Well that didn’t take long.

Two TTC employees have been suspended for being impaired on the job after they both failed tests on the very first day of the transit agency’s new random drug and alcohol testing program.

One failed a breathalyzer test for alcohol, while a second tested positive for an undisclosed drug.

TTC chair Councillor Josh Colle called the results “really disappointing.”

“I certainly hope it’s an aberration,” he said.

The TTC began randomly testing its workers for substance abuse on Monday, with about eight workers arbitrarily selected, according to agency spokesperson Brad Ross.

The very first employee given a breathalyzer that morning blew over the limit, according to Ross. He was found to have a blood alcohol level of more than .04 per cent, which the transit agency considers impaired.

The results of a drug test for a second employee also tested Monday came back positive two days later. While Ross couldn’t say which drug the worker had consumed, the test detects several common intoxicants including marijuana, cocaine, opiates, amphetamines and PCP.

Ross wouldn’t give details about the employees, except to say that neither was a driver or vehicle operator. About 10,000 workers are eligible for testing because they hold positions that the agency has deemed “safety-sensitive.”

The two workers have been suspended with pay, but employees who fail the tests can face additional discipline, including dismissal.

TTC CEO Andy Byford said the failed tests are “concerning” but argued that they show the transit agency’s decision to implement the controversial testing policy “is both justified and vindicated.”

“The TTC's only motivation in pressing for the introduction of random testing to strengthen its existing fitness for duty policy was to ensure that it is doing everything possible to keep the public and its employees safe,” he said.

He added that he believes the “overwhelming majority” of TTC workers are “transit professionals that attend work fit for duty.”

Kevin Morton, secretary-treasurer of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 113, which represents more than 10,000 TTC workers, told the Star in an interview that “we don’t want anybody to come to work impaired.” But he denied that the positive tests show there’s a systemic substance abuse problem at the TTC.

“I think the sample size is way too small,” he said. “Call me in a month.”

“You would have to do this for a long period of time and get a huge sample size before you could make any comment.”

Local 113 fought for years to block the TTC’s attempts to implement random testing, arguing that it would violate workers’ rights. Last month the Ontario Superior Court upheld the policy, however.

In its court filings, the transit agency cited evidence from a TTC investigator who testified that there was a “culture of drug and alcohol use” among the workforce that was putting the public at risk. The agency said that between 2010 and 2016 there were 291 documented instances when employee behaviour raised safety concerns, and substance abuse was suspected in almost half of them.

Under the new policy, the transit agency plans to test about 20 per cent of workers in safety-sensitive and other designated positions each year.

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Employees are randomly selected by a computer program run by an independent company based outside of Cambridge, Ont, and the TTC says it has no input into which employees are chosen.

Workers in roughly 1,400 different TTC jobs are eligible for testing, including everyone from bus, streetcar, and subway operators to janitors, solicitors, upholsterers, painters, auditors, and token machine attendants.

Certain management and executives are also eligible for testing, including the CEO.

Morton, the Local 113 secretary-treasurer, questioned why employees in so many different positions can be tested.

“I don’t know how they consider a painter safety sensitive,” he said. “This is just a broad scoop of people to see how many people they can get in.”

He also questioned whether the TTC’s standards might catch people who aren’t actually impaired, including workers who take prescription medication or have only low levels of alcohol in their system.

According to the transit agency, any employee found at work with a blood alcohol concentration of between .02 and .039 can be subject to “progressive discipline,” while anyone above .04 is considered impaired.

The Ontario Ministry of Transportation considers drivers who register levels of between .05 and .08 to be within the “warn range,” while anyone with a level higher than that can be criminally charged.

“No one wants anyone impaired at work. The question is, .02 to .039 an impairment? It’s not legally,” Morton said.

The TTC says the cutoff levels were “determined by experts” and indicate recent use of drugs or alcohol while screening out things like normal prescription drug use or second-hand marijuana smoke.

“The TTC believes these levels are necessary for the safety of all workers, in addition to customers and the public,” said Ross.

Read more: Employee substance abuse problems putting public at risk, TTC warns