2022 DOT Random Drug Tests Decrease for Railway Maintenance Employees

FRA annual random drug testing rate for Railway Maintenance (MOW) employees will drop from 50% to 25% in 2022. All others stay the same.

Each year, the DOT evaluates the rate of positive testing results for controlled substances across the agency’s modes:

• Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA)
• Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)
• Federal Railroad Administration (FRA)
• Federal Transit Administration (FTA)
• Pipeline & Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA)

Depending on the reported figures, they modify their testing percentage rates.

Below are the 2022 random drug and alcohol testing rates for the DOT agency modes.

Changes coming for FRA Maintenance employees

Random Testing Rates for Covered Service Employees

The rail industry’s random drug testing positive rate for covered service employees remained below 1.0% (alcohol remained below 0.5%) for 2019 and 2020, so the minimum annual random drug testing rate for covered service employees will remain at 25% (and alcohol at 10%) for the period January 1, 2022, through December 31, 2022.

Random Testing Rates for MOW Employees

FRA now has MIS data for three full, consecutive years (2018–2020) for the industry-wide performance rates for Maintenance-of-Way (MOW) employees. The random drug testing violation rate for MOW employees has remained below 1.0 percent for the past two consecutive years and has never been above 1.0 percent.

The random drug testing violation rate for MOW employees also trended downwards in 2020, decreasing from 0.8% in 2019 to 0.59% in 2020, which is the lowest since FRA started collecting MIS data for MOW employees in 2017.

Taking these factors into consideration, the minimum annual drug testing rate for MOW employees will be lowered to 25% for the period January 1, 2022, through December 31, 2022.

If the random drug testing violation rate for MOW employees increases to 1.0 percent or higher, FRA will raise the minimum annual drug testing rate back to 50%.

Drug and Alcohol Services

CNS offers a comprehensive Drug and Alcohol Consortium Service and are a certified consortium and third-party administrator (C/TPA).

Our experts ensure that all DOT rules and regulations are followed, including the implementation of random drug tests for you and your drivers, updating your company drug testing policies, record retention and document purge management.

We take all the necessary steps and precautions to keep you and your drivers compliant with the DOT drug and alcohol testing requirements.