Overview

Who Should take this course?

This DOT Reasonable Suspicion Supervisor course is intended to provide a supervisor of drivers and other safety-sensitive positions with the ability to recognize symptoms that indicate the use of drugs or alcohol among his or her employees. The knowledge gained from this course will allow a supervisor to establish reasonable suspicion and refer an employee for drug and alcohol testing.

Drivers under the influence of alcohol or drugs are a danger to themselves and others, especially if they are a driver of a Commercial Motor Vehicle (CMV) or work in a "safety-sensitive position". A supervisor's ability to identify symptoms of drug and alcohol use in their employees is critical to ensuring a safe workspace.

What Is Reasonable Suspicion?

Reasonable suspicion, as applied to the workplace, is when a supervisor can, through observable facts, make a determination that an employee is under the influence of alcohol or drugs at the workplace or on the job. Only supervisors can establish reasonable suspicion and refer workers for alcohol or drug testing.

About This Course

This course will help a supervisor identify the signs and symptoms of alcohol and drug abuse at the workplace, focusing on a variety of controlled substances, including marijuana, opiates, MDMA, PCP, and cocaine; it will outline a supervisor's responsibility once he or she has established reasonable suspicion; and it will discuss the DOT regulations regarding returning to work for employees who test positive for alcohol and drugs.

Through case studies and examples, this course will not only help a supervisor recognize when an employee could be under the influence of either drugs or alcohol, but it will also teach a supervisor how to refer an employee for substance abuse testing and follow up on the situation.

Who Should Take This Course?

The DOT Reasonable Suspicion Supervisor course is intended for managers and supervisors who oversee Commercial Motor Vehicle (CMV) drivers and other safety-sensitive positions. A safety-sensitive position is one in which the occupation can have a direct impact on the safety of others.

Objectives

The DOT requires that those who supervise drivers be adequately trained. The objective of this DOT Reasonable Suspicion Supervisor course is to meet the Federal Department of Transportation training requirements required by 49 CFR 382.603.

Per 49 CFR 382.603

Each employer shall ensure that all persons designated to supervise drivers receive at least 60 minutes of training on alcohol misuse and receive an additional 60 minutes of training on controlled substances use. The training will be used by the supervisors to determine whether reasonable suspicion exists to require a driver to undergo testing under 382.307. The training shall include the physical, behavioral, speech, and performance indicators of probable alcohol misuse and use of controlled substances. Recurrent training for supervisory personnel is not required.

Taking this course will meet this legal training requirement

Learning Objectives

At the end of this course, students should be able to:

Identify symptoms of alcohol and/or drug abuse;
Establish reasonable suspicion;
Follow appropriate procedures to refer an employee for drug or alcohol testing; and
Describe the outcomes of failing an alcohol or drug test.

Syllabus

Course Sections

This course consists of 1 modules broken down into 4 sections. Students are required to take each section in sequential order as listed below.

Exams

questions per exam

70%

score needed to pass

∞

retakes until you pass

This course has 1 final exam.

The student must complete all course sections before attempting the exam. The final exam consists of 10 questions selected at random from a larger pool of questions. A 70% score or better is required to pass the exam.

Students who do not pass the exam the first time may retake the exam as many times as necessary in order to pass.

Additional Training

This course is designed to help workers meet the DOT's requirement for Security Awareness Training.

This training is part of a core curriculum of training that includes:

General Awareness training (Basic or Advanced);
Function-specific training;

Modal-specific training;

Security awareness training;
Safety awareness training (coming soon);
In-depth security training (if applicable); and
Driver training for motor vehicle operators (if applicable).

Workers must receive additional training, when required by DOT, OSHA, or EPA standards, on the specific hazards of their job.

Training providers should be used to ensure credibility and augment a company's training program. Therefore, in addition to the training provided by an outside party, a student should receive site-specific training that is supplied by their own company. This training should target the company's unique approach to hazard prevention, including the use of site-specific equipment, health and safety policies, and emergency procedures. As a rule, this company specific training should be well documented.

The bottom line in ALL SITUATIONS is that employers are required to ensure that their employees are adequately trained to do their job.

Mobile version

This course is available in HTML5, so it works in the browser on your smartphone or tablet. It only needs the most recent version of your device's web browser.

Pros

No computer needed
Tablet mobility
Tablet screen graphics

Cons

Smartphone screens can be too small to see
Mobile browsers react differently than computer browsers
Phone calls can interrupt training

Tablets work much better than smartphones, simply due to their screen size. The newer the device, the better the result. The course will not work on the first generation iPad, nor older Android tablets.

Frequently asked questions

Our courses are set up to take a specific amount of time. Some students may get through the training more quickly, while others may actually take longer to complete their training. Remember, this training should be used as an intricate tool in the context of an overall training program; it can be combined with other training throughout the year in order to meet any hour requirements needed.

Students have 12 months to start their training from the time they enroll in an online course.

Take up to 36 months to complete your online training, at your own pace and schedule.

No, our courses are designed so you can start and stop as needed, allowing you to break the training up over a longer period of time. Our system will keep track of your progress, enabling you to resume where you left off upon your next login. It is important that once you start a section, you complete that section or you will need to start that section over from the beginning upon your return.

Yes, you can take the online portion by signing in with your username and password from any location and computer with high-speed internet access. However, each computer does need to meet our basic system requirements for viewing our online courses.

Yes, once you have completed a course, you are able to download, save or print a certificate of completion from your student account. Certificates are created in a pdf format. Users must have the latest version of Adobe Acrobat Reader before attempting to download the completion certificate.

DOT Reasonable Suspicion for Supervisors