HAZWOPER course at University of Rhode Island prepares students for the environmental sciences and services workforce
By Corey Briggs, CIH, CIT, FAIHA & Distinguished Lecturer of the American Industrial Hygiene Association; Senior Consultant,
Colden Corporation – Boston Regional Office
briggs@colden.com 617-259-0172
For the ninth consecutive year, I am co-teaching “Environmental Hazards, Risks, Response, and Safety” for the Geosciences Department of the College of the Environment and Life Sciences (CELS) at the University of Rhode Island, my undergraduate alma mater.
The comprehensive course helps prepare students interested in pursuing careers in environmental and/or occupational health and safety by providing them with extensive knowledge in EHS hazards, risks and controls in addition to hands-on experience with materials, equipment and supplies that are used in the environmental sciences and services sector. Designed to meet the training requirements of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)-required 40-hour Hazardous Waste Operations and Emergency Response (HAZWOPER) standard, students are required to attend lectures and engage in discussions, laboratory exercises, demonstrations and other hands-on activities, all leading up to their final exam/practical – a full hazardous waste site investigation drill. Students not only learn about EHS issues associated with hazardous waste site investigation, engineering and remediation, but also hazmat emergency response and EHS in the industrial and commercial sectors.
Students who successfully complete and pass the 13-week course earn their OSHA HAZWOPER Waste Site Worker certificate, their OSHA 10-hour Construction and/or General Industry certificate and several Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Incident Command training certificates. Having these certifications on their resumes provides students with a competitive edge as they enter the workforce.
A critical piece of the course includes education and extensive hands-on training with personal protective equipment (PPE), including the different types of PPE and levels of protection, the information that’s needed to adequately select the right PPE for a given scenario (e.g., permeation data and other considerations like durability, heat stress, need for respirator etc.) and how to properly don and doff PPE.
With no formal equipment budget other than a small student equipment fee for expendables, we rely on the generosity of manufacturers, distributors, suppliers and some of my clients who have donated PPE and other supplies over the years. I estimate that since the start of the course in 2013, we have received over $75,000 worth of donated materials, equipment and supplies to support the class. These donations, including several PPE donations from DuPont through their Tychem® Trainer Advantage Program (TTAP), have been invaluable in helping students gain the practical skills they need to keep them healthy and safe as they prepare to enter the environmental sciences and services sector.
Check out our SafeSPEC™ product selector tool used by our TTAP community and others here – safespec.dupont.com, also available via app. For questions, please contact allie.fletcher@dupont.com.