Can the long wait be coming to an end for the Department of Health and Human Services to adopt a drug testing rule allowing the use of hair samples to drug-test drivers?

The U.S. Department of Transportation on May 1 announced the issuance of a final rule approving use of oral fluid to drug test truck drivers.

Suhash Harwani of Quest Diagnostics writes: the emerging evidence propels an argument that employers — particularly in the transportation sector — should stay vigilant on drug testing.

Nearly 41,000 truck drivers tested positive for marijuana in 2022, a 32% increase over 2021, according to a report recently compiled from data in the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s Drug & Alcohol Clearinghouse.

Federal drug regulators could soon announce plans to add fentanyl to a drug testing panel that would detect use of the dangerous drug among safety-sensitive federal employees — ultimately including truck drivers — after adoption by the Department of Transportation.

The National Transportation Safety Board has forwarded a list of recommendations to state and national transportation agencies aimed at preventing alcohol and drug-related crashes.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has reaffirmed, and in some cases tweaked, the agency’s oral fluid and urine drug testing requirements for federal safety-sensitive government employees, including truck drivers.

The Department of Transportation is proposing to add new drug testing guidelines that would permit motor carriers to test truck drivers using oral fluid samples as an alternative to urine testing.

Federal trucking regulators are cracking down on state driver licensing agencies, requiring that they keep a closer watch for commercial motor vehicle drivers with drug or alcohol violations, and removing their driving privileges within 60 days after being notified of a test failure.

While the Biden administration has set an overarching outlook for changes to motor carrier regulations, the timing on when those changes may actually arrive is far from certain, trucking legal experts said during a recent industry conference.