A look will be taken at the drug policy of the aviation industry and how membership in the FAA drug testing consortium can apply to airlines across the industry. Attention will also be paid to the anti-drug usage policies that have been developed because of the parent policy and how FAA drug testing makes it safer for all concerned.
In most of the transportation industries, you will find that mandatory drug testing has become the norm. The main reason for this is that the airlines as well as the other transportation outlets have realized that routinely testing their employees is one of many ways to ensure that the employees are in the best possible condition to operate whatever machinery that they may have to in the course of their jobs. FAA drug testing has become mandatory almost from the inception of the drug usage policy (executive order 12564) signed by president Reagan back in the mid 1980‘s and later passed by congress as the drug free workplace act of 1988. From that point in time to the present, FAA drug testing consortiums have come together to provide both aviation and other transport based companies the complete package as far as the process to collect, record and analyze samples for drug usage is concerned.
As a result of the act that was signed back in 1988, other policies and even in some cases programs have been developed in order to regularly test and keep track of the possible drug usage among transportation ( both air and ground) workers. FAA drug testing makes it easier for an employer to spontaneously check an employee suspected of drug usage and remove that employee from active service. It also allows for the employer (if the test returns a positive result) to recommend and refer that employee to some type of rehab program. On the whole, membership in an FAA drug testing consortium is also a good way to keep up with the changes in policy as far as drug usage and certain types of jobs are concerned.
Another piece of information to look at is the fact that the drug abatement division exists. What this means is that this division is charged with the creation of FAA drug testing policies as well as regulations that control how these tests are conducted and the results analyzed. FAA drug testing consortiums are, as a result, forced to keep up with any and all changes in policy so that their membership is covered as far as those policies are concerned. What needs to be understood is that these policies do not only exist to protect the employers but the employees as well. If, for whatever reason, an employer has reason (real or contrived) to believe that an employee has been using illegal drugs and that this usage might affect the performance of their jobs, then this employer has the right to request that an employee submit a sample (under the proper conditions) for testing. Now in the same light, if an employee suspects that an employer has been using illegal drugs, caution should guide that employee‘s next few steps.
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