WAC 296-843-20010   Train workers, supervisors and managers before work begins on the site.  

     IMPORTANT:

     • The eighty-hour training requirement does NOT apply to law enforcement personnel entering illicit drug labs, securing the premises, and obtaining evidence. Attendance at a forty-hour training course, such as presented by the criminal justice training commission, is acceptable.

     • These training requirements do not apply to workers engaged in limited postemergency response activities provided they meet the conditions described in WAC 296-843-20020.

     You must:

     • Make sure workers have received twenty-four-, forty- or eighty-hour training as required by Table 3 before participating in hazardous waste operations.

     • Make sure workers also receive site-specific training that thoroughly covers at least the following:

     – The personnel responsible for employee safety and health.

     – Safety, health, and other hazards known or suspected at the site.

     – Use of personal protective equipment.

     – Work practices to minimize worker's risk from the hazards.

     – Use of engineering and other controls and equipment on the site.

     – Medical surveillance provided.

     – Recognition of signs and symptoms that might indicate overexposure to site hazards.

     – The contents of the site-specific health and safety plan (HASP) required by this chapter.

Note: The site-specific training can be provided as part of the twenty-four-, forty- or eighty-hour training or as part of the employee briefings provided all training and information requirements of WAC 296-843-200 are met.

Table 3

Training Requirements
If Then Notes
Work and exposures require use of atmosphere supplying respirators Provide eighty hours of training and three days of supervised on-site field experience Eighty-hour training may be fulfilled as follows:
    • One eighty-hour training session with emphasis on hazards requiring the use of atmosphere-supplying respirators and of chemical protective clothing
    OR
    • One forty-hour training class as described below and an additional forty hours of training that emphasizes hazards requiring the use of atmosphere-supplying respirators and of chemical protective clothing
  Refresher training, previous courses, supervised field experience, and previous work experience may count towards the additional forty hours, if it improves the worker's competency to use respirators and chemical protective clothing ensembles and procedures
Work and exposures may exceed the PEL or require protective clothing but do not require atmosphere supplying respirators Provide forty hours of training and three days of supervised on-site field experience Workers with twenty-four hours of training may become forty hour trained with sixteen hours of offsite training and two additional days of supervised on-site field experience
Workers are occasionally on-site to perform specific limited tasks and unlikely to be exposed above PELs or other published exposure limits Provide twenty-four hours of training and one day of supervised on-site field experience  
Workers are regularly on-site but work in areas fully characterized and monitored, with exposure under the PELs or other published exposure limits: Provide twenty-four hours of training and one day of supervised on-site field experience  
• No need for respirators    
• No health hazards    
• No possibility of an emergency  
Workers are at TSD facilities under normal operations (this does not include corrective actions cleanup at these facilities) Provide twenty-four hours of training and one day of supervised on-site field experience  
Employees perform emergency response activities Train workers to a level of competence in site emergencies, consistent with their assigned duties, to protect themselves and other employees  
Workers qualify for limited postemergency response clean-up training Provide at least eight hours of training See WAC 296-843-20020, Training for postemergency response, for detailed training information
Workers have been previously trained (includes equivalent training) Provide site-specific training, briefings and information required by this chapter and supervised field experience on the site of one day for twenty-four-hour and three days for forty- or eighty-hour trained workers Document equivalent training and work experience as required by WAC 296-843-20025


Note: When calculating "training hours," WISHA assumes a "normal" workday of eight hours with sufficient time for lunch and other breaks.




[Statutory Authority: RCW 49.17.010, 49.17.040, 49.17.050, and 49.17.060. 04-02-053, § 296-843-20010, filed 1/5/04, effective 5/1/04.]