20 Spray February 2017 Steven CharleS hunt President, ShipMate, Inc. From here to there: Topics in Transportation FMCSA Establishes National Drug & Alcohol Clearinghouse The U.S. Dept. of Transportation’s (DOT) Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) published its final rule (Docket No. FMCSA-2011-0031) in the Federal Register on Dec. 5, 2016. The new rule establishes a national drug and alcohol clearinghouse for commercial truck and bus drivers. The clearinghouse database will serve as a central repository that will contain information about violations of FMCSA’s drug and alcohol testing program by holders of commercial driver’s licenses (CDLs). The final rule becomes effective Jan. 4, 2017 with a mandatory compliance date of Jan. 6, 2020. The FMCSA final rule is intended to improve roadway safety by identifying commercial motor vehicle (CMV) drivers who have committed drug and alcohol violations, thereby rendering them ineligible to operate a CMV. The clearinghouse addresses the situation in which drivers can conceal their drug and alcohol violations merely by moving on to the next job or the next jurisdiction. The drug and alcohol violation records maintained in the clearinghouse will ‘‘follow’’ the driver regardless of how many times he or she changes employers, seeks employment or applies for a CDL in a different state. Once the clearinghouse is established, motor carrier employers will be required to query the system annually for information concerning current employees (or prospective employees during the pre-employment process) who have unresolved violations of the federal drug and alcohol testing regulations that prohibit them from operating a commercial motor vehicle (CMV). It also requires employers and medical review officers (MROs) to report drug and alcohol testing program violations. The final rule requires motor carriers, medical review officers, third-party administrators, and substance abuse professionals to report information about drivers who: • Test positive for drugs or alcohol; • Refuse drug and alcohol testing; and • Undergo the return-to-duty drug and alcohol rehabilitation process The Drug & Alcohol Clearinghouse final rule projects annual net benefits of $42 million, with crash reductions resulting from annual and pre-employment queries by FMCSA-regulated motor carriers. “This is a major safety win for the general public and the entire commercial motor vehicle industry,” said FMCSA Administrator Scott Darling. “The clearinghouse will allow carriers across the country to identify current and prospective drivers who have tested positive for drugs or alcohol, and employ those who drive drug- and alcoholfree. Drivers who test positive for drugs or alcohol will no longer be able to conceal those test results from employers and continue to drive while posing a safety risk to the driving public.” Federal safety regulations require employers to conduct preemployment employment drug testing and random drug and alcohol testing. Motor carriers are prohibited from allowing employees to perform safety-sensitive functions, which include operating a CMV, if the employee tests positive on a DOT drug or alcohol test. The prohibition prohi on performing safety-sensitive functions continues until the bition employee satisfies all of the requirements of the return-to-duty process pro cess prescribed in the regulations. Additionally, the regulations in 49 CFR part 382 provide that an employer may not allow a covered employee to perform safety-sensitive functions when the employer has actual knowledge that a driver has engaged in on-duty or preduty alcohol use, used alcohol prior to post-accident testing or used a controlled substance. An employer has “actual knowledge” of a driver’s drug or alcohol use while performing safety-sensitive functions func based upon the employer’s direct observation of employee tions drug or alcohol use, an admission by the employee of drug or alcohol al cohol use, information provided by a previous employer, or if the employee receives a traffic citation for driving a CMV while under the influence of drugs or alcohol. tion,the return-to-duty process. FMCSA does not regulate an employ er’s decision to terminate or the conditions under which an em ployer chooses to keep a driver on after a drug or alcohol violation. tive or current employer of a CDL driver when/for: Although not required to do so, the employer may, at its discretion, fire the employee without giving the opportunity to complete employer’s employer Information must be reported to the clearinghouse by a prospective • An alcohol confirmation test with a concentration of 0.04 or higher; • Refusal to test (alcohol) as specified in 49 CFR 40.261; • Refusal to test (drug) not requiring a determination by the MRO as specified in 49 CFR 40.191; • Actual knowledge, as defined in 49 CFR 382.107, that a driver has used alcohol on duty, used alcohol within four hours of coming on duty, used alcohol prior to post-accident testing, or has used a controlled substance;
Spray February 2017
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