Hazardous waste training for contaminated surface removal

APR 4 1990

Mr. Kurt A. Coburn
Manager, Product Group
Pentek, Inc.
[Recipient address omitted]
Dear Mr. Coburn:

This is in response to your letter of November 29, 1989 to the Occupational and Safety and Health Administration's (OSHA) Philadelphia regional office, concerning the Hazardous Waste standard, 29 CFR 1910.120. Your letter was recently forwarded to our office for reply.

According to your letter, your firm offers "services for the cleanup of nuclear and hazardous waste," and to date has engaged "primarily in the removal of contaminated concrete and/or coatings in industrial facilities." First, it is not clear from your letter whether your employees are engaged in emergency response, clean-up operations, or both. As explained below, the standard applies to each situation, and the requirements of the standard differ depending upon which situation applies. Second, assuming it is an emergency response situation, it is also not clear from your letter whether or not the emergency response or post emergency response is actually completed.

You state that your operation "begins only after emergency spill response actions have been taken and post spill recovery actions, including waste removal, have been completed." However, "contaminants remain in the spill area" and your service removes the contaminated surfaces, packages the contaminants, and presents the packages to the facility operator for disposal. The definition of clean-up operation includes the removal, containment, incineration, neutralization, stabilization, and processing or handling "in any other manner" of hazardous substances. Thus, your employees are exposed to nuclear or hazardous waste.

Therefore, it is very likely that the training requirements of 29 C.F.R. 1910.120 would apply. The scope of the standard is outlined in 29 C.F.R. 1910.120(a), and includes clean-up operations at uncontrolled hazardous waste sites that are required by governmental bodies, as well as voluntary clean-ups at sites simply recognized by any governmental body as an uncontrolled hazardous waste site. Certain operations and actions regulated by RCRA are also within the coverage of the standard, as are emergency operations for the release of hazardous substances "without regard to the location of the hazard."

If we can be of further assistance, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Sincerely,

Patricia K. Clark Director Designate Directorate of Compliance Programs

[Regional referral memorandum and requester letter reproduced on OSHA page; omitted here.]