Hazardous Waste Operations and Emergency Response (HAZWOPER; /ˈhæzwɒpər/ HAZ-waw-pər) is a set of guidelines produced and maintained by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration which regulates hazardous waste operations and emergency services in the United States and its territories. With these guidelines, the U.S. government regulates hazardous wastes and dangerous goods from inception to disposal.
Contents
HAZWOPER applies to five groups of employers and their employees. This includes employees who are exposed (or potentially exposed) to hazardous substances (including hazardous waste) and who are engaged in one of the following operations as specified by OSHA regulations 1910.120(a)(1)(i-v) and 1926.65(a)(1)(i-v):
The most commonly used manual for HAZWOPER activities is Department of Health and Human Services Publication 85–115, Occupational Safety and Health Guidance Manual for Hazardous Waste Site Activities. Written for government contractors and first responders, the manual lists safety requirements for cleanups and emergency-response operations.
History
Although its acronym predates OSHA, HAZWOPER describes OSHA-required regulatory training. Its relevance dates to World War II, when waste accumulated during construction of the atomic bomb at the Hanford Site. Years later, high-profile environmental mishaps (such as Love Canal in 1978 and the attempted 1979 Valley of the Drums cleanup) spurred federal legislative action, awakening the U.S. to the need to control and contain hazardous waste. Two programs—CERCLA, the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act and the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) of 1976—were implemented to deal with these wastes. CERCLA (the Superfund) was designed to deal with existing waste sites, and RCRA addressed newly generated waste. The acronym HAZWOPER originally derived from the Department of Defense's Hazardous Waste Operations (HAZWOP), implemented on military bases slated for the disposal of hazardous waste left on-site after World War II. In 1989 production ended at the Hanford Site, and work shifted to the cleanup of portions of the site contaminated with hazardous substances including radionuclides and chemical waste. OSHA created HAZWOPER, with input from the Coast Guard, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). In 1984, the combined-agency effort resulted in the Hazardous Waste Operations and Emergency Response Guidance Manual. On March 6, 1990 OSHA published Hazardous Waste Operations and Emergency Response 1910.120, the HAZWOPER standard codifying the health-and-safety requirements companies must meet to perform hazardous-waste cleanup or respond to emergencies.
Scope
Hazardous waste, as defined by the standard, is a waste (or combination of wastes) according to 40 CFR §261.3 or substances defined as hazardous wastes in 49 CFR §171.8.
Training levels
OSHA recognizes several levels of training, based on the work the employee performs and the degree of hazard faced. Each level requires a training program, with OSHA-specified topics and minimum training time.
In some instances, training levels overlap; other levels are not authorized by OSHA because their training is not sufficiently specific. A site safety supervisor (or officer) and a competent industrial hygienist or other technically qualified, HAZWOPER-trained person should be consulted.