No Change in 2011 FAA, PHMSA Testing Rates
Both agencies are telling employers their minimum random drug testing percentage rates will stay at 25 percent.
Two more DOT agencies, the Federal Aviation Administration and the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, announced Tuesday that their minimum random drug testing percentage rates will stay at 25 percent during 2011 because positives rates on administered tests remained low in 2009. FAA also said its required rate for randomly testing safety-sensitive employees for alcohol will stay at 10 percent.
The positives rate must remain below 1 percent to continue the testing rates at these low levels, and this is usually the case. FAA said the 2009 reported random drug test positive rate was 0.534 percent, while the random alcohol test positive rate was 0.088 percent.
PHMSA said the reported positive rate in 2009 from operators of gas, hazardous liquid, and carbon dioxide pipelines and operators of liquefied natural gas facilities was below 1 percent, so its testing rate for 2011 remained low.
The FAA regulations are found in 14 CFR 120.109(b) for drug testing and 120.217(c) for alcohol testing. PHMSA's are in 49 CFR 99.119 (drug testing) and 199.229 (alcohol testing).