T
he trucking industry is said to be the lifeblood of the U.S. economy; in fact, over 70% of all of the freight
tonnage moved in the U.S. goes on trucks.1 An estimated 15.5 million trucks operate in the U.S. with over 3.5 million truck drivers.2 Tis is an industry that is persistently focused on safety, and has, in essence, regulated their own industry by proposing and initiating numerous safety improvements. One charge that is being led by this safety conscious industry is the inclusion of hair as an alternative testing specimen in federally mandated testing programs.
ADDRESSING ONE OF THE CHALLENGES OF ROAD SAFETY Tough there are many challenges like road hazards and driver fatigue when it comes to road safety, drug use by truck drivers is an ongoing area of concern. Te United States Congress recognized the need for a drug and alcohol free transportation industry, and in 1991 passed the Omnibus Transportation Employee Testing Act, requiring Department of Transportation (DOT) agencies to implement drug and alcohol testing of safety-sensitive transportation employees.3
Since that time,
urine has been the only approved testing specimen, but the trucking industry is determined to change that. Professional truck drivers represent 97% of those subject to the DOT required drug test. Due to the limitations of urine testing,
many motor carriers have chosen to go above and beyond the federal requirements and have added hair testing to their programs to ensure that they are screening out potentially dangerous employees. While DOT regulations serve as a mandatory minimum, they do not prevent additional practices that serve the effectiveness of a testing program.4
PUSHING FOR CHANGE J.B. Hunt became the first major transportation company to incorporate
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hair testing over 10 years ago. Other companies like Maverick and Schneider have also followed suit, despite the additional financial cost they incur from having to maintain two types of testing methods. Advocacy groups like the Trucking Alliance and the American Trucking Association (ATA) are pushing for changes to the DOT guidelines in hopes of new legislation that will allow companies their choice of testing options. Te Drug Testing Advisory Board
(DTAB) for the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) has been reviewing alternative methods of testing since 1999, but a push for the inclusion of hair testing prompted several actions in recent years. • July 2013: DTAB assembled authorities from across the drug testing industry to explore the testing of hair specimens as an addition to the Federal Workplace Drug Testing Program.
• June 2015: DTAB issued unanimous recommendations that “SAMHSA pursue hair as an alternative specimen in the Mandatory Guidelines for Federal Workplace Drug Testing Programs, including performance standards that sufficiently address external contamination and hair color impact.”
• December 2015: P.L. 114-94, known as the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act (FAST Act), was signed into law. Te Act requires “Te Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) to issue scientific and technical guidelines for hair testing as a method of detecting the use of controlled substances for purpose of section 31306 of Title 49, United States Code” within one year.
“LIFESTYLE TEST” CRITICAL IN
SAFETY SENSITIVE ENVIRONMENTS Te need for a lifestyle test that beter reflects the dangerous habits that an
individual may bring to the workplace in this safety sensitive environment is especially important when it comes to pre-employment and random testing. To achieve a drug free workplace and eliminate the costs associated with drug use, the habits of the individual need to be assessed. Hair testing detects repetitive drug use over a period of several months, which is critical for companies trying to make hiring decisions that will impact public safety. Current methods of testing approved by the DOT have a much shorter detection window—typically one to two days. Many other safety sensitive environments like law enforcement and the oil and gas industry have relied on this “lifestyle test” for years. Hair testing is not a new concept; it was pioneered by Psychemedics Corporation over 30 years ago, and is trusted by corporations, schools, courts, and military operations throughout the globe.
HAIR TESTING NOW LEGALLY REQUIRED FOR PROFESSIONIAL DRIVERS IN BRAZIL In 2013, the Brazilian government announced new guidelines that required professional drivers in the transportation industry to pass a hair drug test when obtaining or renewing their driver’s license (officially signed into law in March 2015). Statistics that ranked Brazil fiſth in the world for deaths as a result of driving accidents5
(approximately 40,000 deaths a
year) prompted their government to look at all possible solutions that could help fix the problem, and they chose to utilize the rigorous hair test to ensure public safety on the roads of Brazil. Millions of drivers are now required to pass a hair test before they can get behind the wheel of a truck, taxi or bus. In the first six months that the law was enacted by Congress, the number of accidents on federal roads across the country was reduced by more than thirty eight percent.6
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