Arkansas Administrative Code
Agency 007 - Arkansas Department of Health
Division 19 - Public Health Laboratory
Rule 007.19.21-001 - Rules Pertaining to Alcohol Testing

Every individual, installation, or instrument not exempted or excluded by these Rules and involved in performing alcohol analysis in accordance with these Rules is to have a valid certificate as prescribed herein. For exemptions and exclusions, see Section I, Part B.

Certification shall not imply approval of anything carried out by an installation or individual other than what is specified on the certificate. Certification of an individual to operate a particular approved testing device authorizes that individual to perform tests on any unit of that type if the owner of the unit has no objection.

To qualify for certification, an installation must meet the set of conditions in a. or b. of this section.

To qualify as a Senior Operator of a specific testing device and maintain that certification, an individual must meet the following requirements:

To qualify as an Operator of a specific testing device and maintain that certification, an individual must meet the following requirements:

Each Type A1 and A2 testing device is to be tested by the Office for the purpose of certifying its accuracy.

Any test on such device for which a valid, current certificate cannot be produced will be considered invalid. Certificates are subject to recall by the Office since they are issued for a period of three (3) months in advance.

Any individual or installation not currently certified by the Office and requiring certification may apply for certification at any time by contacting the Office for application forms.

The certified installation shall report within thirty (30) days any change of address or discontinuance of an installation, change of employment, or loss of certified personnel.

Procedures for transferring certification are detailed in 1.44. Additional information may be obtained by contacting the Office.

Certificates shall become part of the records available to the courts for legal proceedings, open to public inspection, and reclaimable by the Office.

The Office or its authorized representative shall have, for reasonable cause, the authority to enter, at all reasonable times, upon any private or public property for the purpose of determining whether there is compliance with the provisions of these Rules, except that entry into areas under the jurisdiction of the federal government shall be affected only with the concurrence of the federal government or its authorized representative.

Each applicant for certification or certified individual shall perform such reasonable tests as the Office deems necessary in administration of these Rules; these may include, but are not limited to, tests to evaluate the following:

Installations certified under 1.12a. shall assign a Senior Operator to be responsible for record keeping and ensuring that the installation adheres to these Rules as determined by the Office.

Installations certified under 1.12b shall provide a contact person at the state level for receiving and distributing Office documents and communications and forwarding or distributing them appropriately. This person shall maintain accurate records of personnel of that agency certified by the Office and shall communicate with the Office as necessary concerning them.

The Office may at its discretion revoke, suspend, or modify the certificate of any individual, instrument, or installation if any one or more of the following conditions exist.

In the event a certified individual changes their place of employment, the individual's certification is no longer valid until application for certification at the new place of employment is received and approved by the Office.

In the event certification is revoked, it may be reinstated by the submission of a new application and compliance with the original requirements for certification.

If an individual has not been certified by the Office for 1 (one) year, then they will have to go back through the appropriate class to be recertified.

In the event of major limitations in training course availability, special temporary approvals of training programs may be issued by the Office provided the Office maintains close oversight of the training and continues to provide the evaluations.

At the discretion of the Office, any phase or portion of the training program is subject to alteration.

To qualify for certification as a Senior Operator of a Type A1 or A2 testing device, an individual shall show evidence of successful completion of a course of instruction which includes, at a minimum, the following:

To qualify for certification as an Operator of a Type A1 or A2 testing device, an individual shall show evidence of successful completion of a course of instruction, which includes, at a minimum, the following:

Should the need arise for approved training on special devices (Type B) such as preliminary breath-test devices, the necessary training may be approved or provided by the Office for purposes of establishing a standard operational procedure in the use of such devices.

This section outlines the criteria for the collection of samples in accordance with these Rules.

Refer to current Ark. Code Ann. §§ 5-65-202 and 5-65-203. Samples shall be collected as soon as feasible after an alleged offense.

(See details under appropriate type of sample in this section.)

Samples of bodily fluid may be analyzed for alcohol content by the following:

Samples to be analyzed by the Office should be delivered or mailed to the appropriate address.

