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Question - I am an owner-operator and AADT client who recently renewed my random testing program for 2009 on February 3rd. I received my renewal packet with my company profile, certificate of enrollment, letter with informational updates, collection site list and a cover letter regarding pre-employment testing requirements with a portion highlighted and the client passport (Form 111) attached pre-filled with my information for a pre-employment drug test. I’ve been in my own random drug and alcohol testing program at AADT for years, I have tested when required and have never tested positive; so why would I need to pre-employment drug test?
Answer -When a client enrolls in AADT’s testing programs, it is explained that the enrollment period expires on December 31st each year regardless of when they initially enrolled or renewed. Each year AADT sends out the renewal packets for the upcoming year in the beginning of October.
The cover page of the renewal has instructions for completing the renewal process and once again warns that every account expires on December 31st.
For those clients that return their completed renewal on or before December 31st the account automatically renews on January 1st.
For those who have not enrolled yet, we send a notice out in the first week of January. Included in the notice is a reminder that the account is now inactive and pre-employment testing may be required if the client doesn’t renew by January 30th. DOT FMCSA 49 CFR Part 382.301 requires an employer to administer a controlled substances test if the driver has not participated in a controlled substances testing program that meets the requirements of this part within the previous 30-days. (Owner-Operator’s are both the employer and the driver for the purposes defined within these regulations). We then send out a second complimentary notice in early March again reminding that the account is inactive and explaining the pre-employment requirements.
Unfortunately, if a client did not renew by January 1st and was operating their commercial vehicle between the time their enrollment lapsed and the time they renewed, an enforcement representative may consider them to have been out of compliance. In addition, if it has been more than 30-days since they participated in random controlled substances testing program they would be out of compliance 30-days and required to pre-employment test prior to operating their commercial vehicle. Another thing that many clients do not take into consideration, is that each day they operate their commercial vehicle(s) and they are out of compliance with their program, this can be considered a separate violation and subject to additional fines and penalties.
Each year AADT mails out the renewal notices to our existing clients in the first part of October to insure ample time to review the information, fill out the forms with required information, make any needed changes to their information, sign the documents and return them for processing before the December 31st deadline.
And each year without fail, we receive numerous phone calls in late December from clients wanting to fax over their renewal form and requesting that we process it immediately because they have a broker that is holding their payment or they will not dispatch them for the next day until enrollment verification is received.
Than there’s another group that frantically call us between January and February because they have been contacted by a DOT investigator or CHP motor carrier specialist for an inspection and they haven’t renewed their CSAT program. When this happens, these clients will insistently requesting us to pre-date their enrollment to January 1st, although we did not receive the completed renewal packet and payment until after January 1st. It is important to note that we absolutely will not pre-date any documents including renewals, employee/driver changes or new enrollments. As one client stated, “I have to have it for January 1st, because the last time the CHP inspector was out I got wrote up for letting my program lapse.”
We have always made it crystal clear to our clients that at the time of initial enrollments, the contract or enrollment period is for each calendar year. The renewal packets are sent out 13 weeks prior to the end of the year, warning client’s of the exact expiration date. For those that have not returned their renewal packet, we send out notices on first week of January, reminding them that their enrollment in a program has expired and also reminding them that if it exceeds 30-days, a pre-employment test will be required at the time of re-enrollment. These are not our rules, but federal rules and regulations which were adopted by all states, including California.
What I really find baffling that once a carrier fails to stay in compliance they risk potential violations and penalties that multiple for each violation period, each day that the carrier is operating out of compliance. And violations can be expensive. Since the enrollment in a random drug and alcohol testing program is a federal mandated requirement, not renewing on time is only complicating matters and delays the inevitable. Note: these rules apply to any commercial vehicle or company including owner-operators operating under the requirements of DOT FMCSA 49 CFR or those businesses operating under the CPUC, Texas DLR or CHP Tow Service Agreement.
Again, its important to note that you can re-enroll in our or another random CSAT program to circumvent further non-compliance, but that still doesn’t excuse the lapse or gap that you were not in compliance and depending on an inspection or accident, if this lapse is discovered it could mean big fines! So why would anyone want to go down that road and play the delay game? It doesn’t make cent$...
