49 CFR Part 219, Subpart D - Testing for Cause

To comply with the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act of 1990, as amended by the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act Improvements Act of 2015, FRA is adjusting the minimum, maximum, and aggravated maximum penalties it will apply when assessing a civil penalty for a violation of a railroad safety statute, regulation, or order under its authority. FRA is also adjusting the minimum penalty, ordinary maximum penalty, and aggravated maximum penalty that it will apply when assessing a civil monetary penalty for a knowing violation of the Federal hazardous material transportation laws or a regulation, special permit, order, or approval issued under those laws. The aggravated maximum penalty under the hazardous material transportation laws is available only for a violation that results in death, serious illness, or severe injury to any person or substantial destruction of property.

This notice of determination provides the FRA Administrator's minimum annual random drug and alcohol testing rates for calendar year 2017.

To comply with the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act of 1990, as amended by the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act Improvements Act of 2015, FRA is adjusting the minimum, maximum, and aggravated maximum penalties that it will apply when assessing a civil penalty for a violation of a railroad safety statute, regulation, or order under its authority. In particular, FRA is increasing the minimum civil penalty per violation from $650 to $839, the ordinary maximum civil penalty per violation from $25,000 to $27,455, and the aggravated maximum civil penalty ( i.e., the maximum civil penalty per violation where a grossly negligent violation or a pattern of repeated violations has created an imminent hazard of death or injury or has caused death or injury) from $105,000 to $109,819.

In response to Congress' mandate in the Rail Safety Improvement Act of 2008 (RSIA), FRA is expanding the scope of its drug and alcohol regulation to cover MOW employees. This rule also codifies guidance from FRA compliance manuals, responds to National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) recommendations, and adopts substantive amendments based upon FRA's regulatory review of 30 years of implementation of this part. The final rule contains two significant differences from FRA's July 28, 2014 Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM). First, it adopts part 214's definition of “roadway worker” to define “MOW employee” under this part. Second, because FRA has withdrawn its proposed peer support requirements, subpart K contains a revised version of the troubled employee identification requirements previously in subpart E.

This notice of determination provides the FRA Administrator's minimum annual random drug and alcohol testing rates for calendar year 2016.

This document announces that FRA will begin reporting post-accident toxicological test results for tramadol to the employee and the railroad Medical Review Officers. FRA will also begin including post-accident toxicological test results for tramadol in its post-accident toxicology reports. Because tramadol was not a controlled substance when FRA began testing for it, FRA has kept post-accident toxicological test results for tramadol confidential.

This notice of determination provides the FRA Administrator's minimum annual random drug and alcohol testing rates for calendar year 2015. According to data from FRA's Management Information System, the rail industry's random drug testing positive rate has remained below 1.0 percent for the last two years. FRA's Administrator has therefore determined that the minimum annual random drug testing rate for the period January 1, 2015 through December 31, 2015, will remain at 25 percent of covered railroad employees. In addition, because the industry-wide random alcohol testing violation rate has remained below 0.5 percent for the last two years, the Administrator has determined that the minimum random alcohol testing rate will remain at 10 percent of covered railroad employees for the period January 1, 2015 through December 31, 2015. Railroads remain free, as always, to conduct random testing at higher rates.

On July 28, 2014, FRA published an NPRM proposing to expand the scope of its alcohol and drug regulations to cover employees who perform maintenance-of-way (MOW) activities and certain additional substantive amendments. This document provides notice that FRA is extending the comment period for this NPRM by 60 days.

In response to Congress' mandate in the Rail Safety Improvement Act of 2008 (RSIA), FRA is proposing to expand the scope of its alcohol and drug regulations to cover employees who perform maintenance-of-way (MOW) activities. In addition, FRA is proposing certain substantive amendments that either respond to National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) recommendations or update and clarify the alcohol and drug regulations based on a retrospective regulatory review (RRR) analysis.

According to data from FRA's Management Information System, the rail industry's random drug testing positive rate has remained below 1.0 percent for the last two years. FRA's Administrator has therefore determined that the minimum annual random drug testing rate for the period January 1, 2014, through December 31, 2014, will remain at 25 percent of covered railroad employees. In addition, because the industry-wide random alcohol testing violation rate has remained below 0.5 percent for the last two years, the Administrator has determined that the minimum random alcohol testing rate will remain at 10 percent of covered railroad employees for the period January 1, 2014, through December 31, 2014. Railroads remain free, as always, to conduct random testing at higher rates.

In 1985, FRA implemented a post-accident toxicological testing (post-accident testing) program to test railroad employees who had been involved in serious train accidents for alcohol and certain controlled substances (marijuana, cocaine, phencyclidine (PCP), and selected opiates, amphetamines, barbiturates, and benzodiazepines). This final rule adds certain non-controlled substances with potentially impairing side effects to its standard post-accident testing panel. The non-controlled substances include tramadol and sedating antihistamines. This final rule makes clear that FRA intends to keep the post-accident test results for these non-controlled substances confidential while it continues to obtain and analyze data on the extent to which prescription and over-the-counter (OTC) drug use by railroad employees potentially affects rail safety.

Since 1985, FRA has conducted post-accident toxicological testing (post-accident testing) on blood, urine, and, if an employee is deceased, tissue samples from railroad employees involved in serious train accidents. If an accident qualifies for post-accident testing, FRA routinely conducts tests for alcohol, marijuana, cocaine, phencyclidine (PCP), and certain amphetamines, opiates, barbiturates, and benzodiazepines. FRA is proposing to add certain potentially impairing non-controlled substances to its standard post-accident testing panel because FRA's research indicates that use of prescription and over-the-counter (OTC) drugs, most of which are non-controlled substances, is prevalent among railroad employees.