common mistakes and misconceptions in evidential breath testing

7/27/2019 Common Mistakes and Misconceptions in Evidential Breath Testing

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8 datia focus fall 2013

COMMON MISTAKES

IN EVIDENTIALD

epartment o Transportation (DOT)

mandated Evidential Breath Tests

(EBTs) are conducted by thousands o

Breath Alcohol Technicians (BATs) each year.

The work o Breath Alcohol Technicians goes

largely unrecognized by the general public and in

the industries they serve. Yet without them, our

places o employment and ways o transportationwould be hazardous. It is not easy work; providing

rigorous training is only the beginning. Close

attention to detail, policies, procedures, rules and

regulations are their everyday work, not to mention

their responsibility, to saeguard the rights o their

customers, employers, and those they test.

This article addresses the more requent errors and

sources o conusion that occur in Evidential Breath

Testing. We hope it is instructive to current andprospective BATs and their trainers.



BY AMY EVANS AND BARRY KNOTT, LIFELOC TECHNOLOGIES

www.datia.org datia focus

& MISCONCEPTIONS

BREATH TESTING1 Conusing a Calibration

with a Calibration Check

The steps required to perorm a calibration check

(also known as a “verication,” “cal check,” “external

calibration check,” or “accuracy check”) can be

similar to the steps o an Evidential Breath Tester

calibration. It is not uncommon or an inexperienced or

fustered BAT to inadvertently or unknowingly perorma calibration ater a positive test. This is the astest

way to discredit an otherwise properly conducted

positive conrmation test. Here’s why:

Calibrating an evidential breath tester sets the BAC

measurement o the instrument to a known alcohol

concentration rom a dry gas mixture o alcohol and

nitrogen, or rom a wet bath solution o alcohol and

water. Calibrating an EBT is comparable to setting

your watch to the time you know to be correct roman independent source.




exceeds he DO requiremens. Bes prac-

ice is o ensure ha your BA raining is

conduced by he insrumen manuacureror a rainer who can race heir raining back o he manuacurer o he EB abou which

hey are raining. Te BA insrucor mus

also be qualied on he specic device(s)

ha he BA inends o use. BA documen-

aion o equipmen prociency is specic o

he manuacurer and model o he device(s) being used. Ensure ha your BA insrucor

is qualied and ha heir documenaion is

curren or he specic device(s) or which

raining is required.

3 Lapses in Breath Alcohol Technician

Reresher Training A BA mus receive reresher Breah

Alcohol echnician raining no less

han once every ve years. Tere are no

excepions o his rule. Te DO will likely consider invalid any evidenial breah ess

perormed by BAs who are overdue or

reresher raining.

Reresher raining covers he same

course conen as rs ime BA rain-

ing bu can normally be compleed morequickly as he suden is already amiliar

wih he maerial. Once again, i is he re-

sponsibiliy o he BA o ensure ha hey

mainain documenaion o suppor heir

compliance wih he ve-year reresher

raining requiremen. BA rainers and in-srumen manuacurers are no required

o keep copies o BA and insrumen

raining, however i is an indusry bes

pracice or hem o do so.

Furher reresher raining mus perain

o he insrumen model he BA will

be using. I your company acquires new breah esing equipmen o a dieren

model in he ive-year period (even i

he manuacurer is he same as he one

already in use), your BA proiciency

raining mus be underaken on he new model beore i can be used or DO

mandaed breah ess.

4Timing o aConfrmation Test

Conrmaion esing mus be perormed inhe window beween 15-30 minues aer a

posiive screening es. Tere are no excep-

ions, and a conrmaory es perormedsooner han he 15-minue waiing period

or aer he 30 minues will be cancelled.

I he conrmaion es is no compleed

wihin 30 minues, a new screening es and

Alcohol esing Form (AF) mus begin.

Mos commonly, errors are made by ailingo wai he ull 15 minues.

One way o help avoid he problem o

improperly imed conrmaion ess is o

use only ONE insrumen or ime mea-suremen. Your wach and he EB coun-

ing down he 15-minue wai period are nonecessarily in sync and i’s easy o see how

his can inadverenly lead o conducing

conrmaion ess oo early. For example,

he screening es ime on he EB migh

read 11:15 while he conrmaion es

ime reads 11:29 because a wach ha read11:30 promped he EB ha i was ime.

A esing device wih a coundown

imer or a coninuously displayed real

ime clock will help preven his error.

