Hazardous Waste Training Under RCRA: What a Large Quantity Generator Must Document
By KnowledgeCity · 12 min read ·
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A plant can run good hazardous waste training and still fail an inspection on it. The rule names documents, and it names them as a list. An inspector opening your file under 40 CFR 262.17(a)(7)(iv) is checking whether 4 specific items are in it, and a well-attended program does not compensate for a job description nobody wrote.
So the useful question for a large quantity generator is a narrow one. What has to be in your file, position by position, before anyone asks to see it?
Take one position at a plant in manufacturing and energy. A line operator moves drums from the process area to the hazardous waste accumulation area. That job is related to hazardous waste management, which is what places it inside the rule. Everything below is the file that one position requires.
The file for that position holds 4 documents, and 40 CFR 262.17(a)(7)(iv) names each of them:
| The document | What it must contain | Where it is set |
|---|---|---|
| Position and person | The job title for each position at the facility related to hazardous waste management, and the name of the employee filling each job | 262.17(a)(7)(iv)(A) |
| Job description | A written job description for that position, including the requisite skill, education, or other qualifications, and the duties assigned to it | 262.17(a)(7)(iv)(B) |
| Training description | A written description of the type and amount of both introductory and continuing training that will be given to each person filling the position | 262.17(a)(7)(iv)(C) |
| Completion records | Records documenting that the training or job experience required by (a)(7)(i), (ii), and (iii) has been given to and completed by facility personnel | 262.17(a)(7)(iv)(D) |
Which Positions Are Inside the Rule
This duty attaches to a position related to hazardous waste management. The line operator is inside it because moving drums to the accumulation area is hazardous waste management. A maintenance technician servicing the pumps on that area is inside it for the same reason, and so is a supervisor who signs manifests. An accounts clerk in the front office is not.
262.17(a)(7)(iv)(B) allows the job description to match the degree of specificity used for similar positions in the same company location or bargaining unit, which helps a plant that already maintains HR descriptions. It still requires the requisite skill, education, or other qualifications, and the duties. A description naming a title and a reporting line satisfies neither requirement.
3 of these 4 documents describe what the plant intends to do. Only the last of the 4 records what happened. That ordering matters more than it appears to, and the reason lies in the third document.
What the Written Description Has to Do
The written description does more work than its name suggests. It is the document an inspector reads to learn what the plant promised each position would receive. Everything the program delivers has to match what that document promises.
Plants often file that description as evidence of training already delivered, and the generator standard runs the other way. It requires the generator to ensure its training program includes every element the description sets out. What a plant writes there binds what it has to deliver.
That produces a loop worth stating plainly. The (a)(7)(iv)(C) document says what training a position receives. Under (a)(7)(i)(A) the program then has to include everything that document describes. A plant writes the description, and the description then binds the plant.
Writing It Too Narrow, and Writing It Too Wide
A description saying less than the training delivers is a thin document. An inspector reads a program smaller than the one being run, and the completion records do not repair the description, because the description is the thing the program is measured against.
Overstating it is the worse position, because the plant has then written its own finding. Where the document promises continuing content on contingency plan implementation and the plant does not deliver it, the standard has been missed against the plant's own text.
The content of that description is not open-ended. 262.17(a)(7)(i)(B) requires the program to be directed by a person trained in hazardous waste management procedures. It must teach personnel the procedures relevant to their positions, including contingency plan implementation. A description tracking those words is defensible. One built from a course catalog only guesses what that catalog will hold.
The description is written once, and the records are produced every time against it. That asymmetry is what makes the 2 documents different kinds of thing, and it is why a plant cannot substitute one for the other. One states an intention, and the other proves an event. Those records are the half a plant has to produce on demand.
Producing those records every time depends on 4 habits:
- Write the description first and build the course to match it.
- Name the contingency plan content the description promises.
- Record the completion against the named employee on the day it happens.
- Check the description against the course once a year.
