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Waste & RecyclingTrained and certified before working on the site
Before you take part in hazardous waste work, you complete the training your job on the site requires: hours of instruction off the site, days of field experience under a trained supervisor and a written certificate. Then you keep it current with a refresher every year. It follows paragraph (e) of the federal HAZWOPER rule.
Free to startScenarios
- A general laborer who will remove hazardous substances: 40 hours and 3 field days.
- A land surveyor on site only occasionally for a limited task and unlikely to be exposed over the limits: 24 hours and 1 field day.
- A worker with 24 hours who becomes a general site worker or now has to wear a respirator: 16 more hours and 2 more days.
- An on-site supervisor: 40 hours, 3 field days and at least 8 more hours of specialized training.
- A certified worker who arrives at a new site.
The steps
- Find out what your job function on the site is: it sets the training level you need before you take part in or supervise field activities.
- As a general site worker, complete at least 40 hours of instruction off the site.
- Complete at least three days of actual field experience under the direct supervision of a trained, experienced supervisor.
- Cover every required topic: who is responsible for site safety and health, the hazards on the site, the use of protective equipment, safe work practices, engineering controls and equipment, and the signs of overexposure.
- Learn the parts of the site safety and health plan on decontamination, emergency response, confined space entry and spill containment.
- Be certified by your instructor or head instructor and the trained supervisor, and receive your written certificate.
- At a new site, even with your certificate, take the site-specific training before entry and the supervised field experience at that site.
- Take eight hours of refresher training every year, including the review of incidents from the past year.
Safety rules that stop the station
- No one takes part in or supervises field activities before being trained to the level of their job.
- Anyone without the certificate, or without documented equivalent training, is prohibited from hazardous waste operations.
To pass
- A written certificate from the instructor or head instructor and the trained supervisor.
- The hours off the site and the field days of your category, under the direct supervision of a trained, experienced supervisor.
- Eight hours of refresher training every year, for workers and for supervisors.
Official source
Federal · OSHA, 29 CFR 1910.120 (HAZWOPER)
29 CFR 1910.120, Hazardous waste operations and emergency response (HAZWOPER)
GovInfo publishes 29 CFR 1910.120 free: paragraph (e) sets the training hours, the field days, the certificate and the yearly refresher.
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.