Equivalent and site-specific hazardous-waste training for DOE workers

June 7, 1991
Mr. Raymond F. Pelletier
Director
Office of Environmental Guidance
Department of Energy
[Recipient address omitted]
Dear Mr. Pelletier:
This is in response to your request of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration's (OSHA) review of your guidance memorandum for the use of Department of Energy personnel on the applicability of OSHA's training requirements for hazardous waste operations.
OSHA has the following comments on the document you submitted on a page by page basis.
On page two, you set what OSHA believes to be a reasonable policy of requiring the initial training again if a worker has not received the refresher training in three years. This is a reasonable generalization, however, from OSHA's perspective this depends on individual retention of the information and whether the initial or refresher training addressed safety and health issues specific to the types of sites that the worker will be working at. OSHA would look at repeating the initial course on an as needed basis.
On page two, the second paragraph on equivalent training should include the requirement that any employee designated as "equivalently trained" is capable of performing their job duties in a safe and healthful manner. Additionally, any safety and health professional designated as "equivalently" trained would need site specific, training.
On page five, in the description of "Routine and occasional workers" please replace the last word "required" with "sufficient". The "8-hr supervisor training" should have "(in addition to the 40 or 24 hour initial training)" inserted below the "8-hr supervisor training" title. The "Briefing" title should read "Briefing on site safety, emergency procedures and other appropriate site specific information".
The paragraph beginning at the bottom of page five and continuing on to page six is not necessarily correct. "Equivalently trained" employees must have sufficient training to safely perform their job duties. This entails training on the safety and health hazards specific to a particular site. All safety and health professionals do not necessarily meet the requirements (a function of their job tasks and responsibilities) of training, particularly in regard to the on the job training component and site specific training component.
Page six, certified employees (employees previously trained), new to a site may need to have supervised field experience at the new site per 29 CFR 1910.120(e)(9). One needs to consider on a case by case basis whether it is sufficient to apply field experience from one site to another.
Attachment 2, additional training topics mandated by 1910.120 for workers are:

a.) Confined space entry. b.) Spill containment program. c.) Personnel/alternates responsible for site safety and health. d.) Hazards on site.

Topics c and d might be reasonably covered in the site safety briefing; if this is the case, a footnote to this table could indicate that fact.
Additional training topics mandated in paragraph (e)(4) for the supervisors training session are;

a.) Employee's safety and health program. b.) Employee's training program. c.) Spill containment program. d.) Health hazard monitoring procedures and techniques.

Attachment four, the training certificate example needs to certify that "equivalently trained" individuals have received the required number of days of on the job training.
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

[The Department of Energy's April 11, 1991 request reproduced on the OSHA page is omitted here.]