FTA Drug and Alcohol Regulation Updates
Issue 13, page 6

MIS Reporting

Q & A

Q: Are examples of forms and procedures that have proven to be effective available? How can I find them?

A: FTA is compiling an assortment of best practices used within the industry and will share them through the FTA home page. Best practices that will appear include procedures, forms, sample language, and oversight techniques to name a few. Currently, information on Substance Abuse Professionals and Places to Look for Information is available. The FTA home page is http://transit-safety.volpe.dot.gov

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The information presented on this page should be used to update Chapter 6 of the Implementation Guidelines.

Understanding Terms Eases MIS Reporting

   Employers subject to the FTA drug and alcohol testing regulations will soon be undertaking the task of completing their annual MIS reports. The 1999 report will constitute the fifth year of reporting. Improvements have been made to the process each year and employers have become familiar with the data requests. Employers are keeping better records and the reporting process has become much smoother for most. However, there still remains confusion over some terminology used in the data request that results in reporting errors. The Volpe National Transportation Systems Center recommends that employers follow the reporting directions precisely and review the data request terminology to avoid possible reporting mistakes and subsequent follow-up calls by data analysts at the Volpe Center.
   The Volpe Center has identified common reporting mistakes and provides the following guidance to help you avoid these mistakes:

  • Send the reports/diskettes to the correct address.   All reports should be sent to:

USDOT/Volpe Center,
Drug and Alcohol MIS Program Office DTS-781
55 Broadway, Kendall Square
Cambridge, MA 02142-1093

  • Use the correct data collection forms. The EZ form for drug tests is to be used to report results only if there have been no positive drug tests. Similarly, the EZ form for alcohol tests is to be used to report results only if there have been no alcohol tests with a result of 0.02 or greater. If there is one or more positive test results to report for the year, the long form must be used.
  • Make sure you include an original signature on the front cover of both the drug and alcohol MIS forms; copies are not acceptable. If you are reporting electronically, you must send in the signed front cover page (paper version) for both the drug and alcohol forms along with the diskette.
  • Answer all questions. There should be no blank entries on the form. If there is no information to enter in a space, a zero (“0”) must be entered. If the space is left blank, the data analyst will assume you neglected to answer the question and will initiate a follow-up call.
  • If your system is a member of a drug and alcohol testing Consortium, be sure to provide complete and correct information about the Consortium in your report. For reporting purposes, a Consortium is an entity (including a group or association of employers) that provides testing services required by the regulations and that acts on behalf of the employers. Many employers incorrectly list their collection site as a Consortium.
  • Only include information about FTA safety-sensitive employees in your report. Do not include information on employees that fall under FHWA regulations or other City, County, or agency employees who do not perform FTA safety-sensitive functions on this report.
  • Only those employees who are actually covered by the United States Coast Guard (i.e., commuter ferry or water shuttle personnel) should be reported as employees covered by the USCG. This occurrence is very rare and therefore, the vast majority of employers would place a “0” in the answer box for this question. For those employers that do have employees covered by the USCG, this column should be a subset of the total number of FTA covered employees.
  • Only employees that have received their “first-time” substance abuse awareness training in 1999 should be reported as Initial Training. Annual or refresher training should not be reported. This number should reflect the number of new hires and transfers into safety-sensitive positions during 1999.
  • Only Post-Accident test results that pertain to accidents which meet FTA accident criteria should be reported.
  • Return-to-Duty testing refers only to employees who are returning to duty after testing positive on a drug and/or alcohol test or after refusing to submit to a test. Tests conducted on employees who return to work following a leave of absence (see article on Page 2 of this newsletter) should not be reported as a return-to-duty test.

For additional guidance on how to complete the MIS Forms, please refer to the most recent FTA Drug and Alcohol MIS guidance that accompanies the reporting forms and compact discs, or call the Drug and Alcohol MIS Program Office at (617) 494-6336.

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