Last updated : December 30, 2024
The Department of Transportation (DOT) announced last week that it has published three important Federal Register notices, court decisions, and legislation regarding its final ruling on approving oral fluid drug testing of safety-sensitive employees. If you own a trucking business, you may be looking forward to switching some of your policies and procedures so you can use the oral fluid drug test.
Sadly, the rulings don’t announce a start date, but they contain some important information, nonetheless. Here’s a quick overview of the announcement.
Technical Amendments
The notice announcing necessary amendments due to language clarification is identified as follows: 49 CFR Part 40 [Docket DOT–OST–2021–0093]. The amendments also include addressing omissions to the procedure that came to light after the final rule publication on June 1, 2023.
Changes to clarify language throughout the final ruling became effective on June 21, 2024.
Drug testing procedure tweaks
The DOT revised the drug testing procedure that became effective on June 1, 2023 to “provide temporary qualification requirements for mock oral fluid monitors, provide for consistent privacy requirements by identifying which individuals may be present during an oral fluid collection, and clarify how collectors are to specify that a sufficient volume of oral fluid was collected.”
This final ruling becomes effective on August 5, 2024, without further notice, unless the department receives adverse comments no later than July 22, 2024. If that winds up being the case, the DOT will publish a timely withdrawal in the Federal Register stating adverse comments were received and the stated changes will not take effect.
If you want to submit your thoughts, identify the rule as: Docket ID No. DOT–OST–
2021–0093.
You can submit your response at https://www.regulations.gov/ by following the online instructions for submitting comments. You can’t edit or remove comments once submitted. The DOT may publish any comment it receives. Don’t submit any information you consider to be Confidential Business Information (CBI) or other restricted information.
For additional submission methods and general guidance on making effective comments, please visit https://www.transportation.gov/regulations/rulemaking-process.
Clarification for collectors
The DOT plans to revise its drug testing procedures collector’s role which became effective on June 1, 2023. The changes address temporary qualification requirements for “mock oral fluid monitors,” provide consistent privacy requirements by identifying who can be present during oral fluid collection, and clarify how collectors specify the volume of oral fluid collected.
The rule becomes effective on August 5, 2024, without further notice unless it receives adverse comments by July 22, 2024. Comments to the notice should be identified as: Docket ID No. DOT–OST–2021–0093 and submitted to https://www.regulations.gov/. Once at the site, follow online instructions to submit your thoughts. Remember not to submit any information considered CBI or other information that shouldn’t be shared publically as the DOT is free to publish electronically received content.
For additional submission methods and general guidance on making effective comments, please visit https://www.transportation.gov/regulations/rulemaking-process.
Any word on the labs yet?
We all realize that safety-sensitive employers can’t begin using the oral fluid drug test as an approved substitute for the urine test until there are two laboratories certified for processing oral fluid test specimens. So far, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) hasn’t done that.
We’ll let you know when that happens as soon as we hear.
If you see something, say something
If the DOT ruling changes regarding approving the oral fluid drug test as an acceptable substitute for the urine test affects you, take a deeper dive into the notice. Moreover, if you object to anything you see, speak up! It will obviously give pause for reflection because the announcement states it will post a hold on changes if adverse comments are received on all but one of the rulings.
This is your industry too. People depend on you for their livelihood. Your opinion counts.
Make sure the DOT knows it.
