hazardous waste training

[fireice31]

I am a hazardous materials technician and I have been asked to teach a 40 hour class to a crew that does hazardous waste cleanups. Since my training is in emergency response, I am unsure what training these guys need. If anyone has taught this type of class, I would like to talk to you.
Thanks.

[hazmater]

It's important to remember that their training is based on 29CFR 1910.120 the OSHA HAZWOPER standard. The OSHA standard differs from NFPA 471,472,473. The HAZWOPER class should spend time on emergency response, but mainly concentrates on long term site cleanup. Depending on local response protocol, this team may be called to the scene after FD has performed scene stabilization. They definately need to understand decon, emergency containment in case of spills, hot/warm/cold zones. Spend some time on medical monitoring, heat stress, air monitoring, and how to interact with fire/EMS, and ICS. As the instructor, you should review 29CFR 1910.120 to get a general idea of what is covered in that document to cover the team, and yourself. If you would like additional info, send me an e-mail.

[J Douglas]

I agree -- 29 CFR 1910.120 is the core of the type course you will be teaching. Perhaps, you should look into the training they already have received and try to build from there. The OSHA standards should not be unknown to anyone in the clean-up business, and you will find that many are familiar with HAZWOPER. Practical applications to the book material always helps a Haz Mat class go smoothly; after all, what is the point of telling the class things which they cannot apply? Good luck and stay safe.

[Aerial 131]

I totally agree with hazmater & J. Douglas, I would go so far as to not teach the class and locate a local or regional HASWOPER class for them. It avoids liability issues and might present a better picture for them vs emergency hazops. Don

[DD]

The General Contractor's Association and the Laborer's Union have a joint training agreement and institute. They teach an 80 hours HAZWOPER class for the laborers. I work for a state agency and we contracted with the Laborer's Training Institute to train our people. We only do operations level work, technical proceedures are left to the cleanup contractors. They gave us a shortened version that was 45 hours of training. It was still 5 hours more than required. You might consider that avenue if you do not have a state or regional training center that provides HAZWOPER training.