When Each Duty Starts and How Long the Records Are Kept
That description says what the training contains. The regulation says when it has to happen, and the periods are counted from different events.
| The duty | Counted from | Where it is set |
|---|---|---|
| Complete the program within 6 months | The date of employment or assignment to the facility, or to a new position, whichever is later | 262.17(a)(7)(ii) |
| Do not work in an unsupervised position | Completion of the training standards in (a)(7)(i) | 262.17(a)(7)(ii) |
| Take part in an annual review | The initial training required by (a)(7)(i) | 262.17(a)(7)(iii) |
| Keep records on current personnel | No period. They are kept until closure of the facility | 262.17(a)(7)(v) |
| Keep records on former employees | At least 3 years from the date the employee last worked at the facility | 262.17(a)(7)(v) |
The Entry With No Period at All
The entry most often mishandled is the 4th one. Records on current personnel have no retention period, because they are kept until the facility closes. A plant applying a 3 year rule across its whole training archive will delete records it still needs for people who still work there. The 3 year period belongs to former employees and starts on their last working day.
One provision eases the case of an internal transfer. 262.17(a)(7)(v) lets training records accompany personnel moved within the same company, so a move between 2 plants under one owner does not require the record to be rebuilt.
The 6 month deadline has a companion that receives less attention. 262.17(a)(7)(ii) states that employees must not work in unsupervised positions until they have completed the training standards in (a)(7)(i). That constrains the work itself, so a new line operator's file has to show completed training or supervision. A plant treating compliance training as an administrative deadline will miss it.
What HAZWOPER Training Does and Does Not Cover
Not every hour of that program has to be delivered under this rule. Emergency response training is where a plant can avoid duplicating work it already performs. The exemption for it is narrow, and it turns on what the facility's own records can show.
40 CFR 262.17(a)(7)(i)(D) covers facility employees who receive emergency response training under the OSHA regulations at 29 CFR 1910.120(p)(8) and 1910.120(q). For those employees the large quantity generator need not provide separate emergency response training under this section, provided the overall facility training meets all the conditions of exemption.
The condition at the end is what makes this a records question, and it carries 3 parts:
- The exemption covers emergency response training only.
- 262.17(a)(7)(i)(B) continues to require instruction in hazardous waste management procedures relevant to the position, including contingency plan implementation.
- The overall facility training has to meet the conditions of exemption, so the plant has to be able to show which HAZWOPER content substitutes for which element of the RCRA program.
Mapping One Program Onto the Other
That third point is a mapping, and the document it belongs in is the (a)(7)(iv)(C) description. A plant running both programs under separate owners, which is ordinary where safety and environmental report to different managers, will hold 2 accurate records and no document connecting them. Keeping both inside one system is part of managing safety training programs.
All of this assumes the plant is a large quantity generator.
Where the Large Quantity Generator Package Stops
The large quantity generator package stops at the category boundary, and that boundary moves. 40 CFR 262.13 determines a generator's category from the amount of hazardous waste generated in a calendar month. A plant can be a large quantity generator in one month and something else the next.
For a small quantity generator the training duty differs in kind. 40 CFR 262.16(b)(9)(iii) requires only that employees are thoroughly familiar with proper waste handling and emergency procedures relevant to their responsibilities. That subparagraph sets no 6 month deadline, no annual review, and no written record requirement.
- The 4 documents in 262.17(a)(7)(iv) are a large quantity generator duty.
- The familiarity standard in 262.16(b)(9)(iii) is a small quantity generator duty.
Extending the first to a small quantity generator creates obligations the rule does not impose, and an auditor will hold the plant to whatever its own procedure claims. Which category a site is in is a separate question with its own answer, and it is worth settling before the file is built. This article assumes the answer is a large quantity generator. What remains to settle is the file itself.
What the File Should Hold Before an Inspector Asks
The file is what an inspector asks for, and for a single position yours should hold a short and specific set of things. An LMS for corporate training produces the last of those things on demand, because the completion record is stored against the named employee.
- The job title, and the name of the person filling it.
