Regulatory Updates:

Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA)

On January 11, 2007, FMCSA released its Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) on the use of electronic on-board recorders (EOBRs) for compliance with the hours-of-service regulations.

• New performance standards would be mandated for EOBRs installed in commercial motor vehicles (CMVs) manufactured two years following the effective date of the final rule.
• Motor carriers that have demonstrated a history of serious noncompliance with the hours-of-service rules would be subject to mandatory installation of EOBRs meeting the new performance standards. (FMCSA estimates that if these proposed rules were in place today, about 930 motor carriers and 17,500 drivers would be subject to mandatory EOBR installation.)
• The FMCSA would provide incentives to motor carriers who voluntarily use EOBRs in their CMVs. Proposed incentives are:
• Revising FMCSA’s compliance review procedures to permit a random sample of drivers’ records of duty status; and
• Providing partial relief from the hours-of-service supporting document requirements if certain conditions are satisfied.

Under the proposed performance standards, EOBRs installed on CMVs manufactured two years after the effective date of the final rule would be required to meet specific standards. The proposed standards would require the EOBRs to record basic information including name of driver, duty status, date and time, location of the CMV, distance traveled, and name and USDOT number of the motor carrier. read more

Drugs and Testing: Looking at the Big Picture

Editor’s note: One of the many questions received by USIS staff is, “Is it legal to do random drug testing in schools and is it effective?” The following article is from the ONDCP Annual Report in hopes that it will answer most of an individual’s or school’s questions. We would also encourage interested persons to visit the www.whitehousedrugpolicy.gov.

Imagine a surgeon turning down the opportunity to use a powerful medical procedure that is government-approved, affordable, available, easy to use, and potentially life-saving. This situation seems absurd, but the same could be said about schools that pass up a promising new technique for combating the scourge of substance abuse; random student drug testing. As any good surgeon knows, better methods bring better results.

Parents and educators have a responsibility to keep young people safe from drug use. In recent years we have made solid, measurable progress toward that end. According to the latest national survey in the Monitoring the Future series, the proportion of eighth and 12 th grade students combined who use illicit drugs continued to fall in 2006, the fifth consecutive year of decline for these age groups. Similarly, results of the 2005 Youth Risk Behavior Survey show that rates of current marijuana use among high school students have dropped from a peak of 26.7 percent in 1999 to 20.2 percent. read more

NIDA Quick Facts: Information from recent National Institute on Drug Abuse publications

• Light Cigarettes Deliver Heavy Carcinogen Load
  New research confirms that smokers who switch to low-tar and low-nicotine brands of cigarettes modify the way they smoke to compensate for the lower nicotine yield, thereby exposing themselves to the same levels of carcinogens they incur smoking higher yield brands. (Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers, and Prevention 14(6):1376-1383)
• Parents’ Actions, More Than Their Words, Influence Kid’s Smoking
  Researchers looking for family influences on children’s smoking have found that, of those children who became daily smokers by age 21, the strongest predictive characteristic was having a parent who smoked at the time of the interview, regardless of the parent’s expressed attitude about smoking. (Journal of Adolescent Health 37(3):202-210)

Focus On: Marijuana Myths and Facts

The DAC News Service seeks to inform by providing information on topics of broad interest and concern to employers. Therefore, from time-to-time, we will select subjects we believe to be relevant and informative to the workplace environment.

Marijuana

Myth 1: Marijuana is Harmless
Marijuana harms in many ways, and youths are the most vulnerable to its damaging effects. Use of the drug can lead to significant health, safety, social, and learning or behavioral problems, especially for young users. Additionally, marijuana available today is more potent than ever.

Short-term effects of marijuana use include memory loss, distorted perception, trouble with thinking and problem-solving, and anxiety. Students who use marijuana may find it hard to learn, thus jeopardizing their ability to achieve their full potential. read more