safety-sensitive capacity is prohibited. Ingestible items may contain substances that have known or unknown effects which may alter your ability to safely operate equipment. Additionally, inadvertent ingestion of these types of substances could affect your ability to maintain your CDL and should be avoided at all costs in your personal and private time. It is against the company zero tolerance policy and federal regulations to test positive for certain identified controlled substances, do not become a victim and jeopardize your employment or ability to maintain your CDL by accepting ingestible items of personally unknown origins. 

Employees undergoing prescribed medical treatment that include compounds of controlled substances such as Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC),  cannabinoids, Cannabidiol (CBD) or similar must be aware that this could violate federal licensing and drug testing requirements. Additionally, these compounds may violate the companies zero drug tolerance policies and be grounds for termination according to the published drug policy.

Employees undergoing prescribed medical treatment with controlled substances, which could affect their safety or job performance, should report this treatment to their supervisor. The use of controlled substances as a part of a prescribed medical treatment program is naturally not grounds for disciplinary action, although it is important for COMPANY NAME to know such use is occurring if it could affect safety or job performance.

 

Suggestions or comments are always welcome.