[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 247 (Wednesday, December 29, 2021)]
[Notices]
[Pages 74215-74217]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-28325]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Federal Railroad Administration

[Docket No. FRA-2001-11213, Notice No. 26]


Drug and Alcohol Testing: Determination of Minimum Random Testing 
Rates for 2022

AGENCY: Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), Department of 
Transportation (DOT).

ACTION: Notification of determination.

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SUMMARY: This notification of determination announces FRA's minimum 
annual random drug and minimum annual random alcohol testing rates for 
covered service and maintenance-of-way (MOW) employees for calendar 
year 2022.

DATES: This determination takes effect December 29, 2021.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Gerald Powers, FRA Drug and Alcohol 
Program Manager, by email: [email protected] or by telephone: 202-
493-6313; or Sam Noe, FRA Drug and Alcohol Program Specialist, by 
email: [email protected] or by telephone: 615-719-2951.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: FRA is announcing the 2022 minimum annual 
random drug and alcohol testing rates for covered service and MOW 
employees. For calendar year 2022, the minimum annual random testing 
rates for covered service employees will continue to be 25 percent for 
drugs and 10 percent for alcohol, while the minimum annual random 
testing rates for MOW employees will be lowered to 25 percent for drugs 
and will continue to be 10 percent for alcohol. Because these rates 
represent minimums, railroads and railroad contractors may conduct FRA 
random testing at higher rates.

Discussion

    To set its minimum annual random testing rates for each year, FRA 
examines the last two complete calendar years of railroad industry drug 
and alcohol program data submitted to its Management Information System 
(MIS). FRA has also, however, reserved the right to consider factors 
other than MIS-reported data before deciding whether to lower annual 
minimum random testing rates. See 85 FR 81265 (Dec. 15, 2020).

Random Testing Rates for Covered Service Employees

    The rail industry's random drug testing positive rate for covered 
service employees (employees subject to the Federal hours of service 
laws and regulations) remained below 1.0 percent for 2019 and 2020. The 
Deputy Administrator has therefore determined the minimum annual random 
drug testing rate for covered service employees will remain at 25 
percent for the period January 1, 2022, through December 31, 2022. The 
industry-wide random alcohol testing violation rate for covered service 
employees remained below 0.5 percent for 2019 and 2020. Therefore, the 
Deputy Administrator has determined the minimum random alcohol testing 
rate for covered service employees will remain at10 percent for the 
period January 1, 2022, through December 31, 2022.

Random Testing Rates for MOW Employees

    MOW employees became subject to FRA random drug and alcohol testing 
in June 2017. See 81 FR 37894 (June 10, 2016). Although FRA had MIS 
data for two full, consecutive years of industry-wide performance rates 
for MOW employees when announcing the random testing rates for 2021, 
the Administrator found it was not in the interest of railroad safety 
to lower the random drug testing rate for MOW employees at that time. 
The Administrator did, however, lower the random alcohol testing rate 
for MOW employees to 10 percent. For an explanation of the 
Administrator's findings and determination, please refer to FRA's 
notification of determination for calendar year 2021. See 85 FR 81265-
81267.
    FRA now has MIS data for three full, consecutive years (2018-2020) 
for the industry-wide performance rates for 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 percent in 2019 to 
0.59 percent in 2020, which is the lowest since FRA started collecting 
MIS data for MOW employees in 2017. Taking these factors into 
consideration, the Deputy Administrator has determined that the minimum 
annual drug testing rate for MOW employees will be lowered to 25 
percent 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 percent. See 49 CFR 219.625(d)(2).
    Because the random alcohol testing violation rate for MOW employees 
remained below 0.5 percent for 2019 and 2020, the Deputy Administrator 
has determined that the minimum annual random alcohol testing rate for 
MOW employees will continue to be10 percent for the period January 1, 
2022, through December 31, 2022.

Appendix

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[[Page 74217]]


    Issued in Washington, DC

Amitabha Bose,
Deputy Administrator.
[FR Doc. 2021-28325 Filed 12-28-21; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910-06-P