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Waste & RecyclingHAZWOPER Training Hours
Twenty flashcards on the hours, field days, refreshers and trainers the federal HAZWOPER rule sets for hazardous waste site workers.
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20 cards
- Who must receive HAZWOPER training before starting work?
- Everyone on site exposed to hazardous substances, health or safety hazards, plus their supervisors and the managers responsible for the site.
- May someone join or supervise field work before being trained?
- No. They must first be trained to the level their job function and responsibility require.
- Which people, hazards and gear must the training cover?
- Names of the people and alternates responsible for site safety and health, the hazards on site, and the use of PPE.
- Which work practices and health topics must the training cover?
- Work practices that lower risk, safe use of engineering controls and equipment, and medical surveillance, including signs of overexposure.
- Initial training for general site workers?
- At least 40 hours of instruction off the site plus at least three days of field experience under a trained, experienced supervisor.
- Who counts as a general site worker?
- Equipment operators, general laborers and supervisory staff doing hazardous substance removal or other work that may expose them.
- Training for workers on site only now and then for one limited task?
- At least 24 hours off the site and one day of supervised field experience, if they are unlikely to be exposed over the limits.
- Examples of those occasional limited tasks?
- Ground water monitoring, land surveying and geo-physical surveying.
- Regular workers in fully characterized areas under the limits, without respirators?
- At least 24 hours off the site and one day of field experience under a trained, experienced supervisor.
- A 24-hour worker becomes a general site worker or needs a respirator. What now?
- They take the additional 16 hours and two days needed to complete the full 40-hour training.
- Initial training for on-site managers and supervisors?
- 40 hours plus three days of supervised field experience, and at least eight more hours of specialized training at job assignment.
- When may supervisor training drop to 24 hours and one day?
- When the only people they supervise are the occasional-task workers or those in fully characterized low-exposure areas.
- Topics of the supervisors' extra eight hours?
- The employer's safety and health program and training program, the PPE program, the spill containment program and health hazard monitoring.
- How much refresher training is required?
- Eight hours every year, for workers and for their managers and supervisors.
- What does the yearly refresher cover?
- The original training topics, a review of incidents from the past year used as examples, and other relevant topics.
- Who may teach HAZWOPER courses?
- Someone who completed a program to teach those subjects, or has the academic credentials and teaching experience, and shows competent teaching skills.
- Final exam suggested for the 40-hour course?
- A written or oral exam with at least 50 questions, after attending every module and completing the exercises.
- How much of the course should be hands-on?
- At least one-third of the program should be hands-on exercises.
- Maximum class size per instructor?
- 30 students per instructor.
- Student-instructor ratio for hands-on PPE practice?
- 10 per instructor with Level C or D; 5 per instructor with Level A or B.
Official sources
Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), via GovInfo (GPO)
29 CFR 1910.120: Hazardous waste operations and emergency response (CFR 2025 edition)
Making Synapses is not affiliated with, sponsored by or endorsed by OSHA, NIOSH, EPA or any HAZWOPER training provider. Agency and rule names are named only to describe the content.