• Several key definitions are relevant to understanding and complying with the HAZWOPER Standard.

Although the Hazardous Waste Operations and Emergency Response (HAZWOPER) Standard has been around for several decades, it continues to confuse employers. The standard defines 20 terms in its definitions section at paragraph (a)(3) of 29 CFR 1910.120 for general industry and 29 CFR 1926.65 for construction. In addition, Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) directives CPL 02-02-071 and 02-02-073 define 75 related terms.

The use of these words and phrases may make the regulation a challenge for employers to understand. Some definitions and clarification are provided below.

Buddy system: A system of organizing employees into work groups so that each employee of the work group is designated to be observed by at least one other employee in the work group. The purpose of the buddy system is to provide rapid assistance to employees in the event of an emergency.

Cleanup operation: An operation in which hazardous substances are removed, contained, incinerated, neutralized, stabilized, cleared up, or in any other manner processed or handled with the ultimate goal of making the site safer for people or the environment.

Decontamination: The removal of hazardous substances from employees and their equipment to the extent necessary to preclude the occurrence of foreseeable adverse health effects.

Emergency response or responding to emergencies: A response effort by employees from outside the immediate release area or by other designated responders (e.g., mutual-aid groups, local fire departments, etc.) to an occurrence that results, or is likely to result, in an uncontrolled release of a hazardous substance. Responses to incidental releases of hazardous substances where the substance can be absorbed, neutralized, or otherwise controlled at the time of release by employees in the immediate release area or by maintenance personnel are not considered to be emergency responses within the scope of this standard. Responses to releases of hazardous substances where there is no potential safety or health hazard (i.e., fire, explosion, or chemical exposure) are not considered to be emergency responses.

Appendix A to 29 CFR 1910.120 and 1926.65 provides further guidance on this term.

Facility: This term is divided into two types:

(A) Any building, structure, installation, equipment, pipe or pipeline (including any pipe into a sewer or publicly owned treatment works), well, pit, pond, lagoon, impoundment, ditch, storage container, motor vehicle, rolling stock, or aircraft; or

(B) Any site or area where a hazardous substance has been deposited, stored, disposed of, or placed, or otherwise comes to be located. This definition does not include any consumer product in consumer use or any water-borne vessel.

Hazardous materials response (HAZMAT) team: An organized group of employees, designated by the employer, who are expected to perform work to handle and control actual or potential leaks or spills of hazardous substances requiring possible close approach to the substance. The team members perform responses to releases or potential releases of hazardous substances for the purpose of controlling or stabilizing the incident. A HAZMAT team is not a fire brigade, nor is a typical fire brigade a HAZMAT team. A HAZMAT team, however, may be a separate component of a fire brigade or fire department.

Hazardous substance: Any substance designated or listed under paragraphs (A) through (D) of this definition, exposure to which results or may result in adverse effects on the health or safety of employees:

(A) Any substance defined under section 103(14) of the Comprehensive Environmental Response Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA) (see 42 U.S.C. 9601(14)).

(B) Any biological agent or other disease-causing agent that, after release into the environment and upon exposure, ingestion, inhalation, or assimilation into any person, either directly from the environment or indirectly by ingestion through food chains, will or may reasonably be anticipated to cause death, disease, behavioral abnormalities, cancer, genetic mutation, physiological malfunctions (including malfunctions in reproduction), or physical deformations in such persons or their offspring;

(C) Any substance listed by the U.S. Department of Transportation as hazardous materials under 49 CFR 172.101 and appendices; and

(D) Hazardous waste as defined below.

The term “hazardous substance” as defined by 1910.120 and 1926.65 should not be confused with the definition of “hazardous chemical” in 29 CFR 1910.1200, Hazard Communication.

Hazardous waste: This term is divided into two types:

(A) A waste or combination of wastes as defined in 40 CFR 261.3, or

(B) Those substances defined as hazardous wastes in 49 CFR 171.8. Hazardous waste operation. Any operation conducted within the scope 1910.120 or 1926.65.

Hazardous waste site: Any facility or location within the scope of 1910.120 or 1926.65 at which hazardous waste operations take place.

Health hazard: This term includes two types:

(A) A chemical or a pathogen where acute or chronic health effects may occur in exposed employees, or

(B) Stress due to temperature extremes.

The term “health hazard” includes chemicals that are classified in accordance with the Hazard Communication Standard, 1910.1200, as posing one of the following hazardous effects: acute toxicity (any route of exposure), skin corrosion or irritation, serious eye damage or eye irritation, respiratory or skin sensitization, germ cell mutagenicity, carcinogenicity, reproductive toxicity, specific target organ toxicity (single or repeated exposure), aspiration toxicity, or asphyxiation.

See 1910.1200 Appendix A — Health Hazard Criteria (Mandatory) — for the criteria for determining whether a chemical is classified as a health hazard.

IDLH or Immediately dangerous to life or health: An atmospheric concentration of any toxic, corrosive, or asphyxiant substance that:

(A) Poses an immediate threat to life,

(B) Would cause irreversible or delayed adverse health effects, or

(C) Would interfere with an individual’s ability to escape from a dangerous atmosphere.

Post-emergency response: That portion of an emergency response performed after the immediate threat of a release has been stabilized or eliminated and cleanup of the site has begun. If response is performed by an employer’s own employees who were part of the initial emergency response, it is considered to be part of the initial response and not post-emergency response. However, if a group of an employer’s own employees, separate from the group providing initial response, performs the cleanup operation, then the separate group of employees would be considered to be performing post-emergency response and subject to 1910.120(q)(11) for general industry or 29 CFR 1926.65(q)(11) for construction.

Small quantity generator: This term must meet two criteria:

(A) Any person, by site, whose act or process produces hazardous waste identified or listed in 40 CFR 261 or whose act first causes a hazardous waste to become subject to EPA regulation; and

(B) This person, by site, generates in any calendar month no more than 1,000 kilograms (2,205 pounds) of hazardous waste in that month.

Uncontrolled hazardous waste site: An area identified as an uncontrolled hazardous waste site by a governmental body, whether federal, state, local, or other, where an accumulation of hazardous substances creates a threat to the health and safety of individuals or the environment or both.

Some sites are found on public lands, such as those created by former municipal, county, or state landfills, where illegal or poorly managed waste disposal has taken place. Other sites are found on private property, often belonging to generators or former generators of hazardous substance wastes. Examples of such sites include, but are not limited to, surface impoundments, landfills, dumps, and tank or drum farms.

Normal operations at hazardous waste treatment, storage, and disposal (TSD) sites are not covered by this definition