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The FTA regulations require reasonable suspicion, return to duty, and
follow-up testing. To assist in clarifying or identifying these
circumstances, the FTA has developed these checklists for use by
employers in their program assessments. The checklists (on pages 3 and
4) include regulatory requirements, as well as “best practice”
recommendations; they should not be construed as the “last word” in
regulatory compliance - they merely provide guidance.
Reasonable
Suspicion Checklist
The
FTA drug and alcohol regulations require testing for prohibited drugs
and alcohol in the case that a trained supervisor has reasonable
suspicion that a safety-sensitive employee has used a prohibited drug or
misused alcohol as defined in the regulations.
- Have the circumstances which
warranted reasonable suspicion tests been justified using the
minimum criteria specified in the regulation?
- FTA regulations
require a safety-sensitive employee to submit to a test when the
employer has reasonable suspicion that the employee has used a
prohibited drug or has misused alcohol as defined in the
regulations. The request to undergo a reasonable suspicion test
must be based on “specific,
contemporaneous, articulable observations concerning the
appearance, behavior, speech, or body odor of the safety-sensitive
employee.”
- If a supervisor, trained
to identify the signs and symptoms of drug and alcohol use,
reasonably concludes that objective facts may indicate drug use or
alcohol misuse, this is sufficient justification for testing.
- Is comprehensive
documentation maintained for all reasonable suspicion tests for at
least two years from the date of the incident?
- Have all supervisors
received the requisite reasonable suspicion training?
- A supervisor who will be
called upon to make a reasonable suspicion determination must be
trained in the facts, circumstances, physical evidence, physical
signs and symptoms, or patterns of performance and/or behavior
that are associated with use. Supervisors must be trained in the
proper procedures for confronting and referring the employee for
testing.
- Supervisors must receive
60 minutes of training on the signs and symptoms of drug abuse,
and an additional 60 minutes of training on signs and symptoms of
alcohol misuse.
- Have only trained
supervisors made reasonable suspicion determinations? Only a
trained supervisor can make a reasonable suspicion determination.
The term “supervisor” refers to the job function, not the job
title. The supervisor that makes the actual observation does not
have to be the employee’s direct supervisor, but can be any trained
supervisor within the transit organization. The supervisors
must receive reasonable suspicion training and be empowered to
take action when they make a reasonable suspicion determination.
- Are procedures in place to have
employees proceed immediately to a collection site
following a reasonable suspicion determination?
- Is there a procedure in place to
document alcohol tests that are delayed more than two hours? The
employer must document the reasons if a test does not take place
within two hours. Attempts to complete the test must cease after
eight hours. Is there a procedure in place to document the
circumstances that resulted in a failure to test because the eight
hour time limit was exceeded?
- Do you require only one supervisor
to make a reasonable suspicion determination?
- Are reasonable suspicion alcohol
tests only performed just before, during, or just after the
performance of a safety-sensitive job function?
- Do you prohibit the supervisor who
makes the reasonable suspicion determination from serving as the
breath alcohol technician for the alcohol test or the specimen
collector for the drug test?
(This information was excerpted from
the Drug and Alcohol Program Self-Assessment Checklist developed for
the Transportation Safety Institute by RLS & Associates, Inc.)
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Where To Find?.....
49 CFR Part 654, Prevention of Alcohol Misuse in
Transit Operation
February 15, 1994
Federal Register Vol. 59
Pages 7532-7571
Amended:
May 10, 1995
Federal Register Vol. 60
Pages 24765-24766
Primary Topic: Suspension of Pre-employment Alcohol Testing
August 2, 1995
Federal Register Vol. 60
Pages 39618-39620
Primary Topic: Exemption of Volunteers and Post-Accident Testing Provision
December 8, 1998
Federal Register Vol. 63
Pages 67612-67613
Primary Topic: Use of Law Enforcement Post-Accident Test Results
December 14, 1998
Federal Register Vol. 63
Pages 68818-68819
Primary Topic: Random Alcohol Testing Rate at 10%
January 5, 1999
Federal Register Vol. 64
Pages 425-427
Primary Topic: Safety-Sensitive Maintenance Functions
Technical Corrections:
March 6, 1995
Federal Register Vol. 60
Pages 12296-12300
Primary Topic: Corrections and Clarifications
The information presented on
this page should be used to update Chapters 6 and 9 of the Implementation
Guidelines.
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