What is DOT SAP Evaluation and how it Works?

Posted by Affordable Evaluations on June 14th, 2021

This article genuinely published "here" and copied here with permission

A Substance Abuse Professional or a SAP is a person who is responsible for evaluating and making recommendations on those employees who have some or the other way violated the DOT (Department of Transportation) alcohol and drug regulation. These recommendations made will be regarding treatment, education, follow-ups testing as well as aftercare too.

A substance abuse evaluation or a SAP evaluation is a face-to-face or in person clinical assessment of a person. This is done for the purpose of ruling out what exactly they require to resolve their issues connected with drug or alcohol use. Face to face interaction is mandatory as this might offer a few important physical clues, vital for the process of evaluation. This may include things like – needle marks, tremors, exaggerated movements, dilated pupils, bloodshot or glazed eyes or yellow eyes, unable to make eye contact, hyperactivity or physical slowdown, posture, carriage, appearance, and ability to communicate face-to-face.

How a SAP evaluation works?

When a face-to-face evaluation of an individual is carried out, the SAP would determine if the employee has any addiction or problem and access its level. Plenty of information is gathered to complete this evaluation. The SAP evaluation near me would include the standardized testing, the collection of all the information about the history as well as current alcohol/drug use, social and physical health, family history and random alcohol/drug testing. The alcohol and drug use history would even include duration, onset, frequency, physical and emotional characteristics of use, substance or substances of use, and quantity of use.

Importance of DOT SAP Programs

Under the DOT SAP evaluation program, the employees are likely to follow the alcohol and drug policy of DOT. If any employee is influenced by alcohol or drug at workplace, they can put not only themselves but also the public or their co-workers in danger. This result in that DOT has zero-tolerance for alcohol and drug use. Also, DOT needs mandatory participation in a SAP program for those especially who refuse or fail alcohol and/or drug testing.

If the safety-sensitive employee fails the test of alcohol or drug, that individual is at once removed from doing safety-sensitive duties. The person would not be permitted to perform these functions, unless he/she have successfully done a return-to-duty process recommended by SAP. Substance Abuse Professionals or SAPs are well-trained professionally, so that they can evaluate employees and recommend either treatment or education program.

In addition to this, SAP also evaluates employees to determine compliance with the process of return-to-duty. Finally, it is the SAP who provides approval to an employee for doing the test for return-to-duty that might permit him/her to return to their work. An important point to note is that it is absolutely vital for SAPs to update their credentials and training from time to time, in order to maintain DOT qualifications.

If you need DOT SAP evaluation, contact Affordable Evaluations, as they provide the perfect mental health as well as substance abuse evaluations for nearly all agencies of all 50 states. Whatever, may be the reason for evaluation, they can help. They are certified and licensed to perform an evaluation for not only Texas but also out-of-state entities as well.