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By Mark Montague, Sr. Analyst, DAT Solutions
Earlier this month the U.S. Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration opened registration for the Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse, a database that will give employers, the FMCSA, state driver licensing agencies, and law enforcement officials shared access to the latest information about drug and alcohol violations by truck drivers.
For years, the trucking industry has been lobbying for a way to help carriers identify drivers who commit drug or alcohol violations while working for one employer, but who fail to subsequently tell another employer. The clearinghouse will contain records of violations under 49 CFR Part 382, Subpart B, including positive drug or alcohol test results and test refusals.
While a driver isn't legally required to register with the clearinghouse, it's hard to see how he or she gets around it. Employers must query the database for all current employees at least annually. All queries require driver consent.
Capacity Crunch?
The clearinghouse deadline is raising questions about whether the pool of eligible drivers will narrow further, taking a bite out of truck capacity.
A reduction in capacity was a concern for shippers and carriers alike when "hard" enforcement of the electronic logging device mandate started April 1, 2018. In fact, capacity actually increased in the months after the deadline: despite the cost and pains of ELD implementation, few drivers and owner-operators were motivated to leave the industry, although rates at the time were exceptionally high.
It's hard to know what effect the clearinghouse will have on capacity, but there's no doubt that it's yet another administrative issue for drivers and carriers to deal with in the name of safety.
Deadlines
If you ship or carry goods and you're just hearing about the clearinghouse now, implementation is happening in two phases:
• January 6, 2020: Employers will be required to
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conduct electronic queries and traditional manual inquiries with previous employers to meet the three-year timeframe for checking CDL driver violation histories. Drivers may also view their own records for information recorded on or after January 6, 2020.
• January 6, 2023: Once three years of violation data are stored in the clearinghouse, employers are no longer required to also request information from the driver's previous FMCSA-regulated employers. An employer's query of the clearinghouse will satisfy that requirement.
The database will contain information about violations that occur on or after January 6, 2020. Employers are required to report drug and alcohol violations, including positive tests, as well as refusals to take drug or alcohol tests, as well as "actual knowledge" violations, negative return-to-duty test results, and completion of follow up testing/plans/programs.
CDL drivers can log in and view their own record, provide consent to current or prospective employers to access details about any drug and alcohol program violations, and select a substance abuse professional, if needed.
There are ample resources available for truck fleets and drivers at clearinghouse.fmcsa.dot.gov. If you employ CDL holders, or you're a shipper who uses federally regulated carriers, it's a good time to get acquainted with the clearinghouse. While it probably won't have the same effect on the truckload freight market as ELDs, it's no less important to be prepared.
Mark Montague is senior industry pricing analyst for DAT Solutions, which operates the DAT® network of load boards and RateView rate-analysis tool. He has applied his expertise to logistics, rates, and routing for more than 30 years. Mark is based in Portland, Ore.
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