APPROVED INTERPRETATION GUIDANCE FOR DOE M 232.1-1A "Employee determined to be unfit for duty" Approved 10/27/97 REQUIREMENT GROUP 5 - SAFEGUARDS AND SECURITY C. Substance Abuse Off-Normal Discovery of the prohibited use, possession or involvement of alcohol or illegal drugs by personnel within a facility that may affect facility operations. (1) Any reportable occurrence under this Manual at least partially attributable to the use of alcohol or illegal drugs. (2) A detection of personnel not fit for duty attributable to the use of alcohol or illegal drugs. INTERPRETATION Issue: Explain the changes and expectations related to the reporting requirements for substance abuse. Is it reportable under these requirements if an operator is identified as unfit for duty in the parking lot prior to their shift? Intent: The intent is to identify those events or cases where personnel are determined to be unfit for duty due to substance abuse and whose actions either do [ON(1)] or could [ON(2)] precipitate an occurrence. In other words, to be reportable, personnel must be able to affect facility operations. This criteria covers facility personnel who are either at the facility or have on­call responsibilities at the facility. Additional Information: Substance abuse cases are sometimes difficult to properly categorize in the time frame required by DOE Order 232.1A because of the overlapping concerns of facility safety, law enforcement, and the employees right to privacy. Some examples follow to help clarify the reporting requirement: If an employee is determined to be unfit for duty due to substance abuse or alcohol and their actions could affect facility operations, then clearly it would be reported under this criteria. If (1) an employee tests positive due to a random or for cause testing, (2) there was no reportable occurrence involved, and (3) none of the employee's actions could affect facility operations, then no occurrence report is required. If an event occurred and was reported to ORPS, and later it was determined that illegal drugs or alcohol were involved, then an update report should be submitted with Group 5.C added to the Nature of Occurrence codes. For pre­employment drug testing, there are two situations that could exist because of the time it takes to process the drug screening. For those sites that require the results of the drug screening prior to employment, then a positive drug screen is not reportable, since the person is not yet an employee and could not affect facility operations. For those sites that allow work prior to receiving the results of the drug screening, then the person either is or should be considered as an employee for reporting under this criteria since their actions may affect facility operations. In the case where an operator is identified as unfit for duty in the facility parking lot prior to his/her shift, you must answer the following two questions: (1) Was the operator within the facility? and (2) Could he/she affect facility operations? To answer question #1, in most cases the parking lot will be on DOE property and, even if it is open to the public, should be considered within the facility . To answer question #2, it is reasonable to assume that the operator would have reported for work if not stopped, and hence could have affected operations. Therefore, this case would be reportable. Back to DOE Approved Interpretations