FTA Compliance

Current Drug & Alcohol Testing Random Rates:

The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) increased its annual random drug testing rates from 25% to 50% in 2019. The random alcohol testing rate will remain at 10%.

The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) oversees safety measures and provides financial and technical assistance to local public transit systems, including buses, subways, light rail, commuter rail, trolleys, and ferries. To maintain a safe and reliable transit service throughout the U.S., the FTA’s compliance program, Office of Transit Safety & Oversight (TSO) helps enforce compliance standards through policy development, data collection, risk analysis, hazard investigation, oversight programs, and information sharing.

Employers are expected to maintain compliance with FTA guidelines. In addition, the Public Transportation Agency Safety Plan (PTASP) requires certain operators that receive federal funds to develop safety plans for implementing a Safety Management System (SMS).

An SMS will:

• Control risk
• Address and manage safety problems before they arise
• Measure safety performance
• Share and analyze data

FTA Drug & Alcohol Testing Program

In order to comply with DOT regulations, operators under the FTA must enforce a drug and alcohol testing policy. DISA’S drug and alcohol testing services offers transportation specific drug and alcohol testing requirements, including:

• Pre-employment
• Post Accident
• Random Selection
• Reasonable Suspicion
• Return-to-Duty
• Follow-Up - (For a failure or refusal of a drug test, which must be administered by a Substance Abuse Professional/SAP)

2019 Increased Random Rate

As of October 24, 2019, the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) is increasing its annual random drug testing rate from 25% to 50%, which hasn’t taken place since 2007. 2017 saw an increase in positives to 1.06%, and the FTA is required to raise the random testing rate to 50% as a result of this increase. Per FTA regulations, should random positivity rates in the two consecutive calendar years stay below 1%, the FTA can lower the random testing rate from 50% to 25%. Impacted employers are required to comply with the increased random drug testing rate as of January 1, 2019