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At Monday’s meeting of the Stanly County Board of Commissioners, the board adopted changes to the System Safety Program for the SCUSA transportation as part of its consent agenda.

Changes included adding an annual review of the safety plan as required by the N.C. Department of Transportation’s Integrated Mobility Division (IMD).

Another change which required board approval was updating the alcohol and drug policy to reflect changes in policy by the Federal Transit Administration. Changes included defining an employee covered by FTA authority as “an employee who performs a safety sensitive function including an applicant or transferee who is being considered for hire into a safety-sentimental position.”

The policy also states specifically the prohibition of the use of illegal drugs and prohibits employees from consuming alcohol within four hours prior to performing job duties or eight hours following any accident until the employee submits to a drug test.

Post-accident testing will be required for fatal and non-fatal accidents as well. Any positive test will require an employee to be evaluated by two substance abuse professionals.