OSHA Training
HazWOPER 40-Hour Training, OSHA + Cal/OSHA Compliant
The full 40-hour initial certification for hazardous waste operations and emergency response under 29 CFR 1910.120. Five days, in person, hands-on, anywhere in California. $1,200 per person or $9,600 for a private group.
If your team works on hazardous waste cleanups, responds to chemical releases, or staffs a treatment, storage, and disposal facility, OSHA’s Hazardous Waste Operations and Emergency Response standard (HazWOPER, 29 CFR 1910.120) requires formal training before the work starts. For general site workers that means 40 hours of initial instruction plus three days of supervised field experience, then an 8-hour refresher every year to keep the certification current. In California the requirement is enforced by Cal/OSHA under Title 8 section 5192, which mirrors the federal standard.
We run the full 40-hour initial course over five consecutive days, in person, with the hands-on work the standard actually expects: suiting up in PPE, working a decontamination line, and reading air monitoring instruments. Every attendee leaves with a certificate and your company gets a training roster you can hand an inspector or a site operator.
Who needs HazWOPER training?
Hazardous waste site workers
General site workers on uncontrolled hazardous waste sites and government-ordered cleanup operations need the full 40-hour initial training before working on site.
Emergency responders to releases
HAZMAT technicians and in-plant response teams who respond to releases, or substantial threats of releases, of hazardous substances are covered by the standard.
Treatment, storage & disposal staff
Employees at permitted TSDFs who handle hazardous waste fall under the standard's training requirements for their operations.
Supervisors on hazardous waste work
On-site managers and supervisors need the same initial training as the workers they direct, plus additional supervisor-specific training under the standard.
What the 5-day course covers
The curriculum tracks 29 CFR 1910.120 point by point, so the training record itself demonstrates compliance.
- The regulatory framework: 29 CFR 1910.120, California's Title 8 section 5192, and which operations each covers
- Site characterization and analysis: identifying chemical, physical, and biological hazards before work begins
- Toxicology basics: routes of exposure, dose-response, exposure limits, and what monitoring results actually mean
- Personal protective equipment Levels A through D: selection, donning and doffing, and the limitations of each ensemble
- Decontamination: setting up and working through decon lines for personnel and equipment
- Air monitoring: instrument types, monitoring strategies, and interpreting readings in the field
- Emergency response plans: alarms, evacuation, spill response roles, and coordinating with outside responders
- Confined-space awareness: recognizing permit spaces and the entry hazards common on hazardous waste sites
Five days. Hands-on. Certified.
$1,200 per person, or $9,600 for a private group session for your crew, delivered in person over five consecutive days. HazWOPER is a standalone certification course, separate from the COMPLIANCE|360 bundle, and the 8-hour annual refresher keeps the credential current after the initial year.
Or call 833-247-OSHA, we answer the phone.
What untrained workers cost
Putting an untrained employee on a hazardous waste operation is a citation waiting to happen, and training violations are written per employee. A serious violation runs up to $16,550 in 2026, willful or repeat up to $165,514, per violation, and after an incident the missing training record becomes a liability problem on top of the citation. The full 2026 table is in our OSHA fines guide.
Frequently Asked Questions
Three groups under OSHA's 29 CFR 1910.120: workers on uncontrolled hazardous waste site cleanups, employees who respond to emergency releases of hazardous substances, and staff at treatment, storage, and disposal facilities. In California the same requirements are enforced by Cal/OSHA through Title 8 section 5192. If your team investigates, cleans up, or responds to hazardous substance releases as part of the job, they need HazWOPER training at the level that matches their role, and general site workers need the 40-hour course.
The 40-hour course is the full initial training for general site workers who are regularly on hazardous waste operations. The 24-hour level applies to occasional site workers with limited tasks and low exposure who are unlikely to be exposed over permissible limits. Our course is the full 40-hour version, the credential most employers and site operators ask for, and it more than covers a worker who would only need the 24-hour minimum.
The 40-hour initial training stays current through 8 hours of refresher training every year. If the annual refresher lapses, the employer has to evaluate whether the employee needs to repeat initial training, so it is much cheaper to keep the refresher cycle on schedule. Call us at 833-247-OSHA to set up annual refreshers for your team.
Not quite. OSHA pairs the 40 hours of off-site instruction with three days of actual field experience under the direct supervision of a trained, experienced supervisor. The classroom and hands-on portion happens with us over five days; the three supervised field days happen on the job at your site. We document the 40-hour completion so your employer can layer the supervised field experience on top of it.
Be careful with fully online HazWOPER. The standard expects hands-on competency: donning and doffing PPE, working a decon line, and using air monitoring instruments are not skills a click-through course can teach or verify. Blended formats that pair online modules with an in-person hands-on day exist, but a certificate from a purely online 40-hour course is a red flag that many site operators reject. Our course is delivered fully in person over five days.
Yes. California enforces hazardous waste operations training through Title 8 section 5192, which mirrors federal 29 CFR 1910.120. The training content is essentially the same, but Cal/OSHA, not federal OSHA, inspects California workplaces and issues the citations, and our curriculum covers the California specifics.
$1,200 per person, or $9,600 for a private group session for your team. The course runs five days, 40 hours, delivered in person. Certificates and a training roster are included, so your records are inspection-ready the day the class ends.
No. COMPLIANCE|360 bundles annual OSHA and HIPAA training with waste pickup, containers, and manifests at $360 per month, but HazWOPER is a specialized 40-hour certification course that sits outside the bundle. It is available to anyone, program customer or not, at $1,200 per person or $9,600 for a private group.
Training programs led by Lisa Puckett, CSP, OSHA 10/30-Hour Authorized Trainer, 20+ years in EH&S.
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