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The Importance of Random Substance Abuse Testing

(adapted from an article in The Sterling Sentinel)

In the early morning hours of August 28, 1991, a speeding New York City subway train failed to slow at a switch, jumped the track, and crashed just north of the Union Square Station at 14th Street. Five people were killed and more than 200 were injured. The motorman later admitted that he had been drinking heavily before taking control of the train and had fallen asleep. Blood tests performed following the motorman’s arrest showed an alcohol concentration level twice the legal limit. The accident closed several miles of track on the Lexington Avenue line for six days while workers raced around the clock to repair the damaged infrastructure and roadbed. Of five train cars that had derailed, all but one could not be salvaged and were scrapped. The following year, while the New York City Transit Authority (NYCTA) toiled to restore confidence in public ridership, the motorman was convicted on multiple counts of manslaughter.

Up to that time, NYCTA had been pressing labor unions to deter substance abuse by implementing random testing procedures as part of the employee drug screening program.  Following the “14th Street Accident”, NYCTA’s labor unions changed their stance and permitted random testing of their members. By year’s end, random testing of train operators, bus operators, and other “safety-sensitive” employees had begun. Nearly 2,000 random tests were conducted in the first year and more than 3% tested positive for drugs and/or alcohol. All employees who tested positive were immediately removed from service and given the option to rehabilitate or face immediate termination. Over the next decade, NYCTA would realize more than a 200% reduction in their positivity rate for random testing.

Even prior to this accident, safety concerns associated with drug and alcohol abuse by American workers were growing nation-wide. A number of federal regulations came to pass in the years following President Reagan’s 1986 Executive Order directing all federal agencies to establish a “drug-free workplace” (DFWP); at the center of these regulations stood random testing.  Many state-level regulations to promote testing have also been enacted over the years.

Today, it’s estimated that 1 in 6 American adults is substance dependent.  Even more startling: 3 out of 4 of such individuals are employed! For this reason alone, random testing becomes a key component of a post-hire workplace program. More than any other facet of employee drug screening, random testing communicates the employer’s zero-tolerance position and works to continuously deter abuse in the workplace. Covered employees know they are always subject to test, but never quite sure of when.

In addition to DOT specifications, today’s DFWP programs have the benefit of more than two decades of evolving experience and best practices, and the expert assistance of employee drug screening  testing professionals to ensure public safety with testing that continues unannounced and unpredictable throughout the year.