HR: The Importance of an Effective Drug Testing Policy
If you live in the DC area you can't turn the news on these days without hearing about another "incident" or "foul up" with Metro. Metro and their employees have been under scrutiny since the horrific accident in June that killed nine people and injured dozens. To date there have been 4 derailments, 16 premature door openings, 2 wrong-side door openings and 10 deaths.
The latest incident involved an operator who delivered a train to a station with extra cars- 10 instead of 6 or 8. This can be a serious safety concern as the doors on the extra cars would open outside the station, over exposed track. A Metro spokesperson stated "the train operator is supposed to know how many cars are on his train". The operator tested positive for drugs. He was suspended without pay and sent to rehab- but he did not loose his job.
Metro's policy is that anyone who holds a "safety sensitive" job and tests positive for substance abuse is placed on leave and sent to rehab. Metro bus drivers who have been employed for more than 6 months are given a chance to undergo treatment for a first violation. Drivers are fired only after a second offense. All drivers are tested for drugs/alcohol before hiring and they are also tested after every crash? They may face additional testing for suspicion of abuse or as part of random testing? The regularity or frequency of random testing is unclear.
Metro recently established a zero tolerance policy for non- emergency cell phone use. They have yet to establish a zero tolerance policy for drug/ alcohol use. It seems to me that they need to take a serious look at their policy. Shouldn't there be zero tolerance for substance abuse for employees who are responsible for the safety of other people's lives? Is testing after a crash good policy? I wonder how often random drug testing is actually taking place? It doesn't seem the employees are very concerned about the possibility of being tested? Why should they though? It's not like they are going to loose their jobs!
In addition to the hundreds of thousands of people they're putting in danger everyday, shouldn't Metro be concerned about the business aspect of maintaining a drug free workplace? Employing workers impaired by drugs/alcohol can threaten the number of riders who use Metro every day. And how about the considerable legal problems that it can cause? I believe that now is the time for Metro to re-evaluate their drug testing policy.