Hazardous Waste Emergency Response: Generators and TSDFs
Course Description:
Emergency situations involving damage to property or injury to co-workers can and do occur at facilities that handle hazardous wastes. This training session will focus on emergency response procedures required under U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, or EPA, regulations for personnel at hazardous waste large quantity generators, or LQGs, and hazardous waste treatment, storage, and disposal facilities, or TSDFs. In addition, this session will address the actions you can take to help prevent or mitigate an emergency’s often devastating effects and describe the various emergencies that could potentially occur at your workplace and how to respond to them. The EPA regulations address the hazardous waste facility preparedness and prevention requirements for emergencies at 40 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) for LQGs at 40 CFR 262.250 to 262.256, for TSDFs at 40 CFR 264.30 to 264.37, and for hazardous waste small quantity generators, SQGs, at 40 CFR 262.16(b)(8) and 40 CFR 262.16(b)(9). The session also applies to SQGs, although these generators are not required to have formal written training programs for their employees or a written contingency plan. Note that this session does not address the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s, or OSHA’s, hazardous waste operations and emergency response, or HAZWOPER, or hazard communication requirements.
Why “Hazardous Waste Emergency Response: Generators and TSDFs” Matters:
Employees working with hazardous wastes must understand how to operate and maintain emergency response and monitor equipment. Employees should know how to shut down automatic hazardous waste feed operations. It is essential to understand the various alarms systems, what each alarm means, and what your response should be for hazardous waste emergencies. Employees must know how to respond to fires or explosions. Employees must know how to perform emergency shutdowns of other equipment. It is necessary to respond to any incident that has the potential to contaminate groundwater.
Key Points:
Review the response procedures for fire, explosion, spills or releases, and spill containment so that you are ready to implement them during an emergency. It’s extremely difficult to respond effectively if you have to read instructions while responding. *Make sure the emergency response equipment is always ready, in good condition, and accessible. *Always keep your PPE ready and in good condition. *The consequences of groundwater (or surface water) contamination are severe and very expensive to remediate. Our company, as well as the surrounding community, relies on a ready source of clean water for our homes and businesses. We need to always be prepared to respond to a spill that could threaten these resources.
