One person, three kinds of qualification

One employee can hold a task-based gas qualification, a state operator licence with education hours, and an employer's qualified-person determination, all at once. Each lapses on its own clock. This paper argues for one record per person and one calendar for every lapse date.

Task-based qualification

Under Subpart N of 49 CFR 192, each gas operator has and follows a written qualification program. It identifies covered tasks, evaluates the people who do them, and sets how often each task is re-evaluated; the federal rule sets no fixed interval. Qualified means evaluated, able to do the task, and able to recognise and react to abnormal operating conditions. Observation of on-the-job performance cannot be the only evaluation method. Records show who is qualified, for which covered tasks, the dates of current qualification and the methods used. Indiana goes further: the operator follows a written training program with initial training, re-qualification training and training on the tools and equipment the employee will use (170 IAC 5-3-2(t)). Two federal proposals would add Subpart N duties, for leak survey, grading and repair, and for construction that could overpressurize a district regulator station. Neither is final.

Licences and continuing education

Water and wastewater licences run on state clocks. In Oklahoma, DEQ licences (OAC 252:710) renew every year by 4:30 p.m. on June 30. Training hours each certificate year depend on the highest licence held: Class A 16, Class B 12, Class C 8, Class D 4 and Class T 4, and 4 of the hours must be classroom training attended in person. The owner tells DEQ in writing within 10 days when an operator starts or leaves. In Indiana, water and wastewater certificates renew every three years with proof of continuing education. Drinking water operators need 10 to 30 contact hours per three-year period, depending on grade; wastewater operators need 8, 15 or 30, depending on class. At least 70 percent must be technical.

The employer's determination

Some qualifications are the employer's own decision. For electric power work under 29 CFR 1910.269, a qualified employee is trained and competent to tell exposed live parts, find nominal voltage, keep minimum approach distances, use special precautionary techniques, protective equipment and insulated tools, and recognise and control electrical hazards, and shows proficiency before training is complete. Some OSHA standards require a written training certification: lockout/tagout (29 CFR 1910.147), with each employee's name and training dates; permit-required confined spaces; and powered industrial trucks, where each operator's performance is also evaluated at least every 3 years.

Drivers

City CDL drivers are covered by the federal drug and alcohol testing rules. 49 CFR 390.3T(f)(2) says that, unless otherwise specifically provided, the federal motor carrier rules in 49 CFR 350 to 399 do not apply to transportation performed by a state or any political subdivision of a state. (49 CFR 390.3 has been suspended since 8 November 2021; 390.3T is the section in force.) For drug and alcohol testing, 49 CFR 382.103(c) provides otherwise: the exceptions in 390.3T(f) "do not apply to this part." So 49 CFR 382 and its Clearinghouse cover a city's CDL drivers. Read together, the same exception takes government transportation out of the federal driver qualification file rules at 49 CFR 391. Where the driver-file rules do apply, the file holds the application, the motor vehicle records, the road test certificate, the annual review and the medical certification, and it is kept for the length of employment plus 3 years.

Keeping the file

Each regime keeps its own clock. Operator qualification: records of prior qualification, and of people who no longer do covered tasks, are kept 5 years (49 CFR 192.807). Indiana's pipeline rule keeps the records that document compliance with it for at least 7 years. Drug and alcohol testing: 1 to 5 years depending on the record, in a controlled-access location. Driver files: employment plus 3 years. Injury logs: 5 years (29 CFR 1904.33). Bloodborne pathogen training: 3 years (29 CFR 1910.1030). One file per person, with each record's own retention date, keeps these clocks from colliding.

Why TheComplianceHQ

We run your compliance program as a service: the calendar, the records, the plans and the filings for your signature.
You stay the operator of record, and your people stay yours. When the work needs a credential or a field specialist, we bring in a qualified expert under contract.
We keep a dated record of each task as it is reported to us, and we record a correction as a new dated entry showing what it replaced, so the file answers the inspector's question the day it is asked.
One calendar across every system you run, so the same people, trucks and tickets are never tracked twice.

Sources

This paper is provided for orientation and is not legal advice. Operators remain responsible for compliance with all applicable federal and state requirements.