The web-based online feature for truck brokers to access the enrollment statu10s of a contracted independent owner-operator motor carrier operating under their own authority that is enrolled in AADT’s random CSAT program is now available.
Once a broker has a signed agreement between them and the independent owner-operator, the broker can log on to AADT’s website and sign up for this information sharing feature. Once you are approved, you will be able to access your account 24/7; check current contracted owner-operator enrollment status, revoke an agreement, or fill-out and print an agreement to give to the independent owner-operator for their signature.
In addition, if you have requested email notification, you will be automatically notified when there is a change of status for any independent owner-operator listed on your account. It is a “go” or “no go” type notification, no confidential information is provided.
Responses from the truck brokers that have signed up for the new online access account have been very positive so far during our beta testing.
If you are a broker and have not signed up for our online feature, you may want to do so now. Log on to our website at: aadrugtesting.com, click on Client or Broker Login feature (on the left side of the screen in blue), than click on Don’t have a login for AADT Online? Click Here! – a screen will come up for you to fill in the information to sign up for your new account. Once you have submitted your information for a new account, you will receive a message that you will be notified by AADT once your account has been processed and approved. This should take less than a day to process, although this is a new feature and depending how popular it is during the first quarter of the year, it may take a little longer, so please be patient as we roll this out.
Contact an AADT representative if you have any questions or need assistance. We appreciate any feedback on how we may improve our services.
A few days after Jacksonville trucker Alvin Wilkerson went to prison, a guard asked if it was his first time there.
Alvin Wilkerson is in prison for seven years, one for each of the children killed when he fell asleep at the wheel of his Freightliner.
“No, sir, this is my last,” Wilkerson replied. Wilkerson, 34, is serving seven years after pleading no contest in a horrific crash that killed seven children from one family on a remote Union County roadway. Prosecutors said he fell asleep at the wheel.
Housed at the Graceville Work Camp, Wilkerson says his biggest concerns are not the years of incarceration ahead but his wife and three children, the families of the dead children and keeping positive.
The victims’ relatives do not think the sentence was long enough. Some truckers, on the other hand, wondered in numerous e-mails and calls to the Times-Union how the accident became criminal at all, notwithstanding the enormous loss of life.
Friends worry how the man they know will survive in prison -- and how his family will survive without him.
Tyra Wilkerson wrote to her husband’s lawyers, questioning whether they had done everything they could to defend him.
“Society took a hardworking man out of his home and placed him into a prison system which has never been utilized for an accident,” she said.
At least twice a day, Wilkerson crisscrossed Union County, delivering bottled water to Jacksonville from the Coca-Cola plant in High Springs.
The county is Florida’s smallest, a place where most residents know each other. When Wilkerson’s Freightliner semi slammed into the back of a 1993 Pontiac stopped behind a school bus, nearly the entire county grieved with the family of the seven children.
Four siblings, their two cousins, and a boy who was to be adopted the next day were killed. After an eight-month investigation, Wilkerson was charged with seven counts of vehicular homicide and manslaughter, carrying a potential 85-year sentence under Florida sentencing guidelines. Though he had not used drugs or alcohol, prosecutors said he was criminally responsible because he dozed off after not getting enough sleep.
DID YOU KNOW? AADT is an Associate Member of CVSA – Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance. We receive daily notifications of transportation and safety related articles like this one above through FMSCA and CVSA from all over the U.S., which we share through our member/client correspondence. CVSA is an international not-for-profit organization comprised of local, state, provincial, territorial and federal motor carrier safety officials and industry representatives from the United States, Canada, and Mexico. Their mission is to promote commercial motor vehicle safety and security by providing leadership to enforcement, industry and policy makers. CVSA member jurisdictions are represented by various Departments of Transportation, Public Utility and Service Commissions, State Police, Highway Patrols and Ministries of Transport. In addition, CVSA has several hundred associate members who are committed to helping the Alliance achieve its goals; uniformity, compatibility and reciprocity of commercial vehicle inspections, and enforcement activities throughout North America by individuals dedicated to highway safety and security. This is another example of AADT’s devoted commitment to support safety education, which is unique within the TPA industry.
Lonnie Johnson
Operation Director
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.