MEMPHIS, Tenn. Officials at the U.S. Department of Transportation and the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration have belatedly -- acknowledged a bus-size loophole in their substance abuse regulations and say theyre trying to close it.

Although the loophole seemingly was common knowledge among safety experts in the bus and truck industry, executives in the drug testing industry, and many drivers, federal safety bureaucrats apparently ignored it for years.

Finally, professionals in the drug testing industry made it an issue and federal officials are at last reacting.

The problem deals with commercial vehicle drivers who violate federal substance abuse regulations and remain on the job.

"Industry professionals] suspected that drivers were violating Part 40 of the rules and regulations, which deals with return to duty to perform safety-sensitive functions," said Dan Hartman, associate administrator of field operations for the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration in Washington. "They presented evidence to us that gave us an indication that government needs to look into this further."

To circumvent the rules, drug-using drivers would engage in a shell game where they tested positive at a collection facility, realized they wouldn't be hired by a particular bus or truck company, waited a couple of weeks to cleanse their system of drugs, and then went back to a different collection facility -or sometimes they'd go back to the same facility - and go through the process again, Hartman told attendees at a recent Drug and Alcohol Testing Industry Association conference.

The federal privacy laws and confidentiality concerns created a loophole in the testing regulations. "The personnel even knew they were coming back a few days after testing positive," Hartman said. "They'd go back in and test negative. They knew that personnel couldn't tell the employee's next motor carrier."

The drug testing industry is concerned about the second application with a different motor carrier. "That motor carrier is unsuspecting," Hartman said.

"The driver tests negative, they hire the driver and put the driver out on the road. The motor carrier isn't aware of the positive test."

As a result, the drivers have been able to exploit the loophole due to the short period of time between when the driver tests positive and the follow-up test. The driver thus avoids going through the required evaluation and educational process that follows a positive drug test.

The USDOT has been studying the issue for the past few months and has amended its procedures. While issuing a revised regulation was a primary concern, several months passed before the USDOT acted.

"We had a lot of legwork to do with our attorneys to protect the

government and make sure the investigators in the field do not violate the Privacy Act and the confidentiality of the drivers," Hartman said.

The result was a 15-page set of instructions that investigators have to follow. "The goal was to find the drivers, take enforcement action, and remove them from the roadways -- that's the ultimate goal," Hartman said.

Earlier this year, the USDOT investigated a drug testing consortium and was able to identify drivers who had tested positive and who came back

and tested negative a short time later. During a 15-day period at one consortium, 69 drivers tested positive. The investigators were able to find out that of those 69 drivers, 21 returned to the same facility and had a negative test result. "That's a 30 percent hit rate; that's pretty high," Hartman said.

For more information, go to www.dot.gov/ost/dapc/index.html.