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. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
[wp_ad_camp_2] <\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This rule has had close to unanimous support from trucking\nstakeholders as any safety rule has had. Fleet owners and managers need to get\nup to speed on this rule, pronto. Why? Because we are talking about the drug\nand alcohol clearinghouse. You can\u2019t mess with this rule. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The final rule was spurred by a Congressional mandate, and\nit established a Drug & Alcohol Clearinghouse back on Dec. 5, 2016 by the\nFederal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. This is when the story first\nbegan. This is not a rule you can afford to miss. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Since December, the FMCSA has been diligently preparing for\nJan. 6, 2020, when use of the clearinghouse becomes mandatory to report and\nquery information about driver drug and alcohol program violations by holders\nof commercial driver licenses. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Trucking companies will be required to conduct both\nelectronic queries within the clearinghouse and manual inquiries with previous\nemployers to cover the preceding three years. Then beginning on Jan. 6, 2023,\nemployers will only have to query the clearinghouse and be able to stop making\nmanual inquiries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What Are the Details?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The agency\u2019s prep work for the rule\u2019s implementation\nincludes amassing a wealth of guidance online. You can access this material by clicking or tapping here<\/a>. The\ngood news is you can search the site to get answers to any possible question\nyou may have on the clearinghouse. It should also explain how the whole program\nworks. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Unfortunately, it\u2019s also a government-designed website, so\nalthough it loads up plenty fast, it is not hugely intuitive. That means\nfinding what you are looking for can take a while. But don\u2019t get discouraged,\nthis is information you very much need to know! \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n Are you ready? The federal Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse is\nfinally rolling out this month! It will track commercial driver\u2019s license\nholders who have tested positive for prohibited drug or alcohol use, as well as\nrefusals to take required drug tests, and other drug and alcohol violations.\nWhen a truck driver has been found to be in violation, they will have to\ncomplete a return to duty session. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Once they have completed that program, it will be recorded.\nThe trucking company and the government will have access to that cleared data.\nThis is good for both trucker and employer. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The clearinghouse has long been pushed as an effective way\nto keep commercial truck drivers who have violated federal drug and alcohol\nrules from lying about those results and simply getting a job with another\nmotor carrier. Before the clearinghouse was enacted, this was a common problem.\nTracking this data with paperwork was often cumbersome. <\/p>\n\n\n\n So, last month, the FMCSA announced that it had extended the\ncompliance date from Jan. 6, 2020 to Jan. 6, 2023 for when state driver\nlicensing agencies must request information from the clearinghouse before they\ncomplete certain commercial driver\u2019s license transactions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n But the original compliance date of Jan. 6, 2020, remains in\nplace for all other requirements of the final rule \u2013 there is no delay in\ncompliance for motor carriers. Now, trucking companies want to know what they\nshould look out for. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Key Factors of the Clearinghouse Rule<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n In June 2019, we provided a comprehensive overview of the\nmotor carrier requirements of Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration\u2019s\n(FMCSA\u2019s) new CDL Drug & Alcohol Clearinghouse rules set to be implemented\non January 6, 2020. As carriers prepare to comply with the new rules, we have\ndeveloped a short list of must-do activities designed to help carriers think\nthrough how their operations might need to change and to suggest ways to make\nimplementation as smooth as possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 1. <\/strong>Get Educated \u2013 There are a host of things carriers\nand drivers must know. FMCSA\u2019s Clearinghouse website contains over 50 FAQs as\nwell as a host of brochures and fact sheets to help carriers get started.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 2.<\/strong> Communicate with your drug and alcohol testing\nthird-party administrators (TPA) \u2013 Many carriers use third party agents to\nmanage components of their DOT Drug & Alcohol Programs. FMCSA has taken\nimportant steps to ensure that TPAs can continue to manage motor carriers\u2019\nprograms. TPA are authorized to both query and report information to the\nClearinghouse, among other things.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 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\u2019s needs. Talk with your TPAs now to understand what services they\u2019ll be offering and what you\u2019ll be on the hook to handle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n [wp_ad_camp_2] <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n 3.<\/strong> Get registered \u2013 Registration is already open, and\nthis is free of charge. Upon registration, motor carriers will be able to\nidentify which TPAs are authorized to interact with the Clearinghouse on their\nbehalf. To do so, however, the TPA must already be registered. Motor carriers\nshould also sign-up for updates to be sure you\u2019re receiving all the latest\ninformation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 4.<\/strong> Update your current drug and alcohol testing\npolicies \u2013 FMCSA has mandated specific content that must be added to your\ntesting policies. Specifically, employers must provide detailed information on\nwhat personal information, collected and maintained as part of the DOT Drug and\nAlcohol Program, will be reported to the Clearinghouse. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Trucking companies should also review all other company\npolicies and procedures related to drug and alcohol testing to determine if any\nneed updating.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 5.<\/strong> Communicate with all CDL drivers \u2013 New and updated\npolicies and procedures will apply to both current and newly hired drivers. The\npolicies should be clearly communicated to all drivers. Motor carriers should\nalso provide drivers with a basic understand of what the Clearinghouse is and\nhow it may impact their ability to drive. Motor carriers must be sure to\nprovide drivers with a copy of any new or updated policies, obtain a signature\nverifying driver receipt, and ensure the documentation is added to the driver\u2019s\nfile.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 6.<\/strong> Think through your hiring process \u2013 FMCSA has\nadded additional layers to the hiring process. This requires motor carriers to\nevaluate how to adjust their processes for efficacy and efficiency. Here are\nsome things to consider:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Driver recruiting: To hire a new CDL driver, motor carriers\nmust first obtain consent from the driver applicant to conduct a pre-employment\nquery. This consent can only be granted through the Clearinghouse, so all new\nhires will need to have registered with the Clearinghouse. Motor carriers\nshould review driver recruiting literature and consider adding verbiage\nencouraging applicants to sign up for a Clearinghouse account before they\napply.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Recruiter training should also be evaluated. Recruiters will\nneed to be trained on what the Clearinghouse does, what information it\ncontains, how a driver registers, and how a driver grants consent. Recruiters\nwill need to be prepared to guide a driver prospect through the registration and\nconsent process if necessary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When to run a query: Motor carriers should perform a\nholistic review of their hiring process to determine where the Clearinghouse\nbest fits in. At $1.25 per query, performing a Clearinghouse check is less\nexpensive than some background checks but more expensive than others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On January 6, 2020, the Clearinghouse will contain very\nlittle data because violations occurring before then cannot be entered. Over\ntime, however, more data will be added, improving the usefulness of the\ndatabase. The key will be balancing the costs and benefits of the Clearinghouse\nas a prequalification too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 7.<\/strong> Purchase query bundles \u2013 Beginning in November\n2019, FMCSA will allow carriers to purchase bundles of queries which are drawn\ndown as queries are conducted. Motor carriers should attempt to estimate the\nnumber of queries required annually and budget for them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 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\u2019s account. Queries cannot be conducted unless the carrier\u2019s 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<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n [wp_ad_camp_2] <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n The CDL Drug & Alcohol Clearinghouse holds great promise\nin reducing the number of CMV crashes. While carriers will reap much of the\nbenefit, they also share a significant portion of the burden. Early preparation\nwill go a long way in easing the transition and ensuring full compliance by the\nimplementation date.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"