You may hear the terms positive test and negative test to describe alcohol test results. The practical meaning of a positive test is that you, as the BAT, must take immediate action by notifying the employer of the test result.
Under the DOT regulations an employee with an alcohol test result of .020 or greater must be immediately removed from safety sensitive duties. You must immediately notify the employer of test results of .020 or higher so the employer can take the necessary action to remove the employee from duty.
Most breath testing instruments and devices report alcohol test results in numeric terms, such as .000, .020, .123, etc. Most instruments and devices do not report results in terms of “negative” and “positive.”