Hazardous Waste Operations and Emergency Response (HAZWOPER)

Purpose

HAZWOPER is an acronym which stands for Hazardous Waste Operations and Emergency Response. HAZWOPER training is covered under OSHA standard 29 CFR Part 1910.120. The course is designed to educate people on dangers involved while handling a hazardous waste and may constitute of following situation:

• High concentrations of toxic substances.
• Situation that is life or injury threatening.
• Imminent Danger to Life and Health (IDLH) environments.
• Situation that presents an oxygen deficient atmosphere.
• Condition that poses a fire or explosion hazard.
• Situation that required an evacuation of the area.
• A situation that requires immediate attention because of the danger posed to employees in the area.

Target Audience

According to OSHA, the HAZWOPER standard applies to five groups of employers as below:

• Cleanup operations required by a governmental body involving hazardous substances conducted at uncontrolled hazardous-waste sites
• Corrective actions involving clean-up operations at sites – Resource Conservation and Recovery
• Voluntary cleanup operations at sites recognized by a federal, state, local, or other governmental body as uncontrolled hazardous-waste sites
• Operations involving hazardous waste which are conducted at treatment, storage and disposal facilities
• Emergency response operations for releases of, or substantial threats of release of, hazardous substances (regardless of the hazard’s location)

Employees and employers covered by the OSHA HAZWOPER standard are required to take the initial HAZWOPER training which consists of a 24 or 40-hour course. Depending on your job type and experience, you may be able to take the 24-hour course to meet your HAZWOPER training requirement.

Every year after the initial training requirement has been met, workers are required to take an 8-hour HAZWOPER refresher course. This refresher course is designed to meet the annual training requirement for hazardous waste operations and emergency response workers.

Course Content

24 Hrs (3 days) – Required for employees visiting an Uncontrolled Hazardous Waste Operation 

1. Understand the purpose of OSHA and its role in regulating occupational safety
2. Use Site Characterization to establish problems that may exist in your workplace and measures that can be implemented to eliminate hazards
3. Identify hazardous materials existent in the workplace and the possible methods, symptoms and preventative measures of exposure
4. Encourage the use of Material Safety Data sheets (MSDS) to identify and properly handle hazardous materials
5. Familiarize yourself with materials, compounds and mixtures that may present flammable, explosive, chemical or radiological hazards
6. Emphasize the importance of personal protective equipment in limiting hazardous exposure
7. Establish an effective Site Control Program to limit the risk of exposure to only those working in the hazardous work zone
8. Implement procedures for treating workers in the event of hazardous exposure

40 Hrs ( 5 days) – Workers that perform activities that expose them to hazardous substances

1. Contents of the OSHA Hazwoper standard, including the standard’s five appendices
2. Site safety and health programs, such as a site-specific safety and health plan and a medical surveillance program
3. Identifying, evaluating, and controlling the five major categories of hazards at a Hazwoper site: chemical health, chemical physical, physical safety, biological and ergonomic hazards
4. Respiratory hazard and protection basics, including requirements for medical surveillance and respiratory protection programs
5. Responding to emergencies at hazardous waste sites and to hazardous substance releases
6. Hazwoper training requirements
7. Site characterization, site control and a hazard communication program
8. Elements of the Hazard Communication Standard (HCS)
9. Materials handling, and handling drums and container
10. Decontaminating personnel and equipment
11. Hazwoper requirements for a treatment, storage, and disposal (TSD) facility, as regulated under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act of 1976 (RCRA)
12. Selecting, inspecting, using and maintaining respirators
13. Selecting and using personal protective equipment (PPE) and chemical protective clothing
14. Detectors and monitors at a hazardous waste site
15. Excavations, including soil analysis, sloping, benching and shoring

8 Hrs ( 1 day) – Annual Refresher Training – All Workers 

1. Read and understand OSHA regulations and requirements
2. Summarize Site Characterization
3. Understand the principles of toxicology and how they relate to various types of chemical exposures
4. Describe potentially hazardous situations involving corrosives, solvents, oxidizers and reactive chemicals
5. Identify the uses for Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and how to choose the correct PPE
6. Understand the principles of decontamination as well as levels of decontamination and methods
7. Understand the confined space permit system; be able to identify the main confined space atmospheric hazards, types of ventilation and gain an overall understanding of medical concerns associated with confined spaces
8. Understand the various considerations in an emergency situation and the importance of training and actions to personal safety and the safety of others