We all love dealing with federal regulations. The trucking industry has dealt with a lot over the past several years of regulations. Whether it be complying with the ELD mandate or dealing with a personal conveyance rule, the industry has been busy. Yet, a new regulation could be one of the most important of all, and trucking companies need to be ready.
This rule has had close to unanimous support from trucking stakeholders as any safety rule has had. Fleet owners and managers need to get up to speed on this rule, pronto. Why? Because we are talking about the drug and alcohol clearinghouse. You can’t mess with this rule.
The final rule was spurred by a Congressional mandate, and it established a Drug & Alcohol Clearinghouse back on Dec. 5, 2016 by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. This is when the story first began. This is not a rule you can afford to miss.
Since December, the FMCSA has been diligently preparing for Jan. 6, 2020, when use of the clearinghouse becomes mandatory to report and query information about driver drug and alcohol program violations by holders of commercial driver licenses.
Trucking companies will be required to conduct both electronic queries within the clearinghouse and manual inquiries with previous employers to cover the preceding three years. Then beginning on Jan. 6, 2023, employers will only have to query the clearinghouse and be able to stop making manual inquiries.
What Are the Details?
The agency’s prep work for the rule’s implementation includes amassing a wealth of guidance online. You can access this material by clicking or tapping here. The good news is you can search the site to get answers to any possible question you may have on the clearinghouse. It should also explain how the whole program works.
Unfortunately, it’s also a government-designed website, so although it loads up plenty fast, it is not hugely intuitive. That means finding what you are looking for can take a while. But don’t get discouraged, this is information you very much need to know!
Are you ready? The federal Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse is finally rolling out this month! It will track commercial driver’s license holders who have tested positive for prohibited drug or alcohol use, as well as refusals to take required drug tests, and other drug and alcohol violations. When a truck driver has been found to be in violation, they will have to complete a return to duty session.
Once they have completed that program, it will be recorded. The trucking company and the government will have access to that cleared data. This is good for both trucker and employer.
The clearinghouse has long been pushed as an effective way to keep commercial truck drivers who have violated federal drug and alcohol rules from lying about those results and simply getting a job with another motor carrier. Before the clearinghouse was enacted, this was a common problem. Tracking this data with paperwork was often cumbersome.
So, last month, the FMCSA announced that it had extended the compliance date from Jan. 6, 2020 to Jan. 6, 2023 for when state driver licensing agencies must request information from the clearinghouse before they complete certain commercial driver’s license transactions.
But the original compliance date of Jan. 6, 2020, remains in place for all other requirements of the final rule – there is no delay in compliance for motor carriers. Now, trucking companies want to know what they should look out for.
Key Factors of the Clearinghouse Rule
In June 2019, we provided a comprehensive overview of the motor carrier requirements of Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s (FMCSA’s) new CDL Drug & Alcohol Clearinghouse rules set to be implemented on January 6, 2020. As carriers prepare to comply with the new rules, we have developed a short list of must-do activities designed to help carriers think through how their operations might need to change and to suggest ways to make implementation as smooth as possible.
1. Get Educated – There are a host of things carriers and drivers must know. FMCSA’s Clearinghouse website contains over 50 FAQs as well as a host of brochures and fact sheets to help carriers get started.
2. Communicate with your drug and alcohol testing third-party administrators (TPA) – Many carriers use third party agents to manage components of their DOT Drug & Alcohol Programs. FMCSA has taken important steps to ensure that TPAs can continue to manage motor carriers’ programs. TPA are authorized to both query and report information to the Clearinghouse, among other things.
Like carriers, TPAs are working hard to develop the resources necessary to continue to serve their clients and develop new business. Each will develop unique solutions to meet some, or all, of their client’s needs. Talk with your TPAs now to understand what services they’ll be offering and what you’ll be on the hook to handle.
3. Get registered – Registration is already open, and this is free of charge. Upon registration, motor carriers will be able to identify which TPAs are authorized to interact with the Clearinghouse on their behalf. To do so, however, the TPA must already be registered. Motor carriers should also sign-up for updates to be sure you’re receiving all the latest information.
4. Update your current drug and alcohol testing policies – FMCSA has mandated specific content that must be added to your testing policies. Specifically, employers must provide detailed information on what personal information, collected and maintained as part of the DOT Drug and Alcohol Program, will be reported to the Clearinghouse.
Trucking companies should also review all other company policies and procedures related to drug and alcohol testing to determine if any need updating.
5. Communicate with all CDL drivers – New and updated policies and procedures will apply to both current and newly hired drivers. The policies should be clearly communicated to all drivers. Motor carriers should also provide drivers with a basic understand of what the Clearinghouse is and how it may impact their ability to drive. Motor carriers must be sure to provide drivers with a copy of any new or updated policies, obtain a signature verifying driver receipt, and ensure the documentation is added to the driver’s file.
6. Think through your hiring process – FMCSA has added additional layers to the hiring process. This requires motor carriers to evaluate how to adjust their processes for efficacy and efficiency. Here are some things to consider:
Driver recruiting: To hire a new CDL driver, motor carriers must first obtain consent from the driver applicant to conduct a pre-employment query. This consent can only be granted through the Clearinghouse, so all new hires will need to have registered with the Clearinghouse. Motor carriers should review driver recruiting literature and consider adding verbiage encouraging applicants to sign up for a Clearinghouse account before they apply.
Recruiter training should also be evaluated. Recruiters will need to be trained on what the Clearinghouse does, what information it contains, how a driver registers, and how a driver grants consent. Recruiters will need to be prepared to guide a driver prospect through the registration and consent process if necessary.
When to run a query: Motor carriers should perform a holistic review of their hiring process to determine where the Clearinghouse best fits in. At $1.25 per query, performing a Clearinghouse check is less expensive than some background checks but more expensive than others.
On January 6, 2020, the Clearinghouse will contain very little data because violations occurring before then cannot be entered. Over time, however, more data will be added, improving the usefulness of the database. The key will be balancing the costs and benefits of the Clearinghouse as a prequalification too.
7. Purchase query bundles – Beginning in November 2019, FMCSA will allow carriers to purchase bundles of queries which are drawn down as queries are conducted. Motor carriers should attempt to estimate the number of queries required annually and budget for them.
TPAs will not be allowed to query the Clearinghouse using their account and invoice employers the cost of the query. Instead, TPAs conducting queries on behalf of a motor carrier must identify the carrier for which they are conducting the query. The cost will then be deducted from the carrier’s account. Queries cannot be conducted unless the carrier’s account is funded. TPAs are prohibited from collecting or aggregating driver data so discounted query fees are unlikely. More information on queries bundles is available here. https://clearinghouse.fmcsa.dot.gov/Resource/Index/Query-Plan
The CDL Drug & Alcohol Clearinghouse holds great promise in reducing the number of CMV crashes. While carriers will reap much of the benefit, they also share a significant portion of the burden. Early preparation will go a long way in easing the transition and ensuring full compliance by the implementation date.
from Quick Transport Solutions Trucking Blog https://ift.tt/3gvNN2n
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