Blood samples may be collected from living individuals only by persons authorized by law and by means of a sterile, dry syringe and hypodermic needle or other sterile equipment. The skin at the area of puncture shall be thoroughly cleansed and disinfected with a nonvolatile antiseptic. Alcohol or other volatile organic disinfectant solutions shall not be used as a skin antiseptic or to clean hypodermic needles, syringes, or containers.

Postmortem samples may be collected by anyone authorized by law. The following precautions must be employed to insure a representative, uncontaminated sample.

A good sample is five milliliters (cc). Smaller samples may be analyzed if necessary.

The blood sample shall be deposited into a tightly stoppered, clean, dry container containing a solid anticoagulant and sodium fluoride or an approved equal as a preservative (see 3.24). Alcohol or other volatile organic solvents shall not be used to clean the container. The container shall be clearly identified with the following:

While not in transit or under examination, all blood samples shall be refrigerated. If the sample is to be analyzed at the Office, sodium fluoride (between 2.0 and 3.0 milligrams per milliliter of blood) or its solid form equivalent shall be used as a preservative, and sodium citrate or potassium oxalate or equivalent, in final concentration of 0.3% to 0.5%, is recommended as an anticoagulant.

Postmortem blood samples to be analyzed by the Office shall be deposited into a tightly stoppered, clean dry container containing sodium fluoride as a preservative, in a concentration of 1% or more, (10.0 milligrams per milliliter of blood) or an approved equal. A solid anticoagulant such as sodium citrate or potassium oxalate, or equivalent, is also recommended.

The officer requesting the blood sample should observe the collection of the sample so that he may attest to the authenticity of the sample. He should then initial or mark the sample for future identification. The sample should then be secured in a tamperproof manner.

To collect a urine sample, the subject must first be instructed to void the bladder. Approximately one-half hour later (time not critical), the subject should again be requested to void the bladder and that specimen should be collected for analysis.

NOTE: Urine is not to be collected as a postmortem sample.

Ten to thirty milliliters (cc) of urine shall be considered sufficient for analysis.

When urine collection is necessary, the specimen shall be deposited into a clean, dry, non-porous container and tightly capped or stoppered. Alcohol or other volatile organic solvents shall not be used to clean the container. The container shall be clearly identified with the following information.

While not in transit or under examination, urine samples shall be refrigerated. If preservatives are used, a comment stating the type and amount should accompany the sample.

The collection of the sample must be witnessed in order that its authenticity may be proven. It is to be properly marked for future identification and secured in a tamperproof manner.

A breath sample to be analyzed at a certified installation shall be collected only by certified personnel. The sample shall be collected only after the subject has been under observation for an uninterrupted period of no less than 20 minutes immediately prior to collection. The type of device and the procedures or techniques shall be Office approved and only certified personnel may operate the device.

The quantity of breath shall be established by direct volumetric measurement or by collection of a fixed breath volume at a constant temperature.

Sampling of bodily substances other than blood, breath, or urine shall be considered valid only in postmortem cases. All postmortem bodily materials shall be obtained prior to the start of any embalming procedure and the sample must be taken by or under the direction of the state medical examiner or a physician. The sample is to be analyzed by any laboratory excluded from certification in 1.20. The results of such analyses must be interpreted by qualified personnel with respect to the alcohol content of the blood.

Analysis of blood, breath, urine, or other bodily substances to determine alcohol content in accordance with these Rules shall be by a method approved by the Office (see 4.11 and Part B of this Section). All breath-testing instruments and accessories utilized in accordance with these Rules shall have the approval of the Office (see 4.12 and Part C of this Section). The operation of approved breathtesting instruments will be according to manufacturer's recommendations unless otherwise approved in writing by the Office (see 4.15).

Any method not listed in Part B of this Section will be considered for approval upon receipt of a detailed description of the method.

The Office may authorize modified versions of approved instruments and accessories when, in the judgment of the Office, the modifications do not alter the abilities of such instruments or accessories to meet the standards of performance set forth in 4.12 in as much as the modified versions are equivalent in performance to the approved version.

