Drug Use Among Aviation Employees
When travelers board an aircraft, they have a reasonable expectation that they are putting their lives in the hands of a pilot and crew who take their responsibility for the passengers’ safety seriously. Not only must the pilot and crew behave responsibly while performing their job, but when off-duty, they must consider how their choices may affect the safety of the passengers placed in their care during work hours.
A recent study examined the prevalence of drug use among aviation employees (Li et al, 2011). The federal government requires drug testing of certain employees in "safety-sensitive" occupations, including airline pilots. The study assessed whether use of illicit drugs is associated with a heightened risk of airline accidents.
About the Study
The researchers used aviation employer records to analyze results of drug tests for substances, including marijuana, cocaine, amphetamines, opiates and phencyclidine. The analysis involved employees at all major airlines, commuter air carriers and air taxis, and non-FAA air traffic controllers. It included flight crewmembers, flight attendants, flight instructors and aircraft dispatchers. The analysis covered a 10-year period from 1995 to 2005.
The researchers looked at both random drug testing and post-accident testing. The random testing comprised about 96 percent of the data, representing urine testing for a random selection of at least 25 percent of employees. Post-accident testing was conducted within 32 hours of an accident for employees who may have had an impact on the accident through job performance.
Drug Use Rare but Serious
The results of the analysis revealed that the occurrence of drug use was very low in random drug testing. However, it also showed that when an employee tested positive for drugs, they were nearly three times as likely to be associated with an accident when compared with an employee who tested negative for drugs.
Across all drug violations, marijuana accounted for 67.3 percent of all violations, while cocaine accounted for 23.9 percent and amphetamines accounted for 6.1 percent.
There were some limitations to the results that may affect their generalizability to other segments of aviation. For instance, the analysis did not include non-commercial aviation accidents, which account for 90 percent of all aviation accidents.
The results of the analysis reveal that drug use among aviation employees is rare, but the risk of accident goes up significantly if an employee does use drugs. Because of the limitation of the study to commercial air, the research on the topic is limited.
