Drug & Alcohol Clearinghouse queries for employers

The FMCSA Drug & Alcohol Clearinghouse is the database where employers look up whether a driver subject to testing has a drug or alcohol program violation (49 CFR 382.701).

Short answer

Typical workflow

1. 1

   Register your company

   Register with FMCSA’s Clearinghouse if you have not already.

2. 2

   Get the driver’s consent

   A full query needs the driver’s specific consent. If the driver refuses, you must not permit them to operate a commercial vehicle for you.

3. 3

   Run the pre-employment full query

   Complete it before the driver’s first safety-sensitive function.

4. 4

   Run the annual query

   A limited query with the driver’s consent satisfies the annual requirement. That consent can cover more than one year.

5. 5

   Act on what it shows

   If a limited query shows information exists, run a full query within 24 hours, or take the driver off safety-sensitive work until you do.

6. 6

   Keep the record

   Retain a record of each query and what came back for 3 years.

What the query can block

An employer may not allow a driver to perform safety-sensitive work if a query shows a verified positive, adulterated or substituted drug test result, an alcohol result of 0.04 or higher, a refusal to test, or a reported on-duty or pre-duty use violation, unless the driver has completed the return-to-duty process and the follow-up testing plan.

Example in DQid

Query records can be added to the driver file like other documents, so the date of each query sits beside the rest of the file.

Sources

• FMCSA — Drug & Alcohol Clearinghouse
• 49 CFR 382.701 — Drug and Alcohol Clearinghouse
• 49 CFR 391.23 — Investigation and inquiries