Company asks FMCSA for Drug & Alcohol Clearinghouse exemption due to ‘administrative burden’

Each time WMH transfers a driver between affiliate carriers, they are currently required to ask transferred drivers to complete new employment applications, contact previous employers, run new motor vehicle records, query the Drug & Alcohol Clearinghouse, analyze whether pre-employment drug testing is necessary and perform testing if required, and create new qualification files.

“WMH asserts that the existing driver qualification and drug and alcohol testing rules fail to contemplate the types of intercompany driver transfers that WMH’s operations necessitate, leading to severe administrative inefficiencies, record duplication, and an inability to respond timely to surges in demand for waste removal, which often occur following natural disasters, public health emergencies (such as the recent COVID pandemic), mass gatherings or events, infrastructure failures, community clean-up efforts, industrial accidents or spills, or regional disruptions,” the FMCSA notice stated.

WMH is asking the FMCSA for relief from the administrative burden of re-qualifying already- qualified drivers every time they are reassigned among related WMH motor carrier affiliates.