A bes praci ce is o check he ime o

he screening es on he insrumenand veriy ha a leas 15 minues have

passed on he EB clock beore aking

he conirmaion es.

5Failing to Change

the MouthpieceResidual condensaion, saliva or oher con-

aminans in a used mouhpiece can easily

aec he conrmaion es resuls. Using

he same mouhpiece or boh he screen-

ing es and he conrmaion es will causehe conrmaion es o be cancelled. Werecommend EB users ge ino he habi o

removing and discarding a spen mouh-

piece immediaely aer every es. I his

error occurs, he conrmaory es mus be

cancelled and noed on he AF, and a new

conrmaory es underaken.

In he case o EB calibraion, he indepen-

den source is he dry gas cylinder o a known

alcohol concenraion. In he above compari-son, he alcohol concenraion o he dry gas

cylinder and ofcial Unied Saes ime are

boh raceable back o he sandards o he Na-

ional Insiue o Sandards and echnology.

Undersanding ha calibraion is aprocess o reseting he esing insrumen,

makes i easy o see why perorming a

calibraion immediaely ollowing a posi-

ive conrmaion es makes i impossible

o veriy ha he insrumen was reading

correcly when he es was aken. A calibraion check veries ha he EB

is reading correcly bu does no rese i.“Cal checking” an EB is similar o veriy-

ing ha your wach’s ime is accurae by

comparing is ime o an accurae source.

In keeping wih our earlier analogy, a wachmay dri ou o ime jus as an EB may

dri ou o calibraion due o acors no

immediaely apparen o he user.

I is a bes pracice o perorm a calibra-

ion check aer a posiive conrmaion

es, o demonsrae ha he EB is readingaccuraely. I he calibraion check passes,

his conrms he insrumen is measuring

accuraely and he posiive es is accep-

able, according o DO regulaions.

Te nex ime you hear a BA indiscrim-

inaely use he word “calibraion” o reero “calibraion vericaions” (cal checks), i

may be ime or some reresher raining.

2 Not Adhering toBreath Alcohol

Technician TrainingRequirements According o 49 CFR Par 40, specic rain-

ing requiremens mus be me o become aBreah Alcohol echnician. Te DO has

specied a Model BA Course, which mus

be ollowed o help ensure sudens receivehe necessary raining. I may seem couner

inuiive ha he DO places he burden

on he rainee and no he rainer, o ensure

ha he BA raining hey receive mees or



www.datia.org datia focus

6Potential Errors on

the ATF

Te AF records es resuls rom an alcoholesing device. I is imporan ha he our

seps required by he AF are compleed

correcly. Failure o do so or o recognize andcorrec errors aer a es may invalidae i.

Sep 1 o AF compleion is sraighor-

ward: Complee he subjec’s inormaion,

he DER’s conac ino and he reason or he

es. Tis can be compleed beore he es.

Te mos common errors in AFcompleion arise in seps wo, hree and

our o he AF:

AF Sep 2: Neglecting to have the test

subject sign and date this section on the

ATFbefore conducting the screening

test. In Sep2, he subjec signs he orm oconrm hey a) received he es insruc-

ions prined on he back o he AF, b)

had he opporuniy o read he insruc-

ions i hey so chose, and c) consened ohe screening es. Logically, his mus bedone before submiting o he es.

AF Sep 3: Prematurely checking the

15-minute wait box and/or checking this

box when only a screening test has been

performed. Do no check his box unless i

is ime o do so. AF Sep 4: Having the subject sign

the ATF in Step 4 when they don’t need

to. When he subjec signs he AF, hey

are agreeing no o drive or perorm any

saey sensiive duies. Subjec signaure

is only required aer he subjec has had aposiive conrmaion es. I is boh unnec-

essary and incorrec or he subjec o sign

he AF aer a negaive conrmaion es.

Correctly completing the Alcohol Test

Form is critical to proper Evidential

Breath Testing




o errors, or he errors are discovered by he

BA him/hersel. During his 30-day period,

he BA can coninue DO breah esing.

Once he 30-day ime-period has passed,

however, he BA will be deemed o be ou o compliance and can no longer ac as a Breah

Alcohol echnician unil he error correcion

raining has been successully compleed.

Error correcion raining is only required o

cover he subjec mater area(s) in which he

error(s) ha caused he es o be cancelledoccurred. Error raining is no required i an

alcohol es is cancelled due o equipmen

maluncion, unless he ailure was due o

ailure o he BA o properly mainain

he equipmen. However, error raining is

required i he BA does no atemp oaccomplish he es ollowing he equipmen

ailure using anoher EB—provided ha an

addiional uni was reasonably available.

