Fleet Management News & Business Info | Commercial Carrier Journal
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JOURNAL NEWS Bill pushes hair sample drug testing bill introduced into the U.S. House in December by Rep. Reid Ribble (R-Wis.) would force the U.S. Department of Transportation���s hand on making carriers use hair samples to test truckers for drug use as opposed to urine samples, if made law. A The bill requires that DOT implement a pilot program to evaluate drug testing via hair vs. urine. Some major carriers and the American Trucking Associations have been advocating for the option of drug testing using hair instead of urine in federally mandated company driver pre-employment screening and random drug testing. Hair testing is more difficult to tamper with to avoid a positive result than urine analysis, wrote Schneider National���s Don Osterberg in a previously published opinion piece. The senior vice president of the Green Bay, Wis.-based carrier stated hair testing detects drug use over several months versus urine tests, which indicate drug use from the last 24 to 48 hours. In 2008, Schneider began including hair testing in its pre-hiring process for drivers before adding it to the company���s random-testing program in 2011. As of June 2011, 120 prospective drivers failed the urine test, but 1,400 prospective drivers had drug-positive hair tests. The same year, ATA researcher Abigail Potter submitted comments to the Office of the Secretary of Transportation on Procedures for Workplace Drug and Alcohol Testing urging OST and Health and Human Services to ���aggressively evaluate��� using hair and other alternative specimens. In 2006, J.B. Hunt began using hair testing, and the following year, Hunt���s senior vice president, Greer Woodruff, testified before Congress on its effectiveness. ATA wanted DOT to issue a rulemaking to allow hair as an alternative testing method. By 2011, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration indicated the Arkansas-based carrier���s rate of positive urine tests had dropped 75 percent through using hair samples, according to the Transportation Research Board. Despite state measures, marijuana still illegal for drivers Marijuana will remain an unauthorized drug for both recreational and medical purposes for truck drivers under the U.S. Department of Transportation���s Drug and Alcohol Testing Regulation, a DOT official said. Jim Swart, DOT���s director of the Office of Drug and Alcohol Policy and Compliance, said in a written announcement Dec. 3 that he���d been asked multiple times about whether recent initiatives by Colorado and Washington to legalize the recreational use of marijuana have impacted DOT���s regulations, and in the announcement, Swart said that DOT regulations prohibit all uses of marijuana, including medical, and that state initiatives will have ���no bearing��� on DOT���s drug testing program. Text INFO to 205-289-3554 or visit www.ccjdigital.com/info COMMERCIAL CARRIER JOURNAL | JANUARY 2013 9