Important Information about FMCSA's E-mail Listserv
I discovered yesterday that there are two e-mails lists that SAPs should be on.
- Office of Drug & Alcohol Policy & Compliance (ODAPC) listserv
https://www.transportation.gov/odapc/get-odapc-email-updates
40.281 is the SAP qualification regulation. The regulation now states that in order to be fully-qualified as a SAP, you must sign up on ODAPC’s listserv. I assume that an auditor could check to see if your e-mail address is in the listserv database. If you haven’t done this, please do so.
- Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) listserv
https://clearinghouse.fmcsa.dot.gov/
This is a completely separate listserv, related to only to FMCSA. Since FMCSA is the only mode that has a Clearinghouse, information about the Clearinghouse will come directly from FMCSA, and not from ODAPC. If you didn’t receive the FMCSA e-mail a few days ago, it means you haven’t signed up on their webpage.
When you sign up, you will be able to check which categories you want to receive e-mails about. The categories are: employers, owner/operators, SAPs, State Driver Licensing Agencies, drivers, MROs, and C/TPAs. Go wild…check them all. You need to know as much about this Clearinghouse as you can get your hands on. Once it’s up and running, I don’t think you’ll be snowed under (that’s a Minnesota term) by piles of e-mails. And you can always hit the Delete button if it really doesn’t pertain to you. Better to have too much information than to miss something that is critical.
Both of these signups require ONLY your e-mail address. Not even your name. Just your e-mail address, so you don’t have to worry about listing qualifications, etc. Registering on the Clearinghouse will require details and contact information, and that will happen later. You’ll get an e-mail notification when the actual registration opens.
Clearinghouse FAQs
Regarding the FAQs about the Clearinghouse, you’ll see there are 62 FAQs on FMCSA’s website. Frankly, I found it difficult to navigate the website. Plus, it still has a few glitches. So, I created a single document, with all 62 questions and answers. 10 pages. I suggest you print it and keep it handy. There’s a lot of overlap among various categories, so I haven’t tried to organize it. It’s in random order. You’ll just have to look through it, mark questions that are relevant to your SAP practice and other information that you may want to know.
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