The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s (FMCSA) Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse has now been in effect for a year and a half, and through the first quarter of 2021, drug and alcohol violations are on pace to be higher than in 2020, according to data from FMCSA available through March.
As of April 1, there were more than 2.1 million users registered in the Clearinghouse, including truck drivers, fleet representatives, consortia/third-party administrators (C/TPAs), medical review officers (MROs) and substance abuse professionals (SAPs).
While none of the regulations regarding drug and alcohol testing and reporting have changed, the Clearinghouse is starting to make it easier for fleets to conduct pre-employment screenings of their drivers.
Jared Rosenthal, founder and CEO of drug consortium Health Street, said fleets are required to look back three years when hiring a new driver. Prior to the Clearinghouse, this has required reaching a driver’s previous employers to get their drug testing records. Now, for at least half of the required time period, that is done with a simple query of the driver’s CDL number in the database.
By January 2023, when the Clearinghouse has been in place for three full years, carriers will be able to conduct their pre-employment checks solely in the Clearinghouse, Rosenthal added.
