Household Hazardous Waste Operations

Hours: 24 / Access Length: 12 Months / Delivery: Online, Self-Paced

Course Overview:

Course Description: Using the Internet this course will provide the student with a comprehensive look at household hazardous waste operations. This class will meet or exceed requirements for the educational components of certification and/or licensing required for solid waste professionals.

Course Outline:

Lesson 1 – Regulations Overview

• Recognize OSHA and EPA standards that apply to work on hazardous waste sites.
• Identify provisions of 29 CFR 1910.120 applicable to waste site work.
• Describe the purpose and content of the employer's general safety and health program.
• Identify relevant portions of a complete site-specific safety and health plan, to include, but not be limited to:
  • Contact personnel and alternates for site safety and health;
  • Safety, health, and other hazards present on a given site;
  • Personal protective equipment requirements;
  • Engineering controls and equipment safety;
• Medical surveillance technique requirements, including recognition of symptoms and signs that might indicate overexposure to hazards;
• An emergency response plan meeting the requirements for safe and effective responses to emergencies, including all necessary equipment;
  • Confined space entry procedures;
  • A spill containment program; and
  • Decontamination procedures.

Lesson 2 – Chemical Awareness

• List the primary health hazards associated with acids and bases.
• Describe the basic treatment for skin and eye exposure to chemicals.
• List the acute effects of solvent exposure.
• Identify potentially hazardous outcomes of chemical incompatibility.
• Describe the significance of the following terms:
  • Corrosive
  • Oxidizer
  • Reactivity
  • pH
  • Vapor Density
  • Vapor Pressure
  • Specific Gravity

Lesson 3 – Toxicology

• List the four main routes for toxic substances to enter into the body.
• Identify procedures to protect oneself from toxins.
• Differentiate between the ‘acute” and “chronic” responses of exposure to toxic substances.
• State the importance of the following terms:
  • Toxic Dose /LD100
  • Toxic Dose/LC50
  • Permissible Exposure Limits (PEL)
  • Threshold Limit Value (TLV)
  • Time-Weighted Average (TWA)
  • Short-Term Exposure Limit (STEL)
  • Ceiling Limit (C)
  • Immediate Danger to Life and Health (IDLH)
  • Routes of Entry
  • Acute and Chronic exposure
• List the factors affecting human response to toxic chemicals.

Lesson 4 – Operational Hazards

• Describe specific hazards posed by working in a Regional Collection Center.
• List the definitions for hazard, safety, and risk.
• Describe a model for hazard recognition.
• Identify measures that can be taken to recognize and prevent injury from the following hazards:
  • Noise
  • Electrical
  • Site and equipment
  • Heat Stress
  • Cold Exposure
  • Biological
  • Blood borne pathogens

Lesson 5 – Hazard Identification

• Describe the NFPA 704 sign.
• Identify the numbers used in the NFPA numbering system.
• Identify the nine hazard classes under the DOT labels.
• Explain the importance of MSDS.
• Utilize the North American Emergency Response Guidebook to gather information on a selected chemical.

Lesson 6 – Respiratory Protection & PPE

• List the main categories of respirators.
• Compare the advantages and disadvantages of a full-facepiece mask vs. a half-facepiece mask for air-purifying respirators.
• Describe reasons for poor respirator fit.
• List components of a respirator program as required by OSHA.
• List limitations associated with major types of respirators.

Lesson 7 – Decontamination

• Identify Standard Operating Procedures for minimizing worker contact with waste and maximizing work protection.
• List the four types of decontamination methods.
• Describe three of the chemical decontamination procedures
• Identify and describe procedures for emergency decontamination.
• Describe the general rule of PPE for decontamination workers.
• Identify priorities when planning for decontamination in medical emergencies.

Lesson 8 – Waste Management

• List the seven steps in a waste management process
• List the main classes of hazardous materials and how they should be sorted and stored
• Identify the proper selection, marking/labeling, and handling of containers of hazardous waste

Lesson 9 – Emergency Procedures

• Describe the elements of an effective emergency contingency / spill response plan.
• Identify guidelines for establishing safe evacuation routes and procedures.
• Describe the importance of a Site Control Log that is located at the access checkpoints.
• Identify what can be done to limit the number of spills on site.
• State the importance of not participating in a spill response if training or equipment is inadequate.
• Outline the steps to follow during an emergency response.
• Identify key elements of an emergency response plan.

All necessary materials are included.

System Requirements:

Internet Connectivity Requirements:

• Cable, Fiber, DSL, or LEO Satellite (i.e. Starlink) internet with speeds of at least 10mb/sec download and 5mb/sec upload are recommended for the best experience.

NOTE: While cellular hotspots may allow access to our courses, users may experience connectivity issues by trying to access our learning management system.  This is due to the potential high download and upload latency of cellular connections.   Therefore, it is not recommended that students use a cellular hotspot as their primary way of accessing their courses.

Hardware Requirements:

• CPU: 1 GHz or higher
• RAM: 4 GB or higher
• Resolution: 1280 x 720 or higher.  1920x1080 resolution is recommended for the best experience.
• Speakers / Headphones
• Microphone for Webinar or Live Online sessions.

Operating System Requirements:

• Windows 7 or higher.
• Mac OSX 10 or higher.
• Latest Chrome OS
• Latest Linux Distributions
  

NOTE: While we understand that our courses can be viewed on Android and iPhone devices, we do not recommend the use of these devices for our courses. The size of these devices do not provide a good learning environment for students taking online or live online based courses.

Web Browser Requirements:

• Latest Google Chrome is recommended for the best experience.
• Latest Mozilla FireFox
• Latest Microsoft Edge
• Latest Apple Safari

Basic Software Requirements (These are recommendations of software to use):

• Office suite software (Microsoft Office, OpenOffice, or LibreOffice)
• PDF reader program (Adobe Reader, FoxIt)
• Courses may require other software that is described in the above course outline.