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

Several commenters responding to this section indicated that FTA should not
interfere with an employer’s ability to require two or more trained supervisors to
participate and/or agree on referring an employee for reasonable suspicion testing. One
commenter indicated that employers should be allowed to authorize other personnel to
make reasonable suspicion testing observations similar to the FMCSA. Two commenters
indicated that this testing requirement should not be required at all because the
consumption of alcohol is legal. Other commenters indicated that provisions found in 49
CFR 654.37(c) and (d) should be incorporated in the final rule.
FTA Response. FTA believes that the public safety interest is furthered with the
inclusion of this requirement and the final rule is amended to include the language of 49
CFR 654.37(c) and (d). FTA also notes that the proposed bar to an employer requiring
two or more trained supervisors to make such referrals is not included in the final rule.
FTA also agrees that an employer should be permitted to authorize and train other
company officers to make reasonable suspicion observations; therefore this section and
section 655.14 of subpart B are amended accordingly.
D. Post-Accident Testing (§ 655.44).
FTA noted in the NPRM that its post-accident testing regulation was previously
amended to allow an employer, in extremely limited circumstances, to use the post-
accident test results administered by local law enforcement only when the employer is
unable to perform a post-accident test within the required time frame.
Of the few comments received on this section, most indicated support for the
limited exception to use post-accident test results from local law enforcement. However,
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