The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) published its revised rule on prohibited drug use and the prevention of alcohol misuse (49 CFR Part 655) on August 1, 2001. The FTA published the revised 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 these changes. This Update is the twenty-second in a series.

Revised IMPLEMENTATION GUIDELINES Available

    Following the publication of the original FTA drug and alcohol regulations (49 CFR Parts 654 and 655), FTA published the Implementation Guidelines for Drug and Alcohol Regulations in Mass Transit to provide a comprehensive overview of the regulations. The Guidelines were well received and proved to be an essential tool for transit agencies formulating their new drug and alcohol testing programs.

    Since the Guidelines were first published, the FTA regulations were revised and consolidated into one regulation (49 CFR Part 655) and the DOT drug and alcohol testing procedures regulation (49 CFR Part 40) was expanded and significantly revised. In addition, numerous letters of interpretation, and clarifications to the testing procedures and program requirements have been issued. Consequently, the Guidelines were updated to reflect these changes and to clarify points of confusion that have often troubled transit agencies.

    The Guidelines were written to as-sist new FTA-covered employers institute compliant programs and to assist existing employers with well-established programs assess their level of compliance, validate policies and procedures, and identify areas that require modification based on the revised rules. They provide a comprehensive, up-to-date summary of the regulatory requirements, incorporating into one publication all the guidance FTA has issued over the past several years through technical assistance, letters of interpretation, audit findings, newsletters, training classes, and public speaking engagements. The Guidelines explain the various elements of a compliant program and contain decision trees, timelines, flowcharts, forms and other graphic tools to clarify the requirements.

    All Section 5307, 5309 and state grantees will be mailed one hard copy of the Guidelines. The manuals will be three-hole punched and shrink wrapped for ease of placement in a three-ring binder. Grantees including state DOTs are encouraged to make hard copies of the manual available to their sub-recipients. Grantees and sub-recipients will be provided copies of the manual in PDF format on CD-ROMs.

    The text and appendices are already available on the FTA Office of Safety and Security website ( http://transit-safety.volpe.dot.gov) in both PDF and html format. In the future, the website will provide links from the text to the appendices, regulatory text and Best Practices manual for easy reference. The Best Practices manual published earlier this year, provides “real world” examples of policies, procedures, sample forms, and approaches that transit employers have used successfully to manage their programs. Together, these two companion manuals provide a comprehensive guide to the FTA drug and alcohol testing program.