HAZWOPER: Overview for Waste Site Workers Online Training Course - English

Hazardous waste is a serious problem that continues to endanger humans, animals, and environmental quality. However, as workers clean up hazardous waste sites, they face safety and health hazards. OSHA issued the Hazardous Waste Operations and Emergency Response (HAZWOPER) Standard to protect workers during cleanup operations and help them handle the wastes safely and effectively.

This HAZWOPER training course is designed to introduce hazardous waste cleanup site hazards, tells the history behind the HAZWOPER Standard, gives on overview of the paragraphs of the standard that impact cleanup workers, covers the different cleanup worker roles and training requirements, and summarizes important worker rights under the Occupational Safety and Health Act.

• The eLearning course covers the following topics:
• The Basics
• Hazardous Waste Cleanup Worker
• Why Is Cleanup Necessary?
• Worker Protection Is Important
• Standard Needed
• History
• Why HAZWOPER?
• Three Laws
• The Regulations
• Standard
• Overview
• Safety & Health Program
• Site Characterization & Analysis
• Site Control
• Training
• Medical Surveillance
• Control Measures
• Monitoring
• Informational Programs
• Handling Drums & Containers
• Decontamination
• Emergency Response
• Illumination
• Sanitation
• New Technology Programs
• Roles & Training 
• Five Distinct Roles
• General Site Employee
• Routine Site Employee
• Non-Routine Site Employee
• Onsite Supervisor or Manager
• Emergency Response Personnel
• Rights & Responsibilities
• Employee Rights
• Employer Responsibilities
• After completing this course, learners will be able to:
• Recognize the importance of hazardous waste cleanup site work and the many hazards that are present at hazardous waste cleanup sites
• Describe the history behind the HAZWOPER Standard and some of the laws that brought it about
• Discuss an overview of the paragraphs of the HAZWOPER Standard that impact cleanup workers
• List the five cleanup worker roles and their training requirements
• Summarize key employee rights and employer responsibilities under the Occupational Safety and Health Act
• Intended Audience: Any employees who may be involved or expected to engage in hazardous waste cleanup operations where the employee may be exposed to hazardous substances, health hazards or safety hazards. These cleanup workers include:
  • General site workers, such as equipment operators, general laborers and supervisory personnel
  • Workers on the site only occasionally for a specific limited task (ie: groundwater monitoring, land surveying or geo-physical surveying) and who are unlikely to be exposed over permissible exposure limits
  • Workers regularly on the site who work in areas which have been monitored and fully characterized indicating that exposures are under permissible exposure limits where respirators are not necessary, and the site characterization indicates that there are no health hazards or the possibility of an emergency developing
• Regs Covered: 29 CFR 1910.120, 29 CFR 1926.65, 40 CFR 311
• Statutes Covered: Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA), Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act (SARA), Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA)
• Length: 60 minutes
• Languages: Available in English or Spanish
• Copyright Date: 2018

This online course is part of the HAZWOPER: 24-Hour Initial Training: Routine or Non-Routine Waste Site Workers Curriculum. To view the other 11 courses included in this curriculum, as well as other levels of training, visit the HAZWOPER Training Page.