Page 47: of Marine News Magazine (March 2019)

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REGULATORY REVIEW iner and his/her employer under scrutiny. For example, the like in 5 or 10 years. One thing will likely remain the same.

Coast Guard not only regulates the marine industry. It also The process that’s been in place for over 25 years – the regulates the chemical testing industry – the doctors, the DOT 5-panel – insists Mannion, is a very good process. medical review offcers, the collectors, and the laboratories. “We have no intent on leaving it. However, there are new

On this point, Mannion is dead serious. “We have a technologies that are coming out that are already in place, duty, to not only the mariners, but to the American peo- well-established. Things like oral fuid testing where you ple, to make sure that the integrity of that test, the rights no longer have to urinate into a cup and that sample is sent of the individual mariner, and the rights of the public – for off to a lab – they’ll just do an oral swipe.” safety – are assured. And we want to make sure that the The advent of legalized marijuana has to be considered mariner can be assured that that sample tested was actually and the technologies to do just that are already on the way. his sample – it wasn’t a mix-up.” To that end, Mannion says, “The testing function of today

The Coast spends a great amount of effort auditing col- may look totally different in the future. Of course, any- lection sites, via ‘clandestine audits,’ where Coast Guard thing we want to do – the Coast Guard – to promote drug personnel will walk in to a collection site and say that they and alcohol testing, it has to be mandated by Congress.” are there for a Coast Guard DOT test. “We fnd great ad- Today, the Coast Guard uses DOT testing protocols. herence,” reports Mannion, adding, “For the most part, DOT, at the same time, is looking at implementing very you’re fnding a professional, organized, well-managed soon, once it’s approved by the Drug Testing Advisory staff. You have some large, publicly-traded companies who Board (among others), using oral fuid and hair testing. own these sites and have a very active internal auditing Mannion adds, “These are fascinating technologies that are program to make sure they are following standard proce- going to make it a lot easier for marine employers, and for dures. What we do fnd is minor issues that can be cor- individual mariners to be able to meet these requirements.” rected on the spot, or might require additional training.” 90 / 10: No Pipe Dream

Looking Ahead Mannion defnes the mission of his offce as one which

In the end, the same test that the pilot takes, the avia- detects, deters, and mitigates the risk of drug use on the tion, railroad or trucking employee takes; it’s the same test water. “If we can identify the problem, we can get that in- the Coast Guard mariner is going to take. “And it should dividual out of the safety sensitive role, and we begin the be,” says Mannion, continuing, “It’s effcient, it keeps cost healing process of getting them the medical care they need. down, and there are few other tests out there that afford so Nobody’s looking to punish a mariner by taking their cre- much protection for the individual donor, the mariner.” dential away. What we try to do is fnd that balance to pro-

Finally, Mannion projected out to what the Coast mote safety while still respecting the rights of the individual.

Guard’s Drug and Alcohol Testing Program might look “My personal goal always is to be 90% outreach, 10% enforcement. If we have ten conversations,

I want nine of those conversations to be about education, outreach and awareness.”

As to the change in random testing rates,

Mannion laments, “We saw the data com- ing from the laboratories long before the marine employers reported them to us. I made sure that we communicated that up the chain of command, and also reached out to industry.”

When we left Coast Guard headquarters in December, Mannion was preparing to at- tend the PVA’s Annual Convention in New

Orleans, just a few short weeks away. The mission for that trip was outreach, but be- cause of the 35-day government shutdown, he didn’t get to deliver his message. Perhaps this article will serve the very same purpose.

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