Any prepackaged chemical to be used in conjunction with an approved testing device shall be approved by the Office. The Office shall examine and evaluate each lot or batch. Additional quantities may be required at the Office discretion.

Approved test procedures are supplied by the Office on all approved instruments and may be updated periodically. For a test to be considered valid under the provisions of these Rules, the prescribed test procedure must be followed. The approved method may be characterized via computer programming which is provided and monitored by the Office.

At the time of this printing, the methods listed in this Part are approved for the determination of alcohol concentration in blood, urine, breath, or other bodily substances in accordance with these Rules. Methods approved hereafter may be obtained upon request from the Office. Only brief descriptions are printed here.

At the time of this writing, the instruments listed in this paragraph are approved for the determination of alcohol in accordance with these Rules. Instruments approved hereafter will be placed on an updated list available upon request from the Office.

Intoximeter: EC/IR II, EC/IR II (with IEM), and EC/IR II.t

Manufacturer - Intoximeters, Inc.

2081 Craig Road

St. Louis, MO 63146

The following devices are approved for the purpose of calibrating and for checking the calibration of the approved breath-testing instruments. Calibration devices approved hereafter will be placed on an updated list available on request from the Office.

The results of an analysis of blood, urine, or other bodily fluid shall be expressed in terms of percent weight/volume (% w/v) defined as grams of alcohol per 100 milliliters of blood and reported to the second decimal place only. For example, 0.239% w/v shall be reported as 0.23% w/v. Test results are not to be rounded off; the third decimal place is to be dropped. Percent weight/volume is obtained by dividing the weight of alcohol in a sample expressed in grams by the volume of the sample expressed in milliliters and multiplying by 100. This result represents the concentration of alcohol in the blood (% BA, % BAC, % w/v).

For these Rules, the alcohol in a urine sample shall be treated as equivalent to 1.3 times the concentration in whole blood. Given a urine test result of 0.15% w/v:

1.3x = 0.15% where x = % blood alcohol

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x = 0.115% (report as 0.11% blood alcohol)

For these Rules, the alcohol in a serum or plasma sample shall be treated as 1.15 times the concentration in whole blood.

Given a serum or plasma test result of 0.12% w/v:

1.15x = 0.12% where x = % blood alcohol

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x = 0.104% (report as 0.10% blood alcohol)

Breath test results are to be reported as grams of alcohol per 210 liters of breath. Breath test instruments approved and certified for use by the Office report results in these units.

A calibration test shall be performed to determine if an instrument produces results within the standard of accuracy (±.01).

Intoximeter EC/IR II. A calibration test is automatically performed with each subject test and is recorded by the instrument as part of the test record. There is no requirement to record this calibration test in the logbook.

Instruments which may be subsequently approved are to be calibrated in a manner approved by the Office as appropriate to the instrument and to meet the standard of accuracy of ±0.01% w/v for blood or ±0.01g/210L for breath.

Records which reflect the facts pertinent to all tests performed on the certified equipment shall be kept and maintained by each installation certified under 1.12 a. The records shall be open to inspection by the Office and shall be periodically submitted to the Office as outlined in this section. Records are to be kept for a period of two (2) years or until all possibility of court action is past, whichever is longer.

Installations certified under 1.12b. are not required to maintain records of tests or records related to equipment used in testing.

The following records (as applicable) are to be kept by a certified installation:

Records of tests performed on a certified breath testing instrument shall be made accessible as required by the Office. All other paperwork shall be submitted as required by the Office.

SEVERABILITY

If any provision of these Rules or the application thereof to any person or circumstances is held invalid, such invalidity shall not affect other provisions or applications of the Rules which can be given effect without the invalid provision or application and to this end the provisions of these Rules are declared to be severable.

REPEAL

All Rules and parts of Rules in conflict herewith are hereby repealed.

CERTIFICATION

This will certify that the Rules for Alcohol Testing were adopted by the State Board of Health of Arkansas at a regular session of said Board held at Little Rock, Arkansas, on the 28th Day of October, 2021.