Can Drug Testing Guidance help answer Operator Qualification 4-part test?

Unlike the Operator Qualification rule, which is new and untested, the DOT Drug and Alcohol Testing rules have been in place since 1988. Volumes of guidance have been created concerning the applicability of the drug and alcohol testing rules to various persons and activities. While the drug testing rule has a larger scope than the OQ rule (for instance, drug testing covers emergency response activities and LNG facilities, both of which are not covered by the OQ rule), there are many similarities in the application of the 2 rules:

The drug and alcohol testing rules in 49 CFR Part 199 define a "covered function" as "an operations, maintenance, or emergency response function conducted on the pipeline or LNG facility that is regulated by Part 192, 193, or 195".

The Operator Qualification rules define a "covered task" as a task that is "an operations and maintenance task" (question 2), "performed on a pipeline facility" (question 1), and "performed as a requirement of this part" (question 3).

If the same logic is applied to the OQ rule as to the drug testing rule, the following activities would be "covered tasks":

• replacement of pipe, even if the work does not include making the tie-in to the operating pipeline
• serving as a "call-out" employee to do initial inspection and reset of a facility which has had an alarm
• performing UT, radiographic, and magnetic flux tests on a pipeline
• conducting and witnessing hydrostatic tests of a pipeline, when the test is performed for operations or maintenance reasons
• control of pipeline pressure by a refinery operator
• opening / closing valves on a pipeline to change the source of gas to the pipeline