There's a good chance you've heard of the Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse
and the number of truckers
who've been disqualified from driving since it began in 2020.
But if you're struggling
to understand the clearinghouse and how it works, you're not the only one.
After watching this video, you'll have clarity on the clearinghouse
and you'll know how to register in the system.
Hi, my name is Kelli B.
and I'm the compliance manager here at ATS.
One of my responsibilities is to work with drug and alcohol testing
and the drug and alcohol clearinghouse
and make sure that we remain within regulation at all times.
The Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse began on January six,
2020.
It is now a database that will contain information
on all positive DOT related drug or alcohol violations.
So if you have failed a random
pre-employment post accident, any type of DOT
test after January 6th 2020 you will be in the clearinghouse.
If you have not done any of those items, your name will not
be in the clearinghouse.
So how do carriers use the drug and alcohol clearinghouse?
First of all, we are required to do a full query
which is what they call it on every driver prior to hire or lease.
If you are coming into a carrier, you obviously have to take
a pre-employment drug test.
But we also are required to query that clearinghouse
to look for any violations that you've had in the past.
As I know, some carriers will accept past failed
tests, while some carriers will not.
Another way that we use the Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse
is through an annual what we call a limited query.
We're required to query the database annually on all current drivers
to make sure that a violation hadn't happened since the last time
we queried and the present time.
This may happen if you go to another carrier
in between your employment with us and you fail a test with them.
That's why the carrier does need to query
it annually before we do an annual limited query.
We do have a consent form that we have driver sign,
and that is done at orientation and it lasts
for the life of your employment or lease with the company.
Another way that carriers are required to use
the clearinghouse is to report any failed
alcohol or drug test or refusal to test.
We are required to do that within a certain time frame.
Whenever we receive notification that there is some type of an issue
with a driver's test.
So how is the clearinghouse used for you, the driver as a driver?
You will need to provide consent any time a carrier
is required to run a full query on you.
As we discussed earlier, a full query is normally only performed at pre-employment.
A full query is also required if that annual limited query
has some type of hit is what we call it.
If something comes back on that annual query, we won't know
exactly what it is, but we are required within 24 hours to then run a full query.
So if you are required to run a full query at any point, you will need to provide
consent by logging into the clearinghouse and providing consent.
Another way that drivers should use the clearinghouse is to review
your own record to make sure that there are no errors.
It is technology.
Things can happen, so it is a good idea to log in every once in a while
and check your own record to make sure that nothing has shown up that shouldn't.
A final way to use the clearinghouse would be if you did fail a drug
or alcohol test, and you need to find a substance abuse professional or a SAP.
Those are also listed in the clearinghouse,
which would give you assistance in finding the help that you need.
If you do fail a drug or alcohol test with the clearinghouse, the clearinghouse
will show your progress through the Substance Abuse Professional Program.
You'll be able to see that you start as a red light and move up to a yellow light.
And then eventually you get the green light, which means
that you have completed all items that were required for the program
and have taken your return to duty test and are able to drive again.
As a carrier,
if carrier see the green light, they know that you are able to return to the road.
If a carrier sees the red or yellow light.
They know that you are not allowed to be on the road at that time.
Enforcement officers
are able to pull the clearing house also at roadside inspections
So it's good to know that if you do have a violation in your history
and you haven't completed that substance abuse professional program,
you may be caught at an inspection and then you will be placed out of service.
How to Register in the Clearinghouse.
If you're a driver and you would like to register in the clearinghouse
just to check your information or for any other reason,
you can do it by visiting the clearinghouse website.
It is a bit of a lengthy process, but once you get registered, once
you will remain registered, so you won't have to do that again.
If you haven't switched companies in the past few years,
you've likely never created an account with the clearinghouse.
But if you'd like to keep track of your information
or you think you may switch companies in the near future,
registering for the clearinghouse will help you be more prepared.
When companies run pre-employment screenings.
If you've never had an issue with drug or alcohol screening
and you want to continue driving, you'll need to go through the SAP program.
Check out this article linked below that explains what the SAP program is
and what to expect.
Thanks for tuning in for another edition of Over the Road on the Truck
Driving Channel.
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Thanks for watching and we'll see you out on the road.