August 19, 1991
Mr. Al Carino
165A Old Forge Road
Jamesburg, New Jersey 08831
Dear Mr. Carino:
This is in response to your inquiry of May
20, to Mr. Thomas Hall concerning the
Occupational
Safety and Health Administration's
(OSHA)
Hazardous Waste Operations and Emergency
Response final rule (29 CFR 1910.120).
Your specific question reads "how
can
I apply this training [a comprehensive
formal
apprenticeship program] toward the
current
certification requirements necessary
for
hazard[ous] waste operations?"
Paragraph (e)(9) of 1910.120 discusses
"equivalent
training" and states;
(9) Equivalent training. Employees
who can
show by documentation or certification
that
an employee's work experience and/or
training
has resulted in training equivalent
to that
training required in paragraphs (e)(1)
through
(e)(4) of this section shall not be
required
to provide the initial training requirements
of those paragraphs to such employees.
However,
certified employees new to a site shall
receive
appropriate, site specific training
before
site entry and have appropriate supervised
field experience at the new site.
Therefore, your employer may decide,
based
on the course content, that your apprenticeship
meets the requirements of the off site
initial
training. Your letter covered some
of the
topics in your apprenticeship, which
your
employer must compare to training program
requirements. The training must adequately
prepare an employee to perform his
duties
in a safe and healthful manner.
If your employer intends to certify
you fully
or partially as "equivalently
trained,"
he should retain a copy of your training
certificate and the comparison of training
requirements in your personnel file.
Before
you can be certified as equivalently
trained
you must have the required hours of
on the
job supervised training. Additionally,
the
employer is required to supply the
employee
with 8 hours of refresher training
per year.
Generally, if there has been a lapse
of three
years without refresher training since
the
initial training, the initial training
should
be repeated. Therefore, if you have
received
no additional training specific to
hazardous
waste operations since the end of your
apprenticeship
in 1977, it may be necessary for you
to attend
the initial 40 hour training course.
I hope this information is helpful.
If you
have any further questions please feel
free
to contact MaryAnn Garrahan at (202)
523-8036.
Sincerely,
Patricia K. Clark, Director
Directorate of Compliance Programs
|