- A written job description with the requisite skill, education, or other qualifications, and the duties.
- A written description of the introductory and continuing training that position receives, which the program then has to match.
- Records showing that the training was given and completed.
- For a former employee, the same set held for at least 3 years from their last working day.
None of that is hard to produce a single time. The difficulty is producing it for every position, keeping it current as people move between jobs, and showing which version applied on a date an inspector picks. KC LMS holds completion records per employee with an audit trail, so the fourth item is generated by the system. A transfer between plants moves the record with the person, which 262.17(a)(7)(v) permits.
The first 3 items are documents a plant writes. The fourth one is a record that a system produces. A plant treating all 4 as paperwork will keep rewriting the first 3 and searching for the fourth.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. What training records must a large quantity generator keep?
40 CFR 262.17(a)(7)(iv) names 4 documents kept at the facility. The job title for each position related to hazardous waste management with the name of the employee filling it, a written job description for that position including the requisite skill, education, or other qualifications and the duties, a written description of the type and amount of introductory and continuing training for the position, and records documenting that the required training was given to and completed by facility personnel.
2. How long do you keep RCRA training records?
Under 40 CFR 262.17(a)(7)(v), records on current personnel are kept until closure of the facility, so they have no fixed retention period. Records on former employees are kept for at least 3 years from the date the employee last worked at the facility. The same paragraph allows personnel training records to accompany personnel transferred within the same company.
3. Does HAZWOPER training satisfy the RCRA emergency response requirement?
It can. 40 CFR 262.17(a)(7)(i)(D) provides that where facility employees receive emergency response training under 29 CFR 1910.120(p)(8) and 1910.120(q), the large quantity generator is not required to provide separate emergency response training under this section, provided the overall facility training meets all the conditions of exemption. The exemption covers emergency response training only, so the hazardous waste management instruction required by 262.17(a)(7)(i)(B) still applies.
4. When must a new employee complete RCRA training?
Within 6 months after the date of employment or assignment to the facility, or to a new position at the facility, whichever is later, under 40 CFR 262.17(a)(7)(ii). The same paragraph states that employees must not work in unsupervised positions until they have completed the training standards in (a)(7)(i), so the 6 month period is not a grace period for unsupervised work.
5. Do small quantity generators have the same training records requirement?
No. 40 CFR 262.16(b)(9)(iii) requires a small quantity generator to ensure that employees are thoroughly familiar with proper waste handling and emergency procedures relevant to their responsibilities. That subparagraph sets no 6 month deadline, no annual review, and no written record requirement. Generator category is determined month by month under 40 CFR 262.13.
References
- Electronic Code of Federal Regulations. "40 CFR 262.17(a)(7)(i)(A), the training program and its relationship to the written description.". ecfr.gov. (7)(i)(A)).
- Electronic Code of Federal Regulations. "40 CFR 262.17(a)(7)(i)(D), emergency response training received under 29 CFR 1910.120.". ecfr.gov. (7)(i)(D)).
- Electronic Code of Federal Regulations. "40 CFR 262.17(a)(7)(ii), completion within 6 months and the limit on unsupervised work.". ecfr.gov. (7)(ii)).
- Electronic Code of Federal Regulations. "40 CFR 262.17(a)(7)(iii), the annual review of the initial training.". ecfr.gov. (7)(iii)).
- Electronic Code of Federal Regulations. "40 CFR 262.17(a)(7)(iv)(A) to (D), the documents and records maintained at the facility.". ecfr.gov. (7)(iv)(A)).
- Electronic Code of Federal Regulations. "40 CFR 262.17(a)(7)(v), retention for current and former personnel and transfers within a company.". ecfr.gov. (7)(v)).
- Electronic Code of Federal Regulations. "40 CFR 262.16(b)(9)(iii), the small quantity generator familiarity standard.". ecfr.gov. (9)(iii)).
- Electronic Code of Federal Regulations. "40 CFR 262.13, determining generator category by calendar month.". ecfr.gov.