Random alcohol & drug testing

Scope

This regulation applies to all people who operate a commercial motor vehicle (CMV) requiring a commercial driver’s license (CDL) in interstate, intrastate, or foreign commerce and the motor carriers of these drivers.

Regulatory citations

• 49 CFR 382.305 — Random testing

Key definitions

• Commercial driver’s license (CDL): A license issued to an individual by a state or other jurisdiction of domicile, in accordance with the standards contained in 49 CFR 383, to an individual which authorizes the individual to operate a class of a commercial motor vehicle.
• Commercial motor vehicle (CMV): A motor vehicle or combination of motor vehicles used in commerce to transport passengers or property if the motor vehicle is a:
  • Combination Vehicle (Group A) — Having a gross combination weight rating (GCWR) or gross combination weight (GCW) of 26,001 pounds or more, whichever is greater. The towed unit(s) must have a gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR) or gross vehicle weight (GVW) of more than 10,000 pounds, whichever is greater; or
  • Heavy Straight Vehicle (Group B) — Having a GVWR or GVW of 26,001 pounds or more, whichever is greater; or
  • Small Vehicle (Group C) — Does not meet Group A or B requirements but is either:
    • Designed to transport 16 or more passengers, including the driver; or
    • Of any size and is used in the transportation of hazardous materials as defined in 383.5.
• Safety-sensitive function: Drivers are considered to be performing a safety-sensitive function during any period in which they are actually performing, ready to perform, or immediately available to perform any safety-sensitive functions.
  Safety-sensitive functions shall include:
  • All time at an employer or shipper plant, terminal, facility, or other property, or on any public property, waiting to be dispatched, unless the driver has been relieved from duty by the employer;
  • All time inspecting equipment as required by 392.7 and 392.8 or otherwise inspecting, servicing, or conditioning any commercial motor vehicle at any time;
  • All time spent at the driving controls of a commercial motor vehicle in operation;
  • All time, other than driving time, in or upon any commercial motor vehicle except time spent resting in a sleeper berth (a berth conforming to the requirements of 393.76 of this sub-chapter);
  • All time loading or unloading a vehicle, supervising, or assisting in the loading or unloading, attending a vehicle being loaded or unloaded, remaining in readiness to operate the vehicle, or in giving or receiving receipts for shipments loaded or unloaded; and
  • All time repairing, obtaining assistance, or remaining in attendance upon a disabled vehicle.

Summary of requirements

Many of the requirements with regard to random testing are the same for both alcohol and drug testing. Two areas in which the regulations differ are the random testing rate and the time period when a test may be conducted.

Selection and notification.

• The selection of drivers must be made by a scientifically valid method. Drawing names out of a hat is not considered scientifically valid. The Department of Transportation (DOT) only recognizes as a scientifically valid selection method use of a random number table or computer-based random number generator that is matched with drivers’:
  • Social Security numbers;
  • Payroll identification numbers; or
  • Other comparable identifying numbers.
• Each driver selected for random alcohol and drug testing must have an equal chance of being tested each time the selections are made. Once a driver is randomly tested during a calendar year, the driver’s name must be returned to the random pool for each new selection. Each driver must be subject to an equal chance of being tested during each selection process. In other words, even though a driver has been randomly selected for and has completed a random test, the driver’s name goes back into the random pool and could potentially be pulled when the next selection process is conducted.
• Each driver selected for testing must be tested during the selection period.

Calculation of number of driving positions. All covered drivers and only covered drivers must be in the motor carrier’s random testing pool. To calculate the total number of covered drivers eligible for random testing throughout the year, the employer must add the total number of covered drivers eligible for testing during each random testing period for the year and divide that total by the number of random testing periods.

The motor carrier must ensure that:

• Random tests are unannounced and spread reasonably throughout the year; and
• Drivers selected for random tests proceed immediately to the testing site upon notification of being selected. If the driver is performing a safety-sensitive function, other than driving a CMV, at the time of notification, the motor carrier must ensure that the driver stops performing the safety-sensitive functions and proceeds to the testing site as soon as possible.

Testing pool. Motor carriers may pool interstate and intrastate drivers together for random testing. The pool may not include employees not subject to DOT testing rules. If a driver works for two or more employers subject to Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) or DOT regulations that driver must be in all of the employers’ random testing pools.

Drug and alcohol testing is allowed from a single pool.

Unavailable drivers. In the event a driver who is selected for a random test is on vacation, laid-off, or on an extended medical absence, the motor carrier can select another driver for testing or keep the original selection confidential until the driver returns. If the driver’s name is skipped, the motor carrier must keep documentation that the driver was ill, injured, laid off, or on vacation and that the driver was in the random pool for that selection cycle.

The motor carrier could also remove the driver’s name from the selection pool cycle. If this is done for drug testing and the driver is out of the program for more than 30 days, the pre-employment testing provisions of the regulations would apply.

Multiple modes. If an employer is required to conduct random testing under the rules of more than one DOT agency, the employer may do one of two things:

• The first option is that the employer may establish separate pools for random selection, with each pool containing the DOT-covered employees who are subject to testing at the same required minimum annual percentage rate.
• The second option is that the employer may randomly select such employees for testing at the highest minimum annual percentage rate for the calendar year by any DOT agency to which the employer is subject.

If a driver is subject to random alcohol and drug testing rules of more than one DOT agency for the same employer, the driver must be subject to random alcohol and drug testing at the annual percentage rate established for the calendar year by the DOT agency regulating more than 50 percent of the driver’s function.

If a driver works for two or more employers, the driver must be in each of the employers’ random pools.

Consortium/Third Party Administrator (C/TPA). If the motor carrier conducts random alcohol and drug testing through a C/TPA, the number of drivers to be tested may be calculated for each individual motor carrier, or may be based on the total number of subject drivers covered by the consortium. The motor carrier must ensure that the C/TPA is testing at the appropriate percentage and that only covered drivers are in the random testing pool.

Owner-operators must implement an alcohol and drug program that includes more people as covered drivers in the random testing pool. Essentially, this means an owner-operator must join a consortium.

Record retention. A consortium that performs selection and/or testing services as agents for the motor carrier must prepare and provide to the motor carrier complete and comprehensive descriptions of procedures used by the consortium. A motor carrier must have this information readily available for inspection. The consortium (and the motor carrier who does not use a consortium), must include in these descriptions the following:

• How the random pool is assembled;
• The method of selection and notification of drivers;
• The location of collection sites (terminals, clinics, etc.);
• Methods of reporting the test results on each driver; and
• Summary reports of the consortium’s program.

Also, documentation must be provided that the consortium is testing at the prescribed minimum annual percentage rate for alcohol and/or controlled substances.