With truckers’ drug use increasing year over year, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse, regulatory authorities are looking at a variety of testing options to stem and reverse this trend.
While urine testing has been the standard for many years, new technologies are adding alternatives such as saliva and hair testing to an employer’s options. However, not everyone is on the same page within the trucking industry.
It is in the public interest for trucking companies and the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) to hash out the details, as there are more than 3 million truck drivers from over 443,000 trucking carriers/employers sharing the road. And what that equates to… in 2021 alone, 117,300 large trucks were involved in crashes resulting in an injury. With those statistics in play, motorists need to be assured they are not encountering an impaired truck driver in charge of an 18-wheeler.
Truckers’ Drug Use Up 18% Per Tests
In 2022, the DOT Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse reported 69,668 drug violations, with 84.8% positive tests, 13.7% refusal to test, and 1.5% actual knowledge of a drug violation. This constitutes an 18% increase in truckers’ drug use over 2021. In addition, there were 1,570 alcohol violations reported to the DOT.
These numbers currently exclude hair testing results, drugs beyond the standard 5-panel, or details on the refusal to test. Specifically, in Colorado more than 2,905 drug violations were reported in 2022 (based on the jurisdiction that issued the driver’s CDL/CLP).
While 21 states allowing recreational use and 36 states permit medical use of marijuana, the trucking industry is holding the line with a zero tolerance policy for drivers; yet marijuana driving violations jumped by 31% in 2022.
Equally concerning is the under-reporting of hard drug use by truck drivers, according to a 2020 University of Central Arkansas (UCA) study that shows “cocaine and opioids were the most commonly identified substances in positive hair tests from the truckload carriers.”
Drug Testing – Current/Future Standards
What’s required? The FMCSA mandates that a truck carrier’s new hires and 50% of driver fleet be drug tested annually using urinalysis. Crashes involving injury, fatality, or a towed vehicle are also triggers of mandatory drug testing. Drivers must be screened using a 5-panel test that detects marijuana, cocaine, opioids, amphetamines, and PCP, but carriers may choose to screen for additional substances.
With illegal fentanyl use in the USA “growing rapidly, according to the DEA,” regulators are looking to add it to the drug testing panel. However, the FMCSA does not currently enter those optional findings into the Clearinghouse database.
Urine: Truckers’ drug use testing has been mandated since 1991 with the passage of the Omnibus Transportation Employee Testing Act, and urine is the most commonly used method with 90% of U.S. companies who conduct screening doing so via urinalysis. Typically, an initial screen is done on the sample, with confirmation tests for any non-negative specimens performed using different, more sensitive methods.
Urine testing provides a relatively quick, efficient way to identify negative samples, and separate those that necessitate further review. Additionally, it offers more privacy to employees, as DNA is very difficult to collect from urine. However, it is not infallible, with a short “look-back” window of 24-72 hours, infrequent testing and potential alteration/substitution of the sample. These factors have led the trucking industry and the FMCSA to consider two other testing methodologies in 2023 – hair and saliva.
Hair: As reported in 2022, the FMCSA was looking to implement a new rule regarding using hair samples for drug tests rather than the standard urine tests. Debate has persisted about hair testing, with opponents questioning its validity as a “stand-alone” test, as well as privacy and cost concerns.
While hair testing has a longer look-back window than urine, hair grows slowly, and will not detect truckers’ drug use in the few days beforehand. After initial pushback, a secondary version of the hair testing proposal was submitted to the White House on March 31, 2023; subsequent months have yet to result in a decision.
Oral Fluid: Oral fluid testing is lauded as less intrusive than an observed urine test, as well as less expensive and less time consuming. In May 2023, the DOT issued its final ruling on oral fluid testing, allowing it as an additional methodology for drug testing that will give employers a choice that will help combat employee cheating on urine drug tests and provide a less intrusive means of achieving the safety goals of the program.
However, the oral testing option is on hold because the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) must certify at least two oral fluid testing laboratories, where samples are sent. However, no such laboratories have yet been certified by the HHS. Another stumbling block: some truckers/truck carriers are citing privacy concerns about DNA being collected with oral swabs, despite the assurances that “federal regulations already prohibit the DNA testing of any specimen collected for a DOT-regulated test.”
Drug Testing Opposition
Neither hair nor saliva testing has yet to be approved at the Federal level, with bureaucratic red tape holding up the process in the United States. And the trucking industry certainly isn’t advocating for these new testing mechanisms that might keep their truckers off the road. Some carriers complain that hair testing is more expensive than urinalysis or oral fluid, and that such hair testing can misrepresent a driver’s substance use or safety on the road. They claim that a trucker who got high months ago but has always driven sober can show a positive result on a hair test, mislabeling the driver and impacting their ability to work. Others point to the fact that “an additional 58,910 drivers reporting into the Federal Clearinghouse would have failed preemployment drug tests had they submitted to hair testing.” This all impacts the truck carriers’ bottom line, if they can’t keep long haul truck drivers on the road.
Trucking Safety on the Road
As outlined above, none of the truckers’ drug use testing options are foolproof in a standalone format. Each one can be “beaten” and has its own limitations on look-back time and scope. For this reason, we believe the following should be instituted:
- Employers must be required to, and budget for, more frequent random testing (both drug and alcohol testing).
- Carriers must deploy more than one testing method, as well as making the 12-panel urine test standard, to ensure truck drivers are clean and sober behind the wheel.
- Results from every type of test should be accepted by the Clearinghouse to standardize reporting across the industry, with a notation of test type if required.
At the end of the day, all the testing options under consideration are of no use to public safety if no-one is implementing and reporting on them. And without these safeguards in place, the likelihood of truck crashes rises.