Analysis of Human Reliability Program Data

The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the US Department of Energy, and the International Atomic Energy Agency enforce or recommend fitness-for-duty, human reliability, or trustworthiness programs, respectively, at nuclear facilities under their purview. In general, security and safety reliability programs have two main objectives: (1) prevent and mitigate insider threats and (2) ensure that personnel with access to critical assets, operations, and information meet the highest standards of reliability and physical and mental suitability. In addition to the nuclear entities, the US Department of Transportation has also created regulations for fitness-for-duty program implementation through its respective regulating agencies such as the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, Federal Aviation Administration, Federal Railroad Administration, Federal Transit Administration, and Pipeline and Hazardous Material Safety Administration. A trove of data on drug and alcohol tests is collected as part of these personnel reliability programs. For the past several years, these data were published in the public domain by the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission for US nuclear power plants and by the US Department of Transportation for its entities. This paper presents an analysis of these data, which provide useful insights. (1) The positive test rates (percentage of personnel who are tested) for preemployment and random drug and alcohol tests for US Department of Transportation agencies and US nuclear power plant personnel are similar. (2) Positive test rates (percentage of personnel who are tested) for random drug and alcohol tests were substantially higher for nonpermanent (contractor and vendor) employees at US nuclear power plants. Analysis also showed the importance of institutionalizing these personnel reliability programs in nationally important industries for effective security and safety.