The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) published its revised rule on prohibited drug use and the prevention of alcohol misuse (49 CFR Part 65) on August 1, 1994. 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 twenty-first in a series.

"BEST PRACTICES" Out in Spring

     The long awaited "Best Practices" manual is scheduled for distribution in May. The manual provides "real world" examples of policies, procedures, sample forms, and approaches that transit employers have used successfully to manage their drug and alcohol testing programs.
     Although some of the FTA testing requirements dictate straightforward responses, the regulation allows significant latitude in the manner in which individual employers implement their programs. The regulations represent the minimum requirements. Employers must not only meet these requirements, but must do so in a manner that reflects the unique nature of the employer, operating environment, labor/management relationship and existing policies and procedures.
     The discussion and examples provided in the Best Practices manual represent materials that transit employers have found helpful to manage their programs and to comply with the regulations. In some cases, multiple examples are given to address the same issue.
     All section 5307, 5309 and state grantees will be mailed one hard copy of the Best Practices manual. The manuals will be three hole punched and shrink wrapped for ease of placement in a three-ring binder. The majority of the best practice examples appear in the manual as six different appendices that are referenced and discussed in the text. The text is bound separately from the appendices so it can be removed from the binder for ease of use when referring to the examples. Grantees are encouraged to make hard copies of the manual available to their subrecipients.
     Grantees and subrecipients will also be provided multiple copies of the manual in PDF format on CD-ROMs.
     The text and appendices will also be provided on the FTA Office of Safety and Security website (http://transit-safety.volpe.dot.gov) in both PDF and html format. The website will also provide links from the text to the appendices for easy reference. In some cases where the examples are too large to include in the hardcopy of the manual (i.e., training materials), they will be presented in their entirety on the website.
     The revised Implementation Guidelines that summarize the regulatory requirements are currently under review and are due out later this summer. Together, these two companion manuals will provide a comprehensive guide to the FTA drug and alcohol testing program.

Hosts Needed for Part 655 Briefings