Issue link: http://palletcentral.uberflip.com/i/946815
24 PalletCentral • January-February 2018 palletcentral.com he U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) recently enacted a final rule amending employer's obligations to test commercial drivers and certain other transportation-sector workers for synthetic opioids. The new requirements took effect on January 1, 2018. The new regulations are intended to harmonize with the Department of Health & Human Services' (HHS) mandatory guidance for federal workplace drug testing programs, which were published on January 23, 2017. The federal DOT published a proposed rule the same day. The final DOT rule amending the drug testing requirements was issued on November 13, 2017 (82 FR 52229). The DOT regulations require drug testing, using urine tests, for workers classified as being in certain safety-sensitive positions in the transportation field, including commercial drivers, airline pilots, and specified railroad workers. With respect to the pallet and logistics sector, certain drivers are required to have a commercial driver's license (CDL) in order to drive specified types of commercial motor vehicles (CMVs). Drivers are required to obtain and hold a CDL if they operate in interstate, intrastate, or foreign commerce and drive a vehicle that meets one or more of DOT's classifications of a CMV: • Class A: Any combination of vehicles which has a gross combination weight rating or gross combination weight of 11,794 kilograms or more (26,001 pounds or more) whichever is greater, inclusive of a towed unit(s) with a gross vehicle weight rating or gross vehicle weight of more than 4,536 kilograms (10,000 pounds) whichever is greater. • Class B: Any single vehicle which has a gross vehicle weight rating or gross vehicle weight of 11,794 or more kilograms (26,001 pounds or more), or any such vehicle towing a vehicle with a gross vehicle weight rating or gross vehicle weight that does not exceed 4,536 kilograms (10,000 pounds). • Class C: Any single vehicle, or combination of vehicles, that does not meet the definition of Class A or Class B, but is either designed to transport 16 or more passengers, including the driver, or is transporting material that has been designated as hazardous under 49 U.S.C. 5103 and is required to be placarded under subpart F of 49 CFR Part 172, or is transporting any quantity of a material listed as a select agent or toxin in 42 CFR Part 73. Since the early 1990s, under the Omnibus Transportation Employee Testing Act, DOT agencies have mandated drug and alcohol testing of safety-sensitive transportation employees, pursuant to 49 CFR Part 40. The DOT drug and alcohol tests include: • Pre-employment – An employer must receive a negative drug test result before permitting a CDL driver to operate a CMV. • Post-accident – Drug and alcohol tests may be required after crashes involving a human fatality (regardless of charges), and (where the driver is charged), accidents involving "Bodily Injury With Immediate Medical Treatment Away From the Scene," or towing of a disabled motor vehicle. OSHA By Adele L. Abrams, Esq., CMSP iStockphoto.com/wildpixel New DOT Drug Testing Rules Now In Effect T