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CHAPTER SIX
ALTERNATIVE STRATEGIES
Efforts were made to reach out to the regulated community of this report were provided to the respective companies
to identify current practices used to deter drug and alcohol to confirm that the report accurately portrayed what they
use among operators. Forty-six companies were contacted communicated.
for the purpose of the synthesis. Although the original work
plan specified that small, medium, and large companies The following sections outline some of the procedures
should be sampled for each mode, it became clear early on in aimed at deterring employees' drug and alcohol abuse that
the data-collection phase that only large and medium compa- exceed the minimum regulatory requirements. Some proce-
nies would have the resources and personnel to comply with dures are applicable to all modes, whereas others are most
requests for information. Regardless of size, few companies likely limited to a single mode. Also, some procedures are
responded to the initial contact, and fewer than 10 agreed to already in place, whereas others are in the planning stage.
provide information. The low level of participation may have
resulted from the absence of a clear incentive, a reluctance
to share alcohol- and drug-testing policies, a reluctance to ZERO-TOLERANCE POLICIES
participate in telephone surveys, or a combination of these
factors. In any case, it is important to note that the responses With zero-tolerance policies, if an employee has a positive
only reflect the companies that agreed to respond. Whether drug or alcohol test, or the employee refuses to take the test,
these responses are representative of the entire industry is the employee is immediately removed from the safety-sen-
unknown. Table 23 shows the companies that responded to sitive position and not given a second chance to return to
our initial contact and those that provided information. that position. Of the companies responding to the request
for information, Continental Airlines and BNSF have some
variant of a zero-tolerance policy.
TABLE 23
COMPANIES SAMPLED FOR THE STUDY
Continental Airlines, operating a fleet of more than 300
Mode Companies That Responded to Initial Companies That aircrafts, implements a variation of a zero-tolerance policy.
Contact Provided
Information In general, no employee is guaranteed a second chance. After
a confirmed positive test, an employee may be permanently
Aviation US Airways, Inc.; Southwest Airlines Continental
Co.; Continental Airlines Airlines removed from his or her position or offered a last-chance
Maritime None None
agreement. The last-chance agreement requires the employee
to enroll in an EAP and pass a return-to-duty test and a series
Motor IWX Motor Freight; McLane Com- J.B. Hunt
Carrier pany, Inc.; Swift Transportation, Inc.; Transport of follow-up tests. The last-chance agreement may be offered
J.B. Hunt Transport Services, Inc. Services, Inc. on the basis of the employee's history with the company, rou-
Pipelines Sunoco, Inc.; U.S. Steel Corp.; Koch Halliburton tine evaluation results, work ethic, potential drug or alcohol
Pipeline Co. LP; U.S. Pipeline, Inc.; problem, and the professional opinion of the MRO.
Halliburton
Public First Transit; Trailways Greyhound BNSF Rail Company links 28 states and two Canadian
Transit Transportation System, Inc.; Lines, Inc.; provinces with a network of railways, covering two-thirds of
Greyhound Lines, Inc. Trailways
Transportation the United States. BNSF does not guarantee second chances
System, Inc. following the first confirmed positive drug and/or alcohol
Rail Amtrak, BNSF Rail Co., CSX Corp., BNSF Rail Co. violation. If any employee tests positive, then the violation
Norfolk Southern Corp., Union can lead to dismissal. Refusals to test are also not tolerated,
Pacific RR, Watco Companies, Inc.
and the employee can be disqualified for 9 months and may
also be subject to termination. Likewise, extended shy-lung
Data were obtained through unstructured phone and and shy-bladder incidents, where the subsequent medical
e-mail interviews with assigned company representatives. evaluation does not confirm an underlying medical cause,
No efforts were made to independently verify the represen- will be considered refusals to test and the employee can be
tatives' claims. After the interviews, the relevant sections disqualified for 9 months and may also be subject to termi-
