CONOR SHINE ON APR 10, 2017
SOURCE: MCCLATCHY & SecurityInfoWatch.com
A new report out this week revealed 858 Transportation Security Administration workers failed drug or alcohol tests since 2010, including 21 at DFW International Airport and eight at Love Field.
But while the thought of impaired workers being responsible for airport security is alarming, the report by Portland’s NBC-affiliate KGW found that the rate of failed tests is lower than the average for federal employees in safety-sensitive positions.
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The TSA conducted random drug tests on 17,649 employees in 2016, with 97 testing positive, a rate of 0.55 percent, according to data compiled by KGW under a Freedom of Information Act request. That compares to the positive test rate of 1.5 percent for all federal employees in safety-sensitive jobs, according to Quest Diagnostics.
The TSA conducts drug and alcohol tests randomly and in cases where there is reasonable suspicion an employee is intoxicated. Employees who test positive are fired, a TSA spokesperson told KGW.
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DFW Airport had the highest number of failed drug or alcohol tests between 2010 and 2016 among the 11 Texas airports included in the report. Houston’s George Bush Intercontinental Airport came in second with 14, followed by Love Field.
Across the country, 51 TSA workers at Los Angeles International Airport tested positive between 2010 and 2016, with another 40 at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport and 35 at Boston’s Logan International Airport.
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