Definitions

• The EPA is the Environmental Protection Agency, whose purpose is to maintain the safety and health of the environment and those living in it. HAZWOPER is a job title, and stands for Hazardous Waste Operations and Emergency Response. The EPA requires that any employee taking part in HAZWOPER must have annual training.
  
  

Types

• Compliance Solutions, a training facilitator, states that supervisors, employees responsible for the transportation of hazardous waste, employees working in hazardous waste generators, and employees who work at transportation, storage, and disposal facilities must go through training. There is a full training course, covering all materials, and an annual refresher course.
  
  

Features

• Environment, Health and Safety Online (EHSO) breaks down its training schedule into legislation and regulations, health and toxicology, hazardous recognition and evaluation, personal protective equipment, medical programs, site plans and planning, work practices, procedures and permits, and emergency response. Compliance Solutions states that the training course includes discussion of the definition of hazardous waste, labeling requirements, storage areas and disposal facilities. In addition, there will be hands-on work focused on hazardous waste. An examination will follow the training course. The EHSO's exam schedule is four days and forty hours, ten hours each day.
  
  

Time Frame

• The initial training course is a 24 or 40 hour course. The amount of time depends on the hazardous waste role of the employee. The annual refresher course is 8 to 10 hours.
  
  

Considerations

• The EPA based training will train an employee in EPA regulations only. An employee might also need regulatory training in compliance with the Department of Transportation and the Occupational Safety and Health Association (OSHA).