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FEDS TEE UP ORAL FLUID TESTING FOR DRUGS NEW SCREENING TESTS APPROVED
Testing of oral fluids to screen truck drivers and other safety-sensitive workers for drugs has moved one step closer to becoming a reality.
The Department of Transportation (DOT) published a revised final rule last November [EDS: 2024] that would clear the way for oral fluid testing to begin. The new rule allows use of saliva tests as an alternative to urine and other tests to determine whether truck drivers, airplane pilots, railroad, public transit, and other workers in safety-sensitive occupations are drug-free. Implementation of the new rule is on hold until DOT certifies laboratories for testing of oral fluids. As of last July, three laboratories had applied for certification, a process that normally takes about 3–6 months, a federal official told Safety+Health magazine, a publication of the National Safety Council. An official at the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) said it was considering the three laboratories that had applied. The new rules are designed to make it easier for employers to prevent cheating on drug tests, because testing doesn’t require giving employees privacy in a bathroom. The testing also has some advantages for workers. It is less intrusive, for one thing. Also, oral fluid testing is better than urine testing for detecting more recent drug use — within 1–7 hours following use, compared to 6–7 days for urine tests. Nearly half the states have legalized recreational use of marijuana, and the THC in marijuana can be detectable in urine for up to 30 days, which some people say results in users unfairly failing drug tests weeks after their latest use of marijuana. “If the current system remains, eventually there will be too many empty seats,” one trucker commented on YouTube.
“For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” EPHESIANS 2:8-9
Employees who test positive or try to compromise their oral fluid sample must be removed from their positions immediately, the DOT says.
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