What Is Reasonable Suspicion? | KnowledgeCity

Описание: This video is from the FAA: Reasonable Suspicion Drug and Alcohol Testing for Managers and Supervisors online training course. Click here to view full course:
https://www.knowledgecity.com/en/libr... Have you ever noticed someone on your team acting differently and wondered if it meant something serious? In workplaces regulated by the Federal Aviation Administration, or FAA, safety comes first and even small changes in behavior can be a big deal. That’s why the FAA doesn’t leave room for guesswork. When it comes to drug and alcohol use in safety-sensitive roles the FAA expects supervisors to spot and act on warning signs. This is what reasonable suspicion is all about. It's a standard that helps you recognize risk and make sure safety-sensitive jobs are performed only by employees who are fit for duty. Let’s break down what reasonable suspicion means. The term might sound vague at first, but it has a very specific meaning in FAA-regulated workplaces. Reasonable suspicion means a belief that an employee might be using drugs or alcohol based on something they actually see or hear. These must be clear signs of how the employee: Looks, Acts, Speaks Or even smells, And they must happen at the time you make the decision to act. It’s not based on a feeling you had or gossip you heard. It must be based on clear, describable observations. There’s a difference between suspicion and speculation. If you say, "John seems off today," that’s speculation, and it's not enough. But if you notice someone slurring their speech, stumbling when they walk, or smelling strongly of alcohol, those are real signs you can explain. That’s what makes it reasonable suspicion. Timing matters too. The behavior you document must be happening now, not something you remember from last week. If you see these signs happening currently, that’s when you’d run a reasonable suspicion test. This is when you send the employee for a drug or alcohol test because of signs you saw right then and there. Your suspicion also needs to be legally defensible. This means that your decision to test someone and the reasons behind it may be questioned later in a legal setting or investigation. To do this, it has to meet three simple rules: it needs to be specific, contemporaneous, and articulable. Specific means you can point to exact behaviors, like glassy eyes or erratic speech. Contemporaneous means these behaviors happened in the moment or right when you made the decision. And articulable means you can clearly describe what you saw and heard in plain, simple words—not vague feelings or assumptions. Here’s an example. A supervisor says, "Tom's acting weird." That statement is too general and doesn’t give us much. But imagine the supervisor says, "At 3:15 p.m., I saw Tom stumble on his way to the aircraft. He was mumbling and looked confused about the work he was supposed to be doing." The second version shows what happened, when it happened, and why it matters. That kind of report justifies a reasonable suspicion test. In FAA-regulated jobs, safety is everything. If a pilot, mechanic, or dispatcher is under the influence of drugs or alcohol, it can put passengers, coworkers, and the public in danger. That’s why supervisors are expected to keep things safe. So if you spot warning signs that meet the criteria for reasonable suspicion, you would remove the employee from duty and start the testing process. But it’s equally important to know your limits. As a supervisor or manager, your role is to observe and report. You might not be qualified to diagnose anyone, conduct a personal search, or make medical assessments. But you’re the person closest to safety-sensitive roles and best equipped to notice the warning signs and start the right protocols. Some industries might use the term reasonable cause, but for FAA supervisors, reasonable suspicion is the official term for both drug and alcohol testing. The signs and testing timelines can differ for drugs and alcohol, but the standard for acting on what you observe stays the same. So, know what to look for, document what you see, and act when the situation demands it without jumping to conclusions.

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