Uncle Sam Wants to Know
Do Your CDL Drivers Use Drugs and Alcohol? by Patrick Boothe, ARM, ALCM It was 8:00 a.m. on a bright Thursday morning when Jenny arrived at the maintenance garage to pickup the bus. She was scheduled to drive the day campers to Great America at 9:00 a.m. After a brief stop at the ladies room. Jenny went into the lunchroom and bought two cans of pop and took some aspirin. Joe, the head mechanic, was taking his morning break when he saw Jenny beeline for the pop machine. Joe looked at Jenny and said, "Your eyes are really bloodshot and you smell like a brewery. You look in bad shape. Are you sure you can drive the bus? " After she finished drinking the pop, she looked at Joe and replied, "I'm never going to drink again and why doesn't McDonald's sell cheeseburgers in the morning? I'll be fine in a couple of hours. I used to drink a lot in college and I'll take a nap on the bus after the kids and counselors enter the park. I'll be okay." She then wobbled out of the lunchroom, skipping the pre-trip inspection and drove to the community center to pickup a busload of screaming kids. To make a long story short, Jenny misjudged the traffic at the Great America exit ramp and crashed into the back of a church van at about 35 miles per hour. You can let your imagination finish the story. How could this accident have been avoided? What should Jenny or Joe have done differently? What about the agency? What would you have done differently? A new era in managing transportation safety began January 1, 1996. That was the date that the United States Department of Transportation (USDOT) Controlled Substance and Alcohol Testing Regulation went into effect. The regulation was put on the fast track due to situations similar to Jenny's and the 1987 Maryland Conrail accident, which killed 16 people and injured 175. The USDOT regulation mandates agencies to conduct pre-placement, random, post-accident, reasonable suspicion and follow-up controlled substance and alcohol testing on agency drivers required to have a Commercial Drivers License (CDL). The regulations include all governmental entities that own or lease commercial motor vehicles or assign persons to operate such vehicles. A "commercial motor vehicle" as defined by the USDOT is a motor vehicle or combination of motor vehicles used to transport passengers or property that: • Has a gross combination weight rating of 26,001 or more pounds inclusive of a towed unit with a gross motor vehicle weight rating of more than 10,000 pounds; or • Has a gross vehicle rating of 26,001 or more pounds; or • Is designed to transport 16 or more passengers, including the driver; or • Is of any size and is used in the transportation of hazardous materials required to be placarded under the Hazardous Materials Transportation Act. If your agency owns commercial motor vehicles and has employees with Commercial Drivers Licenses assigned to drive them and you don't have a Controlled Substance and Alcohol Testing Program, you are violating a federal regulation and can be fined. It is in your best interest, as well as the employee's and community's best interest, to develop and implement a Controlled Substance and Alcohol Testing Program. The program can be developed in-house or with the assistance of a third party administer. Conducting the program internally may cost a little less than contracting with a third party administrator; however, there are Illinois Parks & Recreation • July/August 1996 • 19 some drawbacks. An internal program requires more administrative work. Plus some employees may feel threatened about the random selection process, especially if they have an over-zealous supervisor. If you are considering running the program yourself, contact your local occupational health clinic or agency physician for program assistance. Contracting with a third party administrator may cost more, but random selection appears more anonymous, agency administrative duties are limited and program start-up time is reduced. If an agency decides to utilize a third party administrator, these criteria should be considered: references, reliability, quality, experience, resources available and insurance. Either method you choose still requires work in developing a comprehensive controlled substance and alcohol testing program, which should include:
CONTROLLED SUBSTANCE AND ALCOHOL PROGRAM COMPONENTS Written Policy The written policy should include all the who, what, where, why and when of your controlled substance and alcohol program. It must closely follow the USDOT regulation and, before final adoption, should be reviewed by an attorney familiar with the regulation. Once the policy is adopted, each driver and supervisor should receive a copy and sign-off that they have received it. Testing Location The testing location(s) should be near your agency and have the capability to collect urine samples and conduct breath alcohol tests per the USDOT regulation. Contact your occupational health clinic or your physician used for pre-placement physicals for clinic references. If you use a third party administrator for your program, it will give you a list of testing sites near your agency. The key to picking a testing/collection location is its familiarity with the USDOT regulation, its capability of following the regulation, its familiarity with your agency, and hours of operation. Cost also plays a key role. Random Selection You cannot pull numbers out of a hat. Selection of drivers must be made by a scientifically valid method, such as a random number table of a computer-based random number generator. Commercial computer programs exist on the market that can perform random selections and record-keeping functions. If you decide to use a third party administrator, it will send you, on a quarterly basis, the names of individuals who need testing. Training All supervisors who oversee employees in this program must receive two hours of reasonable suspicion training. Reasonable suspicion training involves sixty minutes of training on alcohol misuse and an additional sixty minutes on controlled substance use. The training should cover the physical, behavioral, speech, and performance indicators of probable alcohol misuse and the use of controlled substances. Commercial video training modules are available that meet the USDOT training requirement; however, it may be possible to receive the needed training through an occupational health clinic or a third party administrator. Employees involved in the testing program need to be educated as well. They must be given a copy of your policy and sign-off that they received it. They must also be informed of the location of the testing site(s), the identity of the designated person at the agency who answers questions about the testing program, and about prohibited conduct. Records Retention As with any type of