Screening Changes
Some changes are taking place to the drug and alcohol screening service. This is in line with changes made to the Network Rail / main line requirements.
– Propoxyphene will no longer be a drug required on the drug screening panel, Tramadol and ketamine will be added.
– The cut-off level for cocaine testing is being decreased to 150ng/mL for screening and 100ng/mL for confirmation testing
We had the opportunity to accept these changes or stick with the previous arrangements. We have opted to include these changes to the HRSS screening service, as we think maintaining consistency with the main line is the best line of defense for heritage railways.
If anyone has any concerns with these changes please let us know.
Random Testing
The random testing rate on Network Rail is being increased to 20% of Sentinel card holders per year.
While we don’t propose it is reasonably practicable for heritage railways to test one fifth of safety critical staff per year, it is reasonably practicable for a smaller frequency of random tests to be carried out, and we suggest that once every two/three years is a reasonable frequency with which to arrange a random test visit and test four staff.
The principle of random testing shows that duty holders take the issue seriously, both to authorities but more relevantly to heritage railway staff themselves.
(Costs via HRSS: Pre-booked random test visit: £215, laboratory analysis 4 x £65. Total = £475)
Random selection of staff: You can randomly choose who will be tested or, if you wish to demonstrate no bias, you can prepare a list of all staff available for testing (eg ‘Who’s on Site’ list in Time Register) and the collection agent will randomly pick one from the list.
Random selection of date: You can randomly select a date yourself and book the service to come out. Or, again if you wish to demonstrate no bias, you can request HRSS to randomly select a date for you during the year and either tell you 2 days before so that you can book the van or book the van on your behalf and it will just show up unannounced. Let us know if you would like us to do this.
It is also reasonable to select staff for random screening on an occasion when the screening van has been called out for for-cause screening. A for-cause callout can screen up to four people, so if only one is required to be for-cause screened then three more could be randomly selected in order to achieve a random screening tick with reduced additional expense.
If anyone has any questions about any of the above please let us know.