Post Accident Determination App.
The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) is one of ten agencies under the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT). The FRA’s mission is to enable the safe, reliable, and efficient movement of people and goods for a strong America, now and in the future. As part of FRA’s drug and alcohol testing program, certain accidents/incident are subject to Part 49 CFR 219, Subpart C Post Accident Testing requirements. In order for railroad managers and their regulated contractors to make more rapid FRA Post-accident testing determinations, FRA has developed an Application available for use on Apple devices. A version for Android devices will be forthcoming. The application is also a tool that is available to all railroad and contractor employees to help them understand FRA’s Post Accident requirements.
Description:
FRA’s 49 CFR Part 219, Control of Alcohol and Drug Use contains requirements for post-accident testing if certain conditions are met. This application is intended to aid railroads and their contractors in determining when a qualifying accident has occurred that requires Part 219 Subpart C testing. The FRA’s post-accident testing program has been the cornerstone the agency’s drug and alcohol testing efforts since 1985 and pre-dates the publication of most of the rest of Part 219 and the USDOT’s testing procedures regulation, 49 CFR Part 40.
Part 219 Subpart C defines the train accident/incident thresholds that require testing. This post-accident testing helps FRA accident investigators determine whether the use of drugs and alcohol by involved railroad employees or contractors may have contributed to the cause or severity of a particular accident. The goal of this application is to aid regulated employers (railroad or contractor) in determining whether a rule-triggering post-accident testing event has occurred as well as who to test; and that the decision to test is made quickly after reasonable inquiry and good faith judgment by an on-site supervisor. Blood and urine collections from surviving employees/contractors must be completed within for (4) hours of the accident with the proper supplies and forms; and blood, urine, and tissue collections from fatally injured personnel must be completed as soon as practicable. This application is likewise intended to protect employees from inadvertent incursions upon their right-to-privacy represented by tests that are performed in error.
