HAZWOPER
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HAZWOPER means Hazardous Waste Operations and Emergency Response. Pronounced HAZ`-WOP-ER or haz-whop-er the O and are pronounced like A aa in baa and the O like ah (open up and say ah)
Originally, the term was derived from United States of America's Department of Defenses Hazardous Waste Operations (HAZWOP) the prefix was derived from military bases operations slated for clean-up that were left after World War II. One such site is the Hanford site where the first Nuclear Bomb used in war was made: [1] Hanford Site. Mike Moore and others who worked on the original standard with OSHA created HAZWOPER as it was based on the following based on input from OSHA, USCG, NIOSH, and EPA then published in 1984 the Hazardous Waste Operations and Emergency Response Guidance Manual by the joint agency effort.
Then the Meaning HAZWOPER was derived from United States of America's Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA) defined with passage of Superfund Amendment and Reauthorization Act in 1984 the US congress mandated the regulation.
The term HAZWOPER recently has been referenced in International clean up mostly where U.S. Military bases are still being cleaned up or in some rare cases NATO allies like Canada particularly when U.S. firms are involved with Hazardous Waste Operations and Emergency Response. Other countries are working on adopting the standard set by OSHA to protect workers. In some cases it has proven difficult because their may not be existing rules to tell workers what they are being exposed to.
Refers to 29 CFR 1910.120. The scope and application of 29 CFR 1910.120 indicates the standard applies to some 18 different training requirements and five distinct operation scopes workers engage in. Any employees who are exposed or potentially exposed to hazardous substances including hazardous waste and who are engaged in one of what five operations are covered by the Hazardous Waste Operations and Emergency Response.
It gained popularity as a term because of the Superfund a large pool of United Sates of America's tax dollars which pay for clea-up of abandoned hazardous waste sites. The term HAZWOPER has spread into Canada into clean-up of abandoned Radar Bases of the cold war era like the Distance Early Warning Line sites which is an international effort of French Canadian and some US firms. These operations truly have become international through efforts of the Chicago Safety Institute and others for Inuit, English and French speaking peoples. Much more funding is needed for HAZWOPER operations on an international scale particularily after military operations by many countries of the world powers and smaller countries to open up to the ideas in Environmental Safety and Health.
Other more radical elements and grass roots organizations like Green Peace stimulate the public to save the earth. Many HAZWOPER personal feel they are contributing to cleaning up the environment.
For other information see job descriptions from the US Government http://stats.bls.gov/oco/ocos256.htm
HAZWOPER Scope is:
(1) Clean-up
(2) Corrective Actions RCRA
(3) Voluntary Clean-up
(4) Operations at TSDF (Treatment, Storage & Disposal Facility - specifially for hazardous waste) pursuant to RCRA (Resource Conservatin & Recovery Act - A federal act dealing with how to dispose of hazardous waste.).
(5) Emergency Response Operations
The chemicals regulated and not dangerous goods or hazardous materials specifically however those may be included. It also includes EPA listed Hazardous Substance or Extremely Hazardous substances.
Areas with the most HAZWOPER are major metropolitan areas with large industrial base. There is estimated more HAZWOPER trained personnel in Chicago, Illinois. The largest known site with the most HAZWOPER trained personnel is the Hanford Site in Washington it is approximentally 500 square miles clean-up and reclaimation activities continue to this day.
Template:Categorized Other terminolgy "HAZWOP", Emergency Responder, HAZWOPER Training a prerequisite to working on a clean-up site (the enrty stamp for the business, and the minimum allowable training. References: http://www.hazwoper.info for more information the category is Environmental Health and Safety. http://www.osha.gov/pls/oshaweb/owadisp.show_document?p_table=FEDERAL_REGISTER&p_id=12670 http://www.osha.gov/pls/oshaweb/owadisp.show_document?p_table=FEDERAL_REGISTER&p_id=18597 Important: "The employer's failure to collect and distribute the information required in this standard will affect significantly OSHA's effort to control and reduce injuries and fatalities."
