Drug use among Amtrak employees

From CNN article

From article:
Amtrak's employees failed drug and alcohol tests at a staggering 51% higher rate than the rail industry average, the report said. Amtrak officials estimate that they've spent $1.5 million to screen employees in 2012 alone, but employees have exceeded industry averages failing drug tests in each of the past five years.

Were I an employee of an organization that faced this unfortunate problem (and associated tarnished image), I would certainly hope for and welcome a decisive response on the part of management. I am generally a second-chance type of guy, and I believe in giving help to those who need it and are willing to accept it, but there has to be zero tolerance for that kind of crap continuing to occur.

I've had to submit to drug testing at the start of a job, but never regularly during employment now that I think about it. I'm sure the costs of drug testing programs are not trivial (that $1.5 million could have gone toward fixing the Turboliners darnit!), but then neither is the eventual cost of pervasive drug abuse.

CNN seems to lumping Train crew along with OBS employees in this "article".
Conductors and Engineers are subject to random testing at any time,any place,but what
about the OBS crews???

I think CNN is struggling to find news lately. I think that's a good thing actually, we need some stability now and again, even if it's "boring". Haiti is still a heap of ruble, northern japan is still washed out from tsunami, there's still severe drought in this country, yet of course no coverage of that anymore. New Orleans is still rebuilding from katrina as well, but no one cares about poor people who lost their homes due to negligence and poor planning. The news agencies in this country are pathetic. To get any real news i have to visit bbc.co.uk or cbc.ca.

Testing is intrusive and expensive. Maybe rest of the industry is doing the bare minimum to meet legal and insurance requirements.

Backshophoss wrote:CNN seems to lumping Train crew along with OBS employees in this "article".
Conductors and Engineers are subject to random testing at any time,any place,but what
about the OBS crews???

In my interpretation, the article refers only to hours of service employees, so the only on-board crew members tested would be engineers and conductors***. The other employees are not required by the FRA to be tested since they are not hours of service, and begs the question if they are tested. Both cost and bargaining unit contracts would auger against testing. Could the difference in results be linked to government vs. private enterprise?

***For example, on the BR&W I as conductor and brakeman am subject to random testing, but our trainmen are not. The tests are costly. The trainmasters at the safety meeting before operations start do observe all members of the crew including the trainmen with respect to fitness for duty.

Zanperk wrote:Testing is intrusive and expensive. Maybe rest of the industry is doing the bare minimum to meet legal and insurance requirements.

Anecdotal evidence points to much higher levels of drug testing at some Class 1 freight railroads? Only 25% percent of employees tested per year? I've heard about Class 1 workers being "randomly tested" twice in the same month.

Testing isn't necessarily intrusive, either, and considering that Amtrak's average expenses per employee are well over $200K per year, drug testing would be relatively inexpensive.

This is really disappointing. To me, the substance abuse field is a place the union could really add value but doesn't. If the abuse rate goes up, the benefits should go down and the COLA increases should cease. You can bet the people serving would be a lot better at self-policing this problem if such were the case, and the group as a whole would strive for improvement. Not to mention the fact that substance abuse is detrimental to home life and health - something the union should care about for their constituency.

Substance abuse is not necessarily something you can hide, especially when you work with the same people repeatedly and socialize with them in off-hours.

The CNN article is ambiguous. Amtrak employees failed drug tests 51% more than what railroad industry average percentage? 1%? 50%?

And since Amtrak employees are a small fraction of total railroad employees, a small number of Amtrak employees who fail drug tests can result in Amtrak's statistic appearing much higher than what is likely a very small average for the whole industry.

The drug tests are not cheap, I work in Workers' Compensation insurance and we do drug tests that cost anywhere from $500 to $1,500 depending on what they are testing for. It's a shame that the company has to incur these expensive tests.

I agree with what others have written regarding sample size, I'm sure the big freight RR's have many more employees than amtrak.

as for Hours of service employees, they include Engineers - Conductors - Assistant Conductors - Signal Maintainers - Dispatchers - Electricians (checking cab signal).

Before you jump to conclusions please read the attached from the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers, I think it will clear the air in so far as Amtrak Engineers are concerned.

http://www.ble-t.org/pr/news/newsflash.asp?id=5341

Noel Weaver

Noel Weaver wrote:Before you jump to conclusions please read the attached from the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers, I think it will clear the air in so far as Amtrak Engineers are concerned.

http://www.ble-t.org/pr/news/newsflash.asp?id=5341

Noel Weaver

Didn't the BLET and other operating unions fight random drug testing after the 1987 Chase, Md disaster? Sorry, the BLET doesn't have any credibility on this issue, and hasn't had any credibility since fighting the bad fight against drug testing.

goodnightjohnwayne wrote:

Noel Weaver wrote:Before you jump to conclusions please read the attached from the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers, I think it will clear the air in so far as Amtrak Engineers are concerned.

http://www.ble-t.org/pr/news/newsflash.asp?id=5341

Noel Weaver

Didn't the BLET and other operating unions fight random drug testing after the 1987 Chase, Md disaster? Sorry, the BLET doesn't have any credibility on this issue, and hasn't had any credibility since fighting the bad fight against drug testing.

How do they not have credibility when they are the ones that represent an employee in the case of a failed drug test? I'm sure they know the numbers as far as engineers go so how can you say they don't have credibility based upon something that happened in 1987

goodnightjohnwayne wrote:

Noel Weaver wrote:Before you jump to conclusions please read the attached from the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers, I think it will clear the air in so far as Amtrak Engineers are concerned.

http://www.ble-t.org/pr/news/newsflash.asp?id=5341

Noel Weaver

Didn't the BLET and other operating unions fight random drug testing after the 1987 Chase, Md disaster? Sorry, the BLET doesn't have any credibility on this issue, and hasn't had any credibility since fighting the bad fight against drug testing.

YOU do not have any credibility on this issue either. No engineer with any conscience at all is proud of what happened in Chase, Maryland. It was a dark mark on all of us. We all knew that random testing was coming at the time and we had Rickey Gates to thank for it too. Having said that, your remarks about the BLE are way out of order, the union has NEVER stood in the way of safety in the industry and that includes drug testing. Personally I have no resepct for any railroader who does drugs and especially on the job, it is not necessary. For your information the vast majority of engineers and conductors are drug free, can't you admit that, that is all I ask for.
Noel Weaver