In The News

EYE ON TRUCKING: testing hair for drugs

It’s something that the trucking industry will surely hear more and more about.

It’s something that could help reduce the large truck crash rate, perhaps even significant.

It’s something that’s likely to become another controversial issue as it more and more becomes a popular recruiting and enforcement tool.

It is hair drug testing and it took center stage for a few minutes recently at the American Trucking Association’s Management Conference and Exhibition during a panel discussion on “Changing the Face of Industry Safety: The Role of Alternative Compliance.”

Craig Harper, the chief operations officer at J.B. Hunt and the man whose voice you hear near the top of the hour every night on the Midnight Trucking Radio Network, brought it up.

Hair testing can detect drivers who use drugs, he said.

“With 56 percent of our drivers having undergone hair testing, our positive urine test rate has declined 71 percent to less than 0.5 percent of our driver population,” he said. “This is good for our drivers and the motoring public with whom we share the road.”

Hair testing can detect drivers who use drugs, he said.

“With 56 percent of our drivers having undergone hair testing, our positive urine test rate has declined 71 percent to less than 0.5 percent of our driver population,” he said. “This is good for our drivers and the motoring public with whom we share the road.”

Hair drug testing is the most sensitive form of drug testing available on the market today.

With up to a 90 day detection time, it is said to be virtually impossible to fool and it is becoming one of the most trusted methods of drug test today.

And don’t think shaving your head will do any good.

Hair from any part of the body will suffice.

Before we go on, let’s get one thing perfectly clear.

When we talk about drug testing, most of us automatically think of a trucker whose abused illegal drugs.

But there appears to be a far bigger problem in the industry — truckers who drive after taking prescription drugs.

In fact, in the most recent Large Truck Crash Causation Study, prescription drug use is listed as the top associated factor in large truck crashes.

Illegal drug use and alcohol are way, way down on the list.

Obviously, prescription drug abuse is as much, or more of a problem than illegal drug abuse, and because of the 90-day detection period, could weed out both types of abusers.

Of course with drug testing comes the issue of whether a prospective employer has the right to know the results of a previous drug test, an oft debate subject in the trucking industry.

Right now, a prospective employer has the right to know that an applicant has been tested, but not whether the test was positive or negative (see Derek Hinton’s column on Page 67).

All of which begs the question, should the prospective employer of a man or woman who soon may be driving an 80,000-pound rig down the nation’s highway have the right to know whether the applicant has a drug abuse history?

Or for that matter, does the motoring public (including other drivers) right to believe that trucking companies are weeding out drug users?

Rose McMurray, assistant administrator at the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, was a panelist along with Harper and other trucking executives at the ATA meeting.

Afterward in an interview she addressed the issue of what should be made public and what should be kept private.

“I don’t know whether anyone knows where the line is, but we need to define it,” she said. “We need to define what’s in the public interest and where is the right of the company to have public information. Because if someone is convicted of a speeding violation, that’s public information. A state can publish that in a local newspaper if they choose. So there are things related to the driving task that are always in the realm of public interest. And failing a drug test puts the traveling public at risk and there should be a consequence to a driver for using alcohol or taking drugs.”

Then she turned the tables on other motorists when asked if she felt if the very responsibility of being a truck driver removes some of that privacy shield?

“I’m not sure how to answer that, because I also ask myself do the public has a right to know if a passenger car driver who drives a Hummer [has tested positive for drug use],” she said. ”This privacy issue certainly goes well beyond just a commercial driver. Again, what is within the proper domain of the public to know? Should the public know about medical conditions drivers have? To what extent should a driver be protected from release of those records and that information. We also have federal laws such as HIPPA about what you can and can’t share. So we have to stay within the confines of those laws. We struggle with this all the time.”

We think it’s a sad state of affairs when abusers hide behind the privacy shield and then crash into a car full of folks because they are impaired by drugs, regardless of whether those drugs or legal or illegal.