Safer Public Transit through Drug and Alcohol Compliance Program
The Omnibus Transportation Employee Testing Act of 1991 mandates the Secretary of Transportation to issue regulations for combating prohibited drug use and alcohol misuse in the transportation industry. The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) is responsible for implementing rules for all organizations that provide "mass transportation" services to the public. One of the major areas for FTA's Office of Safety and Security is providing oversight, technical assistance, training, and educational programs for drug and alcohol abuse.
FTA began auditing drug and alcohol testing programs in March 1997. Since 2002, the Volpe Center has managed the FTA Drug and Alcohol Compliance Program, an important ongoing oversight effort that helps ensure the safest operational environment possible on the Nation's buses, trains, and ferries.
The objective of this program is to monitor the drug and alcohol testing programs of FTA funding recipients and their safety-sensitive subrecipients and contractors, to determine the level of compliance with Federal regulations, and to provide technical assistance and training focused on deficiencies and noncompliance trends that have been identified.
Michael Redington, Eve Rutyna, and Frank Foderaro of the Physical Infrastructure Systems Center of Innovation have been part of the Drug and Alcohol Compliance Program since it began. They supervise the FTA team of compliance auditors performing comprehensive audits of hundreds of transit systems across the country. These audits ensure that transit systems adhere to all U.S. DOT and FTA regulations, making the country's public transit systems safer for millions of daily riders.
FTA drug and alcohol audits have provided public-transit providers with a great deal of insight into how to comply with related Federal regulations. They have also strengthened the FTA Drug and Alcohol Compliance Program and have helped to achieve the U.S. DOT strategic goals of Safety and Security.
By improving the randomness of testing, the Volpe Center has helped improve detection of and deterrence to illicit drug use and alcohol misuse that has saved lives.
- Gerry Powers, Manager, FTA Drug and Alcohol Compliance Program
