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Collection is where the custody chain starts. You complete the federal custody and control form (CCF) with the donor in front of you, take the specimen, read its temperature, seal both bottles in the donor’s sight, and dispatch it. Everything downstream — the screen, the confirmation, the MRO’s verified result — rests on this half-hour being done properly.
These screens exist only in DOT / SAMHSA — Full Workflow and Both — Standard + DOT Full Workflow. A lab running Reference Lab — Intake to Report Only has no collection module at all, by design — see Reference lab mode.

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What you’re looking at

Find the donor’s order on the DOT Drug Testing queue — it will be at Pending Collection — and select the row, or View / Proceed from its ⋯ menu. The panel is headed with the specimen ID and its status badge, then the agency, test reason and employer. It has two tabs. Workflow shows one form only — the one for the stage the specimen has actually reached, so you cannot fill in the lab’s paperwork from the collection room. Chain of Custody shows every event recorded so far. The empty state. A queue with nothing on it reads No orders found — “No DOT drug test orders match the current filter. Create a new order to get started.” Raise the order with New DOT Order before the donor arrives, not while they are waiting.

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Complete the custody and control form

The wizard runs in the order the federal form does — 1 Employer & Donor Info, 2 Test Type Verification, 3 Collection Information, 4 Collector Certification, 5 Donor Certification. The indicator across the top lets you jump back; each step saves on its own with Step {n} saved.
1

Confirm the employer, donor and test type

Step 1 — Employer & Donor Information carries Employer Name, Employer Address, MRO Name, MRO Phone and Remarks forward from the order, alongside the donor identification card. Check the donor against their photo ID: a mismatch found here is an inconvenience, one found at MRO review is a cancelled test. Step 2 — Test Type Verification confirms the agency and the reason for the test — the donor is entitled to know both, and an unchecked test reason is a correctable flaw.
2

Record the collection

Step 3 — Collection Information captures Collection Site, Collector Name and Collection Date & Time. Your signature belongs here — a missing collector signature at Step 3 is one of the flaws that lets an MRO cancel the test outright.
3

Certify as the collector

Step 4 — Collector Certification reads “By certifying, the collector attests that the specimen was collected, labeled, and sealed in accordance with 49 CFR Part 40 and that the information on this form is true and accurate.” The box you tick begins “I certify that this collection was performed in accordance with all applicable Federal requirements…”. Do not sign it for a collection you did not personally perform.
4

Read the donor certification to the donor

Step 5 — Donor Certification quotes the statement the donor is agreeing to: “I certify that I provided my specimen to the collector; that I have not adulterated it in any manner; that each specimen bottle used was sealed with a tamper-evident seal in my presence; and that the information provided on this form and on the label affixed to each specimen bottle is correct.” Tick Donor has read and acknowledged the above statement only once they have — without it the wizard refuses to finish with Donor must acknowledge before completing CCF. Completing it gives CCF complete — order advanced to Collected.
Step 5 is a federal attestation by the donor, not a formality you tick to clear the screen. The donor must see each bottle sealed with a tamper-evident seal before they acknowledge it. Ticking it on their behalf, or after they have left, makes the specimen indefensible and the test cancellable.

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Record the collection itself

Once the order reads Collected, the Specimen Collection form takes the physical detail.
1

Enter the time and temperature

Collection Date & Time * is the moment the donor handed the specimen over, not the moment you reached the keyboard — every elapsed time on the chain of custody is measured from it. Temperature Reading (°F) * must be taken within four minutes. A reading outside the band raises Temperature Out of Range — “Specimen temperature is outside the acceptable range of 90–100°F. A second collection under direct observation is required per 49 CFR § 40.65(c).”
2

Record the volumes and condition

Specimen Volumes takes Bottle A Volume (mL), Bottle B Volume (mL) and Total Volume — undocumented volume is a correctable flaw, so fill all three. Condition * offers Normal, Unusual Color, Unusual Odor, Foreign Objects, Excessive Foam and Other; anything but Normal opens Condition Notes.
3

Record a directly observed collection

If the collection was observed, complete Direct Observation with the observer’s name and Observer Gender. The observer must be of the same gender as the donor, and the reason for observation belongs in the record.
4

Confirm the seals

Seal Confirmation records that both bottles were sealed, initialled and dated in the donor’s presence, with a Seal Date. This is what the accessioning clerk checks the physical seals against. Saving gives Collection details saved.
5

Ship the specimen

Choose a Shipping Carrier — FedEx, UPS, USPS or Other — enter the Airway Bill / Tracking Number and Shipped Date & Time, then mark it shipped: Specimen marked as in transit. Trying to ship without a carrier is refused with Select a shipping carrier before marking as shipped.