8Residual Mouth

AlcoholSome common producs use alcohol as

an ingredien and his alcohol will regiser

on an EB or a shor period o ime aer

being consumed. Tis eec is known as

“residual mouh alcohol.” Examples include

mouhwash, cough syrup, liquid cold medi-

cine, breah sprays, some chewing obaccoand inhalers. Cerain oods we consume

have very low levels o alcohol. Alhough

no required under DO guidelines, i

is a good pracice or he BA o ask he

subjec o remove any produc rom heirmouh prior o a breah es o reduce he

risk o residual mouh alcohol.

Unknown o he BA, a posiive screen-

ing es may occur because he subjec used

an alcohol-inused produc such as a breah

spray, cough syrup and even some ypeso chewing obacco, immediaely prior o

an alcohol screening es. Tis could have been done innocenly or as an atemp o

mask he smell o drinking. Fieen minues

laer he conrmaion es may show no

alcohol or a much lower BAC han oundin he screening es. In his siuaion he

BA should immediaely be on he aler ha

“residual mouh alcohol” may be presen.

In siuaions like his, where he conr-

maory es regisers none or much lower

BAC han expeced, he BA should rerain

rom remarks suggesing ha perhaps a

“alse” posiive was received or oherwisequesion he EB resuls in ron o he

subjec, as his will only serve o cas doub

abou he validiy o he es resuls.

I he subjec has used he above-men-

ioned producs correcly and is no using

hem o mask he smell o alcohol romdrinking, hey will dissipae during he

15-minue wai ime beween he screen-

ing and conrmaion es. I he subjec

has ruly consumed alcohol, hey will have

a posiive conrmaion es resul demon-

sraing heir accurae BAC.

ConclusionI is almos impossible o ideniy every

possible error or unique siuaion ha may

arise in DO Evidenial Breah esing. Te

errors highlighed in his aricle are relaively common. Prospecive BAs will bene

rom reviewing hese errors and he esing

experiences o seasoned BAs and BA

rainers. We hope ha you will reely share

his DAIA aricle. ❚

Amy Evans is the Workplace and Training Busi-ness Manager at Lifeloc Technologies (www.

lifeloc.com), a leading manufacturer of Evidential

Breath Alcohol Testers and provider of Breath

Alcohol Technician training. Amy has been in the

drug and alcohol testing industry since 2004. She

has created breath alcohol training materials and

courses for DOT mandated and non-mandated

testing in use by private business and govern-

ment agencies in North America and internation-

ally. She regularly conducts training in person and

via webcast. Amy has been a member of DATIA

for more than nine years and has provided expert

testimony for the U.S. Coast Guard.

Barry Knott is president and CEO of Lifeloc

Technologies (www.lifeloc.com), a trusted U.S.

manufacturer of DOT approved Evidential Breath

Alcohol Testing instruments for mandated and

non-mandated workplace alcohol testing. He

also serves on the Board of Directors of DATIA.

The DOT puts the onus on the trainee

to ensure their BAT training meets or

exceeds DOT requirements.

Tese common errors are considered

“correcable” by he DO—even i hey gounnoiced by he BA unil aer he AF

copies have been disribued. “Correcable”means he errors can be remedied by send-

ing he Designaed Employee Represena-

ive (DER) a signed afdavi or memo-

randum addressing he misake. However,

because he BA who made he errors may

be unlikely o noice hem, i is bes o gei righ he rs ime. I he exra ime and

eor o correc hese errors isn’ sufcien

moivaion, remember ha errors like hese

are quickly noiced in an audi and likely o

resul in quesioning by he audiors.I is very imporan ha he DER has a

copy ha mirrors he subjec’s copy. Even

i you realize an error has occurred beore

sending or ransmiting he DER’s copy,

you mus creae a memorandum/afdavi

or he DER raher han merely adding a

remark o heir copy.

7Error CorrectionTraining

I a BA makes an error in he alcohol esing

process, causing a es o be cancelled (i.e.a aal or uncorreced error), he BA musundergo error correcion raining. Te mos

common misakes leading o correcion rain-

ing are hose menioned above: no waiing

he 15 minues and using he same mouh-

piece on he screening and conrmaion es.

Error correcion raining mus occur wihin30 days rom he dae he BA is noied

common mistakes and misconceptions in evidential breath testing

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