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Job Opportunity: Mobility Coordination/Transportation Planner
The Central Florida Regional Planning Council (CFRPC) seeks a dynamic, results oriented professional to implement the Heartland Rural Mobility Plan. The selected candidate will coordinate the requisite interagency agreements and financial resources necessary to implement a variety of mobility enhancing measures identified in the Plan and expand mobility options for the residents of the 6-county Heartland region. Primary responsibilities involve promoting the mobility plan among local elected officials, regional transportation providers and community stakeholders; obtaining support to implement the mobility options; coordinating with State and Federal transportation officials, and providing technical assistance to existing transportation providers within the region. This position serves the six Heartland Counties of DeSoto, Glades, Hardee, Hendry, Highlands and Okeechobee. The position requires work from two offices each week. Attendance and presentations at night hearings and meetings is required.
Application Deadline: January 31, 2012
View Full Job Posting
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Procedures for Transportation Workplace Drug and Alcohol Testing Programs
The following is a summary of the Final Rule:
1) The Department is required by the Omnibus Transportation Employees Testing Act (Omnibus Act) to follow the HHS requirements for the testing procedures/protocols and drugs for which we test.
2) Primary laboratory requirements in this final rule include:
- Testing for MDMA (aka. Ecstasy);
- Lowering cutoff levels for cocaine and amphetamines;
- Conducting mandatory initial testing for heroin;
3) The Department brought several testing definitions in-line with those of HHS.
4) Each Medical Review Officer (MRO) will need to be re-qualified – including passing an examination given by an MRO training organization - every five years. The Final Rule eliminated the requirement for each MRO to take 12 hours of continuing education every three years.
5) An MRO will not need to be trained by an HHS-approved MRO training organization as long as the MRO meets DOT’s qualification and requalification training requirements.
6) MRO recordkeeping requirements did not change from the five years for non-negatives and one year for negatives.
7) The Final Rule does not allow the use of HHS-Certified Instrumented Initial Testing Facilities (IITFs) to conduct initial drug testing because the Omnibus Act requires laboratories to be able to perform both initial and confirmation testing but IITFs cannot conduct confirmation testing.
8) The Final Rule is effective October 1, 2010.
Download the Final Rule
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| DOT Office of Drug and Alcohol Policy and Compliance Notice
Recently, the Department of Justice (DOJ) issued guidelines for Federal prosecutors in states that have enacted laws authorizing the use of “medical marijuana.” http://www.justice.gov/opa/documents/medical-marijuana.pdf.
We have had several inquiries about whether the DOJ advice to Federal prosecutors regarding pursuing criminal cases will have an impact upon the Department of Transportation’s longstanding regulation about the use of marijuana by safety-sensitive transportation employees – pilots, school bus drivers, truck drivers, train engineers, subway operators, aircraft maintenance personnel, transit fire-armed security personnel, ship captains, and pipeline emergency response personnel, among others.
We want to make it perfectly clear that the DOJ guidelines will have no bearing on the Department of Transportation’s regulated drug testing program. We will not change our regulated drug testing program based upon these guidelines to Federal prosecutors.
The Department of Transportation’s Drug and Alcohol Testing Regulation – 49 CFR Part 40, at 40.151(e) – does not authorize “medical marijuana” under a state law to be a valid medical explanation for a transportation employee’s positive drug test result.
That section states:
§ 40.151 What are MROs prohibited from doing as part of the verification process?
As an MRO, you are prohibited from doing the following as part of the verification process:
(e) You must not verify a test negative based on information that a physician recommended that the employee use a drug listed in Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act. (e.g., under a state law that purports to authorize such recommendations, such as the “medical marijuana” laws that some states have adopted.)
Therefore, Medical Review Officers will not verify a drug test as negative based upon information that a physician recommended that the employee use “medical marijuana.” Please note that marijuana remains a drug listed in Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act. It remains unacceptable for any safety‐sensitive employee subject to drug testing under the Department of Transportation’s drug testing regulations to use marijuana.
We want to assure the traveling public that our transportation system is the safest it can possibly be.
Jim L. Swart
Director
Office of the Secretary of Transportation
Office of Drug and Alcohol
Policy and Compliance
Department of Transportation
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Careers in Transit Video Release
 The National Center for Transit Research (NCTR) at the University of South Florida is pleased to announce the availability of a 10-minute video entitled “Careers in Transit”. Public Transportation has often been referred to as “the accidental occupation” because most people are not aware of the many good career opportunities that exist in the field of transit. This fast-paced DVD is designed to be seen by high school and college students who have yet to make up their minds on what field they will enter. It provides a preliminary glimpse of the kinds of jobs that are available, and stresses the “green nature” of transit as well as the extensive technology that is being utilized in all forms of transit systems. We hope it will increase their interest in exploring the possibility of working in the field of public transportation. Given the tremendous competition there will be for talent once the Boomer generation retires, the public transportation industry must compete for good applicants and increase its visibility as an employer of choice.