federal regulation, it is important to keep documentation because the USDOT may visit a park and recreation facility and ask to review your program records. Records should be maintained for five years on any positive test, two years for training records and one year on all negative tests. All documentation must be located in a secure area with controlled access. REQUIRED TESTING Agencies are required to conduct pre-placement, random, post-accident, reasonable suspicion and follow-up controlled substance and alcohol tests. The tests are designed to identify an alcohol concentration level of .02 or greater and the presence of marijuana, cocaine, opiates, phencyclidine and amphetamines. Pre-placement/Pre-duty Testing Prior to the first time an employee (including job applicants and employees transferring into a position requiring the operation of a commercial motor vehicle) of the park and recreation agency drives a commercial motor vehicle, he or she will be required to undergo testing for controlled substances and will not be allowed to perform any safety sensitive function unless a verified negative drug test result is received. The only exception to the pre-placement/pre-duty testing is if an applicant has been tested during the past six months or has participated in a random test program during the past year. The circumstances giving rise to the exception are detailed and varied; therefore, it is always important to review the regulation or contact your corporate attorney prior to utilizing this pre-placement exclusion. Or, when in doubt, test. Post-accident Testing Agency drivers are required to undergo controlled substance and alcohol use testing after being involved in a motor vehicle collision while driving the commercial motor vehicle. As soon as practical following an accident involving an agency commercial motor vehicle, the agency driver is required to participate in post-accident testing. Testing is required when: 20 • Illinois Parks & Recreation • July/August 1996 • a fatality occurred, regardless of whether the driver received a citation; or • the agency driver received a moving citation; or • medical treatment of an individual involved in the collision was provided away from the scene; or • a vehicle was towed away because of disabling damage. If a driver is required to be tested, he or she must be tested for alcohol within 2 hours following the accident or within 32 hours for controlled substance testing. If the test for alcohol is not administered within 8 hours or a controlled substance test administered within 32 hours, the agency must cease attempts to test and document why the test was not properly administered. Random Testing The USDOT requires an annual minimum of 50 percent of your drivers be tested for controlled substances and 25 percent of your drivers be tested for alcohol. Testing includes all full-time and part-time personnel and volunteers who might drive the agency's commercial motor vehicles. Driver selection must be made by a scientifically valid method, such as a random number table from a computer-based random number generator. Each driver should have an equal chance of being tested each time selections are made. Thus, in the course of a year, some drivers may be selected more than once, while other drivers may not be selected at all. Random selections must be reasonably spread out through the year. Once notified of being selected, the driver must proceed immediately to the testing site to be tested. Reasonable Suspicion Testing Park and recreation agencies are required by the USDOT regulation to have a driver submit to a drug and/or alcohol test when the agency has reasonable suspicion that the driver is under the influence of alcohol or controlled substances. The agency's determination that reasonable suspicion exists must be based on sight specific, contemporaneous observations concerning the appearance, behavior, speech or body odors of the driver. The required observations for alcohol and/or controlled substances reasonable suspicion testing must be made by a supervisor or agency official (preferably two individuals) who are trained to determine reasonable suspicion. It is the agency's responsibility to ensure that all persons designated to determine whether reasonable suspicion exists receive sixty minutes of training concerning alcohol misuse and sixty minutes of training on controlled substance misuse. Return-to-duty Testing Park and recreation agencies must ensure that before a driver returns to duty requiring the performance of a safety sensitive function after engaging in prohibited conduct concerning alcohol and/or controlled substances, the driver must undergo a return-to-work alcohol and/or controlled substance test. Alcohol tests must be less than .02, and controlled substance tests must indicate a verified negative result. Follow-up Testing Following a determination that a driver is in need of assistance in resolving problems associated with alcohol misuse or the use of controlled substances, drivers must be evaluated by a substance abuse professional, pass a reinstatement controlled substance and alcohol test, follow the substance abuse professionals rehabilitation program, and be subject to unannounced follow-up alcohol and controlled substance tests up to 60 months with at least six tests in the first 12 months. IN THE CASE OF JENNY AND JOE If Jenny's and Joe's agency had a Controlled Substance and Alcohol Testing Program, the crash may never have happened. Jenny may have decided to abstain or limit the amount of alcohol she consumed the night before or she may have considered calling in sick. Either way, the knowledge of the regulation and the fear of being tested and the consequences, may have altered her decision-making process. Joe, on the other hand, would have been able to have Jenny tested for alcohol use under the reasonable suspicion requirement of the regulation. He would have had ample documentation concerning his observations about appearance, behavior, speech and body odor. As with any new regulation, the content can be hard to interpret and many times it is confusing; especially for agencies that have a multitude of driving situations. Your best bet to meet compliance is to review the regulation and contact the agencies listed below for further information. United States Department of Transportation
Drug Enforcement & Program Compliance Federal Highway Administration
Office of Motor Carriers Illinois Illinois Department of Transportation
Division of Traffic Safety Patrick Boothe, ARM, ALCM, is the education and training supervisor for the Park District Risk Management Agency (PDRMA). For a sample policy or additional information about third party administrators, contact PDRMA at 708/769-0332. Illinois Parks & Recreation • July/August 1996 • 21 |
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