HAZWOPER First Responder Awareness Level (Federal OSHA and Cal/OSHA) Online Training

This online course covers the first responder awareness level in the HAZWOPER rules, including the DOT Emergency Response Guidebook and the yearly refresher (29 CFR 1910.120(q)(6)(i) and (q)(8); Cal/OSHA 8 CCR 5192(q)(6)(A) and (q)(8)) and is written for workers likely to witness or discover a hazardous substance release, whose job is to notify and take no further action.

What you learn

• Your role at the awareness level
• Hazardous substances and their risks
• What can happen: incidents and emergencies
• Recognizing hazardous substances
• Identifying the substance, if you can
• Using the Emergency Response Guidebook (ERG)
• Your part in the emergency response plan
• Notify: calling for help the right way
• Competency, the yearly refresher and records
• A final lesson listing what to review with your supervisor at your company

How it works

• You take the course online, at your own pace, on a phone or a computer.
• The final exam opens after at least 60 minutes of active study in the lessons.
• Each topic lesson ends with practice questions that do not count toward your score.
• The final exam has 50 questions drawn at random. You need 80 percent to pass, and you get 3 attempts.
• When you pass, you get a certificate of completion from M Squared Safety Solutions, Inc. The certificate expires 1 year after it is issued.
• This course is also available in Spanish: Nivel de concientización para primeros respondedores HAZWOPER (OSHA federal y Cal/OSHA): capacitación en línea.

Questions

Call the M Squared Ask a trainer line at 949-954-6581, Monday to Friday, 8 AM to 5 PM Pacific time. Outside those hours, leave a message and a trainer calls you back the next business day. The trainer who answers meets the trainer qualifications in 29 CFR 1910.120(q)(7) and 8 CCR 5192(q)(7) and answers in English and Spanish. This gives you access to a qualified trainer, but it does not replace hands-on practice or your employer's duties below.

Your employer's part

This online course does not replace the training your employer must give on your own job: site-specific training, and hands-on practice and evaluation where the rule requires them.

What this course does not do

This course does not train anyone to the operations, technician, specialist or incident commander level, and it is not HAZWOPER cleanup site, TSD facility or 8-hour refresher training. It is 100 percent online. OSHA's guidance says computer-based training by itself is not sufficient to meet the intent of HAZWOPER's training requirements (OSHA letters of Nov. 22, 1994 and Feb. 29, 2024; CPL 02-02-073, XI.H). Your employer must still review its emergency response plan and your role in it with you, make sure you can ask a qualified trainer questions, check that you can objectively demonstrate each competency, and have the yearly statement of training or competency. The course alone does not make anyone compliant and does not certify anyone.