The short answer is "immediately." The rule sets no number of hours between the notification and the collection. What it sets is a standard, and your records are what show you met it.
Under 49 CFR 382.305(l), a driver who is told they were selected has to proceed to the test site immediately. The employer is responsible for making that happen.
There is one carve-out. If the driver is doing safety-sensitive work other than driving a commercial motor vehicle when the notice arrives, such as loading or inspecting, the employer must make sure the driver stops that work and goes to the testing site as soon as possible. Driving does not get that allowance.
Neither phrase has a stopwatch attached. That leaves you with a judgment call and a record to keep. A driver who reaches the collection site an hour after being notified, with a clear reason, is easier to defend than one whose arrival time nobody wrote down.
A random alcohol test is only valid if it happens while the driver is performing safety-sensitive functions, just before the driver is due to perform them, or just after the driver stops (49 CFR 382.305(m)). Drug tests have no such restriction, so a driver can be selected for both and the timing can differ.
This is why many carriers run drug and alcohol selections separately and notify drivers near the start or end of a duty period. Selecting someone who is on vacation for a random alcohol test, for example, wastes a selection and leaves a record that doesn't prove anything.
All random tests have to be unannounced, and the test dates have to be spread reasonably throughout the calendar year (49 CFR 382.305(k)). The annual rates, 50% for drugs and 10% for alcohol, are minimums for the year, not a quota you can clear in January. Pulling a selection monthly or quarterly keeps the dates honest. The selection software page explains how a recorded draw works.
For every selected driver, record when the selection was made, when the driver was notified and how, and when the driver arrived at the collection site. The gap between the last two is the thing an auditor looks at.
Records of the tests themselves have their own retention periods under 49 CFR 382.401, and the collection procedures that follow arrival are governed by Part 40. The compliance overview covers both.
The rule says "immediately." 49 CFR 382.305(l) requires a notified driver to go to the collection site right away. It does not set a number of hours. If the driver is doing safety-sensitive work other than driving a commercial vehicle, the employer has to make sure the driver stops that work and goes to the site as soon as possible.
Not if the driver is behind the wheel of a commercial vehicle when notified. The rule expects the driver to stop and go. If you let a selected driver finish a run first, document why, and expect an auditor to ask. Your consultant can tell you how your own policy should handle it.
Only while the driver is performing safety-sensitive functions, just before the driver is to perform them, or just after the driver has stopped (49 CFR 382.305(m)). A random alcohol test on a driver who is off duty and not about to work does not meet the rule.
Yes. Test dates have to be spread reasonably throughout the calendar year, and every test has to be unannounced (49 CFR 382.305(k)). Pulling a selection every month or every quarter makes that easy to show.
The date and time of notification, how the driver was notified, and the date and time the driver arrived at the collection site. DTSMS Online timestamps each notification and keeps the selection record locked, so the first part is already on file.
Your first selection is free, any pool size. No card, no sales call.