The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration on Thursday, Dec. 1, notified carriers that the agency has received numerous inquiries regarding companies using aggressive marketing tactics to sell supervisor training to employers who may be subject to FMCSA’s drug and alcohol testing requirements. FMCSA says it is not familiar with these companies nor the training they are offering.
Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulation 49 CFR §382.603 requires supervisors of commercial driver’s license holders to take 60 minutes of training on the symptoms of alcohol abuse and another 60 minutes of training on the symptoms of controlled substances use. The purpose is to qualify supervisors for determining when reasonable suspicion testing is needed.
FMCSA says it does not certify trainers or training companies, nor does it preapprove the curriculum presented. Employers are responsible for meeting the training requirement of 49 CFR §382.603, including ensuring that any training company/entity that they purchase training from provides training in the physical, behavioral, speech and performance indicators of probable alcohol misuse and use of controlled substances. It is up to the employer to select which training to attend, keeping in mind the aforementioned guidelines.
