How To Conduct Online Dot Training With Supervisors In Reasonable Suspicion To Meet Dot Drug And Alcohol Training Compliance In The Workplace

Published May 19, 2010

Any DOT training that is provided by your company online should assist you in the goal of reaching every supervisor with drug and alcohol training and reaching 100% of your supervisory personnel. Indeed, a web course may be the only way to get it because supervisors can train 24/7 from anywhere and you can e-mail a start link to one or every supervisor that launches upon receipt and with one click. This capability is essential to accomplish this level of compliance. You’ll never lose a straggler who missed live training.

Web technology saves time, money, energy, sweat, and avoids frustration. With server-based (that means on your web site not located somewhere else) web training, the reasonable suspicion training program is put on automatic pilot, and you can do other things with your time to be more productive.

There are many choices for reasonable suspicion training. If one Googles “reasonable suspicion web courses”, several suitable options will be listed. Regardless, to make training effective, reliable, and as fast as possible, consider training with these features:

1. CONSIDER AVOIDING THIRD PARTY LOG-INS

There are courses available to provide drug and alcohol training to supervisors that do not require you to log-in, pay “per user fees”, and that will help expand your ability to reach supervisors for DOT training. This also allows you to train supervisors from your website, avoid subscription fees (which is helpful for tight budgets). Virtually no third party providers allow you to upload your drug free workplace policies, nor will they allow specific editable changes to the content to meet the unique needs of your work culture.

2. AMPLE PRINTABLE HANDOUTS

Ensure your web course will show and allow supervisors to print PDFs of course handouts. Also, choose a program that will allow you to insert your own. A signs and symptoms checklist should be included because supervisors are handicapped without a checklist that will allow them to construct effective documentation.

3. TARGET MYTHOLOGY

Ensure that the web course for DOT Training of Supervisors targets common myths regarding alcoholism and drug addiction. These myths are so rampant in society that even a hint of their being challenged drives some people to fits of near anxiety. This is especially true of family members of alcoholics who have enabled for years and will do so in your workplace with the employees they supervise.

For example. Many people use the term “Functional Alcoholism”. This term is a powerful example of enabling and it only means one thing: “The drinking problem of the alcoholic does not bother me.”

If the DOT Training in Reasonable Suspicion does not address these myths, it is too superficial. You want supervisors finishing a web course and saying to themselves, “WOW! I never thought about that!” Get that reaction, and you have motivated supervisors who will take the next step and behave differently to protect your company. Other myths that a web course should address include understanding drug tolerance, definition of denial, enabling behavior, how addicts think and survive their disease to continue drinking, cognitive distortions, manipulation, and classic excuses that emerge when employees are confronted.

4. SOUND-BASED.

Ensure that your web course has sound. Don’t let it be a movie or simple text. The web course should be “click through” format from frame to frame so images can be viewed along with the voice that describes what the supervisor is viewing. This is because concepts need to be considered and a moving picture show will not allow supervisors to THINK nor deeply consider the content. I prefer a male voice because there are so many male supervisors that cover up.

5. SCORED TEST QUESTIONS

Ensure that there are enough test questions about alcohol and drug abuse that your DOT Training of Supervisors and compliance DOT effort has strong retention factor. This is only possible with test questions that supervisors self-score. And there has to be enough of them. I recommend at least 20 minimum. Supervisors should be able to correct their answers, but in addition, they should receive feedback on every question they get wrong so they understand the deeper meaning and issues that underlie the question.

6. TEST QUESTIONS ON HANDOUTS

Ensure that there is a test question on each of the handouts from the course. This will help ensure that supervisors read the handouts that pop-up in the course. Pretty simple, but necessary.

7. EDUCATION ON MANIPULATION AND VERBAL EXCUSE TRAPS

Ensure that the web course for training includes excuses and communication traps that supervisors will face. They must be given awareness for how employees avoid tests.

Many courses or handouts exist on what employees will do to thwart a test, but guess what, their first step is to avoid the test in the first place. To do that, they rely upon extraordinary and seductive verbal debate and rationales to get the supervisor to back off.

Some employees will even confessing drugs or alcohol to avoid test. Why? They do this because they know there is no way out, and their only hope at that point is to confess their alcohol or drug problem, elicit sympathy from the supervisor, and convince the supervisor they are in treatment or just got started in treatment, so in fact, there is no need for a test. Believe it or not it works for some employees because the supervisor does not need to be the bad guy.

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How To Conduct Online Dot Training With Supervisors In Reasonable Suspicion To Meet Dot Drug And Alcohol Training Compliance In The Workplace

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