Department of Transportation proposed changes in how laboratories, medical review officers and employers handle adulterated, substituted, diluted and invalid specimen results in drug and alcohol testing procedures. The proposal would make specimen validity testing mandatory within regulated transportation industries. For more information, visit this site and search Docket No. 15245.
Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration withdrew a 1998 advance notice of proposed rulemaking regarding the future evolution of the safety fitness rating system. FMCSA recently launched the Comprehensive Safety Analysis 2010 Initiative (CSA 2010), which is expected to lead to a new safety compliance and monitoring methodology. For more information, visit this siteand search Docket 3639.
FMCSA revised previously granted exemptions to the prohibition on insulin-treated diabetic truck drivers to match the requirements of the new highway authorization, which eliminates a requirement for three years’ experience operating commercial motor vehicles while being treated with insulin. For more information, visit this site and search Docket 9800.
J.J. Keller & Associates is offering a free download of its latest webcast, “Drugs, Alcohol and Drivers: How to Protect Your Operation,” which addressed how companies can protect themselves from the risks associated with drivers who use drugs and alcohol. To download the webcast, go to this site.
Winter Wonderland, my you-know-what, John Doe grumbled to himself as he flipped his radio dial away from the cheery strains of the holiday season standard. Doe, driving slowly and carefully through an early December snowfall that made it difficult to see the highway, already was sick of winter – and the season officially hadn’t even started yet. “Man, I can’t wait to get inside Grandma’s Café and smell that bowl of her world-famous chili,” he thought as he turned up the heater in his straight rig’s cab.
Grandma’s wasn’t too far off the designated route to his next delivery, Doe thought, so his new dispatcher probably won’t complain – even if he does notice a slight deviation on the GPS-based vehicle locating system.
Doe, finishing the last sip of his now-cold coffee, arrived at the snow-covered entrance to Grandma’s Café, shifted into low gear and cautiously inched his way toward the truck parking lot at the rear of the building.
Unfortunately, the soggy snow covering the crowned driveway hid a patch of super-slick ice and
