Introduction....
The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) published its final rules on prohibited drug use (49 CFR Part 653) and the prevention of alcohol misuse (49 CFR Part 654) on February 15, 1994. Shortly thereafter, the FTA published the Implementation Guidelines for Drug and Alcohol Regulations in Mass Transit to provide a comprehensive overview of the regulations.
Since the Guidelines were published there have been numerous amendments, interpretations, and clarifications to the Drug and Alcohol testing procedures and program requirements.
This publication is being provided to update the Guidelines and inform your transit system of all of these changes. This Update is the nineteenth in a series.
Inside....
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Part 655 Is Final!!!
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On August 1, 2001, the Federal Transit Administration’s (FTA) final rule on the Prevention of Alcohol Misuse and Prohibited Drug Use in Transit Operations (49 CFR Part 655) became effective. The rule was first posted on the DOT website and then published in the Federal Register on August 9, 2001 (Volume 66, No. 154, Pages 41996-42036). The new rule replaces FTA’s previous drug and alcohol testing rules (49 CFR Parts 653 and 654, respectively) which were simultaneously abolished.
The final rule conforms FTA’s rule to the Department of Transportation’s |
(DOT) newly revised drug and alcohol testing rule (49 CFR Part 40) that also became effective on August 1, 2001. Part 655 incorporates guidance that FTA has issued in the past several years in letters of interpretation, audit findings, newsletters, training classes, safety seminars, and public speaking engagements.
A copy of the rule may be obtained via the Internet from the FTA Office of Safety and Security at http://transit-safety.volpe.dot.gov, the Federal Register at http://www.nara.gov/fedreg and from the Government Printing Office database at http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara. A summary of the major changes incorporated into the new rule is provided on Pages 2-5 of this newsletter.
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DOT Publishes Part 40 Technical
Amendments
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The Department of Transportation’s (DOT) rules covering the procedures for transportation workplace drug and alcohol testing programs (40 CFR Part 40) were revised on December 19, 2000 (65 FR 79462) with an August 1, 2001 effective date. The new rule is very comprehensive and includes substantial organizational and content changes. Since the rule’s publication, various errors, omissions, and inconsistencies have been identified that require correction or clarification. Thus, the DOT published Technical Amendments that became effective on August 1, 2001 and were posted on the DOT web page the same date. The Amendments were printed in the Federal Register on August 9, 2001 (Volume 66, No. 154, Pages 41943-41955).
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The document addresses four major areas. First, the Technical Amendments clarify certain provisions of the rule and address various errors and omissions. Summaries of the most substantive modifications are presented on pages 8-11 of this newsletter.
The second purpose of the Technical Amendments was to provide a preamble discussion that responds to comments by the maritime industry concerning the pre-employment record check requirements required by§40.25. This section of the regulation requires employers to seek out the DOT covered drug and alcohol testing history of applicants for the preceding two year period. See Issue 18, page 7 of the Updates for more information on the requirement. The DOT
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concluded that the maritime industries concerns were unfounded and thus, §40.25 remains in the rule unchanged.
The third purpose of the document was to provide a “common preamble” to the individual modal rules that amended their drug and alcohol testing rules to conform to the new Part 40.
Finally, the document solicits comment on the issue of employee access to laboratory information. The DOT is interested in hearing from laboratories, employers, employee organizations, and other interested parties on what type of information, if any, should be provided. The docket will remain open to receive comment until September 30, 2001. Subsequent changes will go through the rule making process
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