OPS Proposes Method for Collecting Drug and Alcohol Testing Data from Contractors

Print PDFSusan Olenchuk, Chris Mills
April 22, 2005

On April 21, the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, Office of Pipeline Safety (OPS) issued a notice of intent to issue an Advisory Bulletin regarding the collection of drug and alcohol testing data for contractor employees performing covered functions in the pipeline industry. The notice proposes a method of collecting contractor testing data directly from the contractors themselves, rather than through pipeline operators, and requests comments on the proposed testing data collection method and seeks suggestions for alternative approaches.

Proposed Method for Collecting Contractor Drug and Alcohol Testing Data

OPS’s existing regulations, at 49 C.F.R. Part 199, require operators of gas, hazardous liquid, and carbon dioxide pipelines and liquefied natural gas (LNG) facilities with more than 50 covered employees to submit annual Management Information Systems (MIS) reports to OPS on their drug and alcohol testing results. A “covered employee” is defined as a person employed by the pipeline operator, a contractor engaged by the operator, or a person employed by such contractor, who performs operations, maintenance, or emergency-response functions regulated under Part 192 (gas pipelines), Part 195 (hazardous liquids pipelines), or Part 193 (LNG facilities). In its 1993 final rule adopting Part 199, OPS deferred collecting testing data from operators. At that time, OPS concluded that requiring operators to submit contractor data could result in duplicative reporting and inaccurate data that would affect the reported positive rate for the entire industry, which in turn would affect the calculation of the minimum annual percent rate for random drug testing.

OPS intends to issue an advisory bulletin that will end the deferment period and begin collecting data from contractors on drug and alcohol testing. OPS plans to begin collecting contractor testing data in calendar year 2006, and undertake any necessary enforcement in 2007. OPS proposes to allow operators to use contractors as their agents to report the testing data directly to OPS, rather than having operators submit the data. OPS encourages operators to include language to that effect in their agreements with contractors. Submission of testing data may be made online or by mail. OPS will create and assign unique identifiers for contractors to facilitate submission.

OPS is requesting comments on this proposed data collection method and on ways to avoid duplication and to enhance data quality by June 6, 2005. After reviewing comments, OPS will issue an advisory bulletin notifying operators of the selected method for reporting contractor testing data, which is expected to begin in 2006. Information regarding OPS’s drug and alcohol regulations can be found at http://ops.dot.gov.

###

Based in Washington, DC — with an office in Seattle, Washington — Van Ness Feldman is a nationally recognized law firm specializing in energy, the environment, natural resources, and infrastructure security. Founded in 1977, the firm now has more than 75 attorneys and public policy professionals. A number of our members have served as counsel or chief counsel to congressional committees with jurisdiction over energy and environmental policy, as well as senior advisors to Democratic and Republican Members of Congress on those committees. Others have held high-level appointments in the Department of Energy, the Department of the Interior, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, and the Environmental Protection Agency.

This document has been prepared by Van Ness Feldman for informational purposes only and is not a legal opinion, does not provide legal advice for any purpose, and neither creates nor constitutes evidence of an attorney-client relationship.