Who Is Covered by PHMSA Drug and Alcohol Testing?

PHMSA drug and alcohol testing rules are in 49 CFR Part 199. They require operators of pipeline facilities subject to 49 CFR Parts 192, 193, or 195 to test covered employees for prohibited drugs and alcohol (49 CFR 199.1). Those parts cover gas pipelines, liquefied natural gas (LNG) facilities, and hazardous liquid pipelines. Testing follows the DOT procedures in 49 CFR Part 40 (49 CFR 199.3, 199.5).

Covered employees. A covered employee is a person who performs a covered function, including persons employed by operators, contractors engaged by operators, and persons employed by those contractors. A covered function is an operations, maintenance, or emergency-response function regulated by Part 192, 193, or 195 that is performed on a pipeline or on an LNG facility. Performing a covered function includes actually performing, being ready to perform, or being immediately available to perform it (49 CFR 199.3).

Coverage turns on the function performed, not on the job title or the employer. A contractor's employee who performs a covered function on an operator's pipeline is a covered employee, and the operator, as a DOT-regulated employer, remains responsible for compliance when a contractor carries out the testing (49 CFR 199.3, 199.115).

Where the rules do not apply. Part 199 applies to operators only with respect to employees located within the territory of the United States, including the Outer Continental Shelf. It does not apply to a person for whom compliance would violate the domestic laws or policies of another country, or to covered functions performed on master meter systems or on pipeline systems that transport only petroleum gas or petroleum gas and air mixtures (49 CFR 199.2).

Contractor employees. An operator may provide by contract that the contractor carries out the drug testing, alcohol testing, education, and training that Part 199 requires. The operator remains responsible for compliance, and the contractor allows access to property and records by the operator, PHMSA, any state agency with jurisdiction over the operator, and, for alcohol testing, any DOT agency with regulatory authority over the operator or covered employee, for monitoring compliance (49 CFR 199.115, 49 CFR 199.245).

What testing covers. Covered employees are subject to pre-employment, post-accident, random, reasonable cause, return-to-duty, and follow-up drug testing (49 CFR 199.105). Part 199 lists post-accident, reasonable suspicion, return-to-duty, and follow-up alcohol tests and does not list random alcohol testing (49 CFR 199.225). PHMSA set the minimum annual random drug testing rate at 50 percent of covered employees for calendar year 2026 (90 FR 57129).