Home / Standards guides / HAZWOPER Awareness: First Responder Awareness Level

Black Belt Safety · Free guide

HAZWOPER Awareness: First Responder Awareness Level

Awareness training for workers who may witness or discover a hazardous substance release: what HAZWOPER covers, what hazardous substances are, and how to recognize a release and notify the right people.

Based on OSHA 29 CFR 1910.120, with focus on the first responder awareness level in 1910.120(q)(6)(i) · about 5 min read

Need proof of training? The full course (15 min) adds practice questions, a job scenario, the final quiz and a certificate your employer can verify.

Take the course

Where you fit in HAZWOPER

What HAZWOPER covers

OSHA's Hazardous Waste Operations and Emergency Response standard, HAZWOPER, covers five kinds of work:

Government-required cleanups at uncontrolled hazardous waste sites
Corrective-action cleanups at sites covered by RCRA
Voluntary cleanups at sites a government body recognizes as uncontrolled hazardous waste sites
Hazardous waste work at treatment, storage and disposal (TSD) facilities
Emergency response to releases, or substantial threats of releases, of hazardous substances, wherever they happen

That last one is why HAZWOPER can reach a warehouse, plant or loading dock.

Your role

A first responder at the awareness level is someone likely to witness or discover a release, who is trained to start the emergency response by notifying the proper authorities. You take no further action beyond that notification.

Reference: 29 CFR 1910.120(a)(1)(i) · 29 CFR 1910.120(a)(1)(ii) · 29 CFR 1910.120(a)(1)(iii) · 29 CFR 1910.120(a)(1)(iv) · 29 CFR 1910.120(a)(1)(v) · 29 CFR 1910.120(q)(6)(i)

Where you fit in HAZWOPER

What this course is, and is not

Workers at hazardous waste sites need much more training than this course:

40 hours + 3 daysGeneral site workers: at least 40 hours of off-site instruction and at least 3 days of field experience under a trained, experienced supervisor.

24 hours + 1 dayWorkers on site only occasionally for a specific limited task who are unlikely to be exposed over permissible exposure limits (and certain workers in monitored, fully characterized areas): at least 24 hours of off-site instruction and 1 day of supervised field experience.

8 hours every yearRefresher training for those site workers, managers and supervisors.

Certified firstAnyone not certified as having completed that training (or equivalent training) is prohibited from hazardous waste operations.

This course does not meet any of those requirements. It covers awareness-level topics only.

Awareness-level responders also need annual refresher training to keep their competencies, or must show those competencies at least once a year.

Reference: 29 CFR 1910.120(e)(3)(i) · 29 CFR 1910.120(e)(3)(ii) · 29 CFR 1910.120(e)(3)(iii) · 29 CFR 1910.120(e)(8) · 29 CFR 1910.120(e)(6) · 29 CFR 1910.120(q)(8)(i)

Hazardous substances and their risks

What counts as a hazardous substance

Under HAZWOPER, a hazardous substance is anything in one of these four groups that can harm the health or safety of workers who are exposed to it.

CERCLA

Superfund substancesSubstances defined under section 103(14) of the federal Superfund law (CERCLA).

BIO

Biological agentsBiological and other disease-causing agents that can cause death, disease or other serious harm after release and exposure.

DOT

DOT hazardous materialsAnything the U.S. Department of Transportation lists as a hazardous material in 49