Trainings Required For Oil Spill Volunteers

By Author: brucewillis
Total Articles: 11
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When tons of gallons of oil spilled at the Gulf of Mexico, it was amazing to see many willing volunteers coming forward to support the cleanup efforts. But, some of them were refused by clean up officials to go near the fouled beaches. The thing is that you need to have proper training or certification to join or respond to an oil cleanup operation even if it means only volunteering for it.

Uncontained petroleum products like diesel fuel or crude oil are hazardous materials and those who are exposed to these materials can face a myriad of health problems and safety regulations.

The Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA), requires anyone involved in the cleanup operations to undergo a safety training program which covers a few hours. As these operations have to deal with hazardous chemicals, workers have to be protected and with proper training they will be able to do so for themselves and for that of their colleagues. Even volunteers are required to be qualified just like other employees to able to engage in oil spill cleanup activities.

The basic training required for oil spill personnel is ...
... the 24 hour HAZWOPER training course. HAZWOPER stands for Hazardous Waste Operations and Emergency Response and the training sprung out of the Superfund Amendments Reauthorization Act (SARA). It is meant for ensuring the safety of the workers while they perform the cleanup activities involving hazardous waste materials.

According to OSHA, workers may be allowed to participate in a cleanup operation with less than 24 hour of training during post emergency response operations. This exception is however is provided for beach cleanup operations that have few and permissible exposure limits or pose a minimal health risk. There are a number of agencies today providing both online and onsite OSHA 24 hour HAZWOPER training courses.

So, if you are interested in joining a voluntary work in oil spill cleanup operations, you can join an OSHA 24 hour HAZWOPER course before it is required to you. This way you can stay prepared in case any emergency response comes your way. You support is valuable for the environment and to the cleanup employees. Once you are certified, you will only need an 8 hour HAZWOPER refresher program annually to stay qualified.

About the Author

40 Hour Hazwoper Safety Training offers the most comprehensive collection of online HAZWOPER training courses. Our website is designed to provide HAZWOPER training online courses to workers dealing with hazardous materials as a part of their work. Visit us at: http://www.40hourhazwopersafetytraining.com

461,Portar Road,
Folsom,California,
CA 95630
Company Name : Osha Compliance
Contact Email Id : soniyapankajpatel@gmail.com
Contact Person Name : Soniya P. Patel
Phone No. : 91-020-400-24894 | 650-295-0693