DOT May Expand Drug-Testing Program

Click here to write a Letter to the Editor.

he Department of Transportation may adopt changes in drug-testing procedures that would include testing hair samples and on-the-spot mouth swabs for safety-related employment such as truck drivers, an agency spokesman said.

DOT outlined possible changes in a May 19 Federal Register notice, which said it may use changes the Department of Health and Human Services was planning for federal employees.

DOT said that interested parties should comment to HHS on the new regulations because “there is a close relationship between the HHS Mandatory Guidelines and the DOT testing procedures” in federal law.

“Right now this is only going to apply to federal employees,” said Bill Mosley, a spokesman in the office of the Secretary of Transportation. “But DOT often takes its cue from HHS.”

For the full story, see the May 31 edition of Transport Topics. Subscribe today.