Drug and Alcohol testing At Scales

Sometimes they can do random tests at the scale,but it's not very common. Sometimes the company can have you test at random but usually it's after a serious accident.

 

A company is obligated to do random drug/alchohal testing but they are restricted to test, at one time, to once a month.

I too have heard of testing of drivers at the state scales but from what I gathered from the rumor the test was justified. It is more likely for a driver to be tested after an accident then at a waigh station.

In fact the company I left two months ago I drove for four years I had a grand total of two UA's, The one upon hire and one "random" after a driver was nailed for a DUI on the account I was dedicated on.

 

My teachers in trucking school, and orientation people at the companies I drove for, told me that DOT would do random testing, but I never heard of a driver that got tested by DOT at a scale house.
I think companies are supposed to have a certain percentage of employees tested a month. I know that when I drove, I must have been tested at least 10 times by the companies I worked for. It's not that big a deal, but I also never had a reason to worry about results either.
Is it just me, or does a red flag go up in other people's heads too when you see this question posted?

 

Well...it's based on the premises that if you do nothing wrong, you have nothing to fear. Of course, I don't always agree with that premise. It's a back door attempt to take away some of our expectations to privacy, even though the need for sober drivers is of the utmost importance as well. I don't have anything to fear, but I feel like I'm thought of as a potential criminal at times of increased scrutiny.

There have been attempts to institute random testing at scale locations, and there have been a few instances where it WAS done briefly a few years back by the CVSA, on a "voluntary" level (wink, wink), and with total "anonymity", (wink, wink again) at the time. It was done to test the waters, and to hopefully prove that the need existed for it.

So far, it hasn't taken hold, and I know of no plans to do it on a full time basis. The numbers have clearly shown that drug use within the trucking industry has steadily declined, however, instances of DUI have increased slightly. This is probably due to stepped up enforcement, rather than any actual increase in alcohol use by drivers. More are simply being caught.

As it stands, a company must test 50% of their drivers randomly per year, which is usually divided equally into the twelve months. Every driver must be in the pool of drivers drawn, and there is no limit to how many times a driver may be randomly selected per year. You might be subjected each and every month, if your luck is that bad.

A company can choose at any point to ask you to report for testing, and basically for any reason. "For cause or suspicion" is vague enough to allow for practically any circumstance. If a driver says to an office worker, "you know, I swear I smelled alcohol on his breath", that's enough to trigger a demand that you report to the testing facility within the company dictated time frame. It can be 15 minutes. It can be an hour. It could be as much as two hours. Whatever it is, BE THERE before that time limit expires.

When you are late, you have in essence refused a test, and they are allowed to discharge you with no fanfare whatsoever, and it's on par with just about the worst kind of offense that will preclude you from obtaining another driving job for many years.

I believe we had a poster in here that was in the process of quitting his job, and was demanded to report to a testing facility before he left, and he refused to do it. Now, assuming he was innocent and just wanted to get out of there, the company demanded him to appear for testing, and he should have. He was blackballed from that point on.

No matter the circumstance, NEVER refuse to test, unless you are dirty I suppose, because the result will be the same. Refusing to test is viewed as a positive by everyone out there, and if you are hired by a carrier, and this is found during a field audit of their records, man are they risking a fine from the FMCSA....

 

My terminal runs out of greenville sc, i was on a run out to mcgregor tx one week and when i arrived at the place i was to drop/hook i recv a message on my quallcom to go for a random and was provided with dir to the facilty in which i was to bobtail to. took me by complete surprise which is what my company intended to do...showed me dont matter where you are at you should always be prepared. i strongly agree with the random i think they should do it more to weed out the bad apples that are in our barrel.......

 

When I wa driving for Werner (mid 90s) the terminals had a gurd shack that was manned by "securety". Once in a while the person would tell me to report to the office without giving a reason and usualy after I had been behind the wheel for close to 8 hours. Of course the first thing I would do before walking into the office was to use the restroom to reieve the bladder of the coffee I had been drinking. After reporting to the office the safety oficer would tell me that I was selected for a random. The last time I about went ballisic because my bladder was about redy to explode and the last few times I was told to report to the office was over paperwork snafu's. So go figure, If I was under the influence when driving into the terminal what was I going to do without quitting?

 

Not to disagree with you Turbo, but I have to disagree here. (LOL) Someone can come in and say that they think that a driver has been drinking or they smell something on their breath, but the only people that can order a screen for alcohol are supervisors who have attended a class on making that determination. Just the word of someone else isn't enough, the supervisor has to actually make that determination for themselves, and it has to be done in accordance with the training they have received. I agree, it's an easy system to abuse, and if someone wanted to make the claim that they had reasonable suspicions, they could pretty easily make it. But it does require a minimal level of training before you could request am alcohol screen. At least, that's the way I have been taught it works, and I know that's how it works for my employer. As part of their training for being in management, our terminal managers all receive this training. I'm sure that part of it is the need to cover the companies fanny, but it is done that way. And of course, I could really care less, since I rarely drink, and never on the job or before coming to work. I take the aviation theory of at least 12 hours bottle to throttle.

 

I did generalize when I wrote the above, and you are correct that not ANY office employee can tell an employee to report for testing. However, it is possible that a carrier may require any and all employees that have direct interaction with drivers, be certified and trained to recognize possible symptoms of alcohol or drug abuse.

Once certified, these employees are allowed to enforce the provisions set forth in 382.307, which covers the criteria for reasonable suspicion testing. It's not a frivolous process either. The trained supervisor does have to go on written record, stating their observations and reasons that they suspected the employee was under the influence of an illicit substance or alcohol.

The criteria to meet 382.603, which outlines the process for obtaining the training required, only requires a one time, 2 hour course which will cover the behavior of people that are probable candidates for alcohol and/or substance abuse. Once certified, there is no renewal period or retraining mandated.

Thanks for calling me on that, because details are important, and I dropped the ball on that one. Drivers do need to understand their rights and responsibilities as well...

 

BTW......the problem with drugs, as I understand it, is that there is no way to test for being currently under the influence. That makes it kinds sticky for those who say "but I did it on my own time", now doesn't it?

Can't really tell how long ago you used drugs.

No matter to me. 'Bout the closest I ever came to using drugs is when I was eating a Spicey Chicken at Wendy's, laughed, and got a hot pepper up my nose. Hoowah!