This video has been posted on You Tube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=txg9PDWTW78 View Script. We hope you will review the video and forward the link to as many people as you think would be interested in viewing it, and advise others of its availability. A hard copy of the DVD is being sent to all Human Resource Directors of transit agencies that are members of APTA.
We would also like to gratefully acknowledge the Hillsborough Area Regional Transit Authority in Tampa, Florida, the Research and Innovative Technology Administration of the USDOT, and the Florida Department of Transportation for providing the funding needed to produce this video. I also want to acknowledge Stephanie Zavacki of NCTR for her diligence and patience in producing the video. We hope it will be an excellent tool for those who wish to help young people become aware of the many good paying, interesting, and community-oriented positions there are in a field that is sure to expand in the future.
Sincerely,
Joel Volinski, Director - National Center for Transit Research
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Mandatory Direct Observation for DOT Return-to-Duty and Follow-Up Testing
Effective today, August 31, 2009, Direct Observation collections are mandatory for all DOT Return-to-Duty and Follow-Up drug testing.
On May 15, 2009, the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit unanimously upheld DOT’s direct observation drug testing rules applicable to return-to-duty, safety-sensitive transportation industry employees who have already failed or refused to take a prior drug test. The Court found that the rules were not arbitrary or capricious and did not violate the Fourth Amendment constitutional prohibition on unreasonable searches and seizures.
Because there was an opportunity for the parties to seek rehearing of the Court’s ruling, the Court’s stay of the direct observation rule continued in effect. The Court issued a Mandate on July 1, 2009, which finalized the decision, thereby lifting the stay on Direct Observation for return-to duty and follow-up testing. We published an amendment to Part 40.67(b) on July 30, 2009, reinstating the Direct Observation requirement, effective August 31, 2009.
As with other DOT Direct Observation collections conducted since August 25, 1998, DOT Return-to-Duty and Follow-up drug testing will now require that a same gender observer check for prosthetic and other devices that could be used to cheat a drug test. This is in addition to the observer’s subsequently watching the employee urinate into the collection container.
DOT’s 49 CFR Part 40 directly observed collections are authorized and required only when:
● The employee attempts to tamper with his or her specimen at the collection site.
-- The specimen temperature is outside the acceptable range;
-- The specimen shows signs of tampering ~ unusual color / odor / characteristic; or
-- The collector finds an item in the employee’s pockets or wallet which appears to be brought into the site to contaminate a specimen; or the collector notes conduct suggesting tampering.
● The Medical Review Officer (MRO) orders the direct observation because:
-- The employee has no legitimate medical reason for certain atypical laboratory results; or
-- The employee’s positive or refusal [adulterated / substituted] test result had to be cancelled because the split specimen test could not be performed (for example, the split was not collected).
● The test is a Follow-Up test or a Return-to-Duty test.
Be sure to check-out the DOT website for updates to the following downloadable documents:
What Employees Need to Know About DOT Drug and Alcohol Testing
What Employers Need to Know About DOT Drug and Alcohol Testing
DOT's Direct Observation Procedures Poster
Urine Specimen Collection Guidelines
The Substance Abuse Professionals Guidelines
Drug and Alcohol Testing Rule [49 CFR Part 40]
Full text of the Part 40 Amendment published on July 30, 2009 is available at: http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2009/pdf/E9-18156.pdf
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| Zero Fatalities Video - The Dangers While Texting and Driving
The Utah Department of Transportation and the Utah Department of Public Safety have released a DVD that examines the dangers of distracted driving. The DVD features a teen whose text messaging while driving resulted in the death of two men.
View Video
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Federal Transit Administration - What's New?
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Please follow the "now available" link below for news and updates from the Federal Tranist Administration: This information has recently been updated with the Federal Register. FTA Issues Final Rule amending regulations which govern the provision of charter service by recipients of federal funds, and is now available. |
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ESPA Distance Learning Opportunities
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Easter Seals Project ACTION extends its range and scope of FREE learning opportunities through a series of “Distance Learning” events. These events are offered as audio conferences featuring distinguished guest speakers who are experts in the topic to be discussed.
For more information visit the Easter Seals Project Action website
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