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Supplies and collection centres

Each collection consumes cups, seals, bottles and forms. The Collection supplies sheet — “Configure the inventory supplies one specimen collection consumes” — links those consumables to the collection event so your stock falls as you work. Where a draw-down cannot complete the save still succeeds, with an Inventory warning beside it. See Reagents and consumables. A site registered as a collection centre carries a banner reading This site is a collection center — register specimens and dispatch them to your laboratory. Accessioning, screening and reporting are done at the full lab and are disabled here. That is correct behaviour, not a permissions problem: a collection centre draws and dispatches; the full lab receives, screens, confirms and reports.

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Who can do this

Role decides whether the collection screens open and whether the collection forms will save. Collection itself is deliberately not behind a permission — the person with the donor in front of them is the person who must complete the form — so what governs it is the job-title role. Reaching the queue and working it are two different tests. A phlebotomist’s route list includes the drug-testing queue, so the module opens for them; the collection forms then apply their own job-title check. If a collector reports “Insufficient permissions” on save, that is the role check, not a toggle somebody forgot — no grant in the permissions sheet changes it. From the bench onward the permissions are real. A Lab Manager does not hold Verify and authorise results by default; that comes from the access tier, not the administrative role. A QC Officer is review-only by design.
  • Enforcement is opt-in, per person. Someone never saved in the permissions sheet is unrestricted, and the sheet warns “Saving starts enforcing”.
  • A denied action is recorded; an allowed one is not. The collection-centre banner is a site rule, not a permission — every bench action there is refused regardless of who you are.
See Permissions.

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Check it worked

  • The order has advanced to Collected, and then to In Transit once you marked it shipped.
  • The Chain of Custody tab shows the collection events under Specimen Intake, each with your name and a Seal Intact pill.
  • The tracking number on the order matches the airway bill in your hand.

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Common issues

Step 5 needs Donor has read and acknowledged the above statement ticked, by the donor. There is no way past it, deliberately.
Treat it as a possible substitution while the donor is still with you. The alert names the rule — a second collection under direct observation per 49 CFR § 40.65(c). Follow it, record what happened under Condition Notes, and complete Direct Observation on the recollection. Do not re-read the strip until it agrees with you.
A carrier is required. Choose FedEx, UPS, USPS or Other, add the Airway Bill / Tracking Number, then try again.
Do not ship it. Seal a fresh collection under a new CCF and record what happened — a specimen whose seal cannot be vouched for is rejected at accessioning anyway. See Accession an incoming specimen.
Your lab is on Standard Clinical Lab, or on Reference Lab — Intake to Report Only where the entry is renamed Lab Intake and collection is hidden. An owner or manager can check the Lab Workflow card — see DOT and workplace drug testing.
The collection saved; the supply draw-down did not. Check the Collection supplies sheet and your stock levels.

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FAQ

They can decline, and that is not something you argue with — you record it. A refusal is documented on the CCF and the MRO decides what it means; under DOT rules a refusal to submit is its own outcome, not a missing test. Never tick the donor’s certification for them to get past the screen.
It is a finding, not an error. The band is 90–100°F, and a reading outside it calls for a second collection under direct observation per 49 CFR § 40.65(c). Do it while the donor is still on site and record both collections.
No. Steps 4 and 5 are attestations about what happened in the room. Completing them later makes the specimen indefensible even when the facts are true.
Yes, until the CCF is complete — select the step in the indicator and save it again. Once the order advances to Collected, corrections belong in the record as notes.
No. Collection is governed by role and by your site kind, not by a permission switch. The grants start at accessioning, because that is where two people could otherwise disagree about the same specimen.