Implementation Guidelines - Federal Transit Administration - U.S. ...

Chapter 14. SUBSTANCE ABUSE
MANAGEMENT OVERSIGHT
AUDIT
The primary intent of the Omnibus
Transportation Employee Testing Act of
1991 is to achieve a drug- and alcohol-free
transportation workforce in the interest of
the health and safety of employees and the
public. The resulting regulations (49 CFR
Parts 40 and 655) are designed to deter and
detect the illegal use of drugs and misuse of
alcohol by safety-sensitive transit
employees. When the regulations were
initially published, FTA undertook an
aggressive outreach effort to assist
grantees/subrecipients in complying with the
new rules.
To determine compliance, FTA’s Office
of Safety and Security began auditing
grantee drug and alcohol testing programs in
March, 1997. The audits give FTA the
opportunity to provide extensive technical
assistance and to obtain a better
understanding of the difficulties that
grantees encounter when implementing the
rules.
In the first 5 years, FTA conducted 335
Substance Abuse Management Oversight
audits including 105 transit systems, 20
states, and 210 state subrecipients and
contractors.
The FTA audits assess compliance with
FTA drug and alcohol testing regulations
(49 CFR Part 655) and appropriate
provisions of the DOT testing procedures
(49 CFR Part 40). A team of experts,
including FTA and Volpe Center staff and
private consultants, perform the audits. The
audit team typically consists of three to eight
auditors who spend 2 to 4 days on site
Chapter 14. Administrative Requirements 14-1 August 2002