newsUpdates

March 2008

Questions & Answers

Question – Do student truck drivers have to be involved in drug testing (including a random pool) for the time at which they are in school?

Answer – Generally, drivers are pre-employment tested early in the school course to weed out future problems. Because the students will drive CMVs on public highways and the driving is in furtherance of your commercial enterprise, a random testing program should be implemented covering the maximum number of student-driver positions that would be attending class at any time throughout the year. The 50% selections should be spread throughout the year. The pool of drivers would continue to change as classes’ graduate and new classes are filled. The school is generally considered the employer. (Jim Keenan, DOT - FMCSA Drug & Alcohol Program Manager)

Key Topics To Remember
Concerning Random Testing

Last month we began the first quarter random testing for this year.

It’s important that we cover a number of topics to help make the process easier for you and your drivers:

Lastly, if you have any questions or doubts on the proper procedures for testing, please do not hesitate to contact us at
800 820-9314, we are here to assist you and to make the process as simple as possible.

One in Ten Tested Truckers on Drugs

Toxicology tests completed by the Oregon State Police Forensic Services Division on nearly 500 voluntarily provided anonymous urine tests during last month’s Operation Trucker Check XII indicates about one in 10 commercial drivers had controlled substances in their system.

The percentage total results of this trucker check operation were similar to those noted during the first operation in 1998, but there were some increases in positive tests in some drug categories.

“An analysis of urine collected at three of the twelve trucker check operations since 1998 does not demonstrate a significant difference in the presence of controlled substances among the commercial motor carrier driver population,” said OSP Sergeant Alan Hageman of the Patrol Services Division. “The unacceptable part is that nearly one in ten commercial drivers had controlled substances in their system while operating 80,000 pound vehicle combinations on our highways.”

Operation Trucker Check XII, an around-the-clock three day interagency inspection and enforcement project, was held April 10 - 12, 2007 at the Interstate 5 southbound Woodburn Port of Entry. A team of law enforcement officers and ODOT commercial vehicle inspectors targeted driver impairment related to alcohol, drugs, or fatigue, and vehicle equipment safety. The first operation was held in 1998 at the Ashland Port of Entry and has been held at other locations including Ontario, Cascade Locks, and Klamath Falls.

Unlike the first Operation Trucker Check in 1998 when nearly 20 percent of the drivers refused to provide voluntary urine samples for testing, only 4 percent refused to provide a voluntary sample this year. OSP evidence technicians helped police obtain the urine samples that were forwarded to an OSP Forensic Lab for testing.

The following are the analysis results of the 487 urine samples obtained:

The after action report for Operation Trucker Check XII is available on the Oregon State Police Website through the link available in the Patrol Services Division section under CURRENT TOPICS at
www.oregon.gov/OSP/PATROL/.

KTVZ-TV (Bend, Oregon); Wednesday, May 2, 2007

National Clearinghouse For Safety Related
Data Pertaining to Commercial Driver License Holders

The Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA) continues to solicit input and suggestions for the implementation of a national clearinghouse for safety related data, including the positive reporting of controlled substance test results pertaining to commercial driver license holders.

There is a well known loophole in the federal drug and alcohol testing requirements for commercial drivers that is being exploited by some drug-abusing drivers. When a driver moves from one trucking company to another, some “positive” drug and alcohol test results are not being discovered by the hiring company because these “positive” results are self-reported, and not centrally tracked. As a result, the hiring company may not be aware of a driver’s past “positive” drug test results and could be hiring a driver who has not been evaluated, treated and cleared to return-to-duty by a substance abuse professional.

Background
In 1999, Congress passed the Motor Carrier Safety Improvement Act which required DOT to evaluate the feasibility and merits of collecting, in a centralized manner, “positive” drug test results of commercial drivers. The FMCSA studied this issue and submitted a report to Congress in May of 2004 . This report found that a centralized clearinghouse for such results was feasible, cost-effective and, in many ways, more desirable than the current system of driver self-reports and hiring companies contacting previous employers in an attempt to obtain this critical safety-related information.

A recent hearing before the House Transportation and Infrastructure on this issue established that it is not difficult for a driver to “beat” the DOT drug test through the use of counterfeit documents, synthetic urine, or adulterants. Findings established that fraudulent testing occurs at some collection sites and that there may be a significant lack of compliance with the drug and alcohol rules among motor carriers, particularly small carriers and self-employed drivers. Also the current system makes it difficult, if not impossible, for prospective employers to know if the drivers applying for a job have tested positive for drug use. These conclusions largely stemmed from a recent GAO study of the issue. GAO was the lead witness at the hearing. The hearing also pointed out that in all likelihood the positive drug testing rate for commercial drivers is much larger than the 2-2.5% being reported under the current testing program requirements. Upwards of a 10 percent positive rate has been reported.

Proposed Solution(s)
Review the proposals of both the American Trucking Associations and the state of North Carolina to deal with the employer issue and the request of Administrator Hill to Congress to give FMCSA the authority to establish a national clearinghouse as well as authority to close down fraudulent drug testing laboratories. Under existing law, all FMCSA can do is “cite” the laboratory.

This authority also needs to fund the development and deployment of the clearinghouse, with appropriate privacy safeguards for drivers, and strict access controls for authorized users. Positive alcohol test results need to also be included since both drug and alcohol testing are required as part of DOT’s regulatory program.

This clearinghouse, when developed, should consider the findings and recommendations of the March 2004 Report to Congress1 required by Section 226 of the Motor Carrier Safety Improvement Act of 1999.

As a part of this action, Congress and FMCSA should fund and support the actions necessary for establishing and maintaining the National Registry of Certified Medical Examiners. There are significant problems in the examination of commercial drivers in terms of a lack of understanding of many medical practitioners in what are the physical qualification requirements for commercial drivers. Having the registry in place to help oversee and track these practitioners is paramount to enhancing safety on our highways.

The purpose for including this suggestion is to help minimize the costs that would be associated with creating, implementing and supporting two separate databases/information systems – one for drug/alcohol testing and another for medical examiners.

1 “A Report to Congress on the Feasibility and Merits of Reporting Verified Positive Federal Controlled Substance Test Results to the States and Requiring FMCSA-Regulated Employers to Query the State Databases Before Hiring a Commercial Drivers License Holder,” FMCSA, March 2004. www.regulations.gov/fdmspublic/component/main?main=DocumentDetail&o=0900006480344024

 

Note that throughout this article, when I refer to the applicable federal regulations, I’m referring to CFR 49, Parts 40 & 382; these regulations can be found in Section 5 of the AADT Company Compliance Manual or in the AADT website at www.aadrugtesing.com under links at DOT Office of Drug and Alcohol Policy and Compliance at www.dot.gov/ost/dapc or Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration at www.fmcsa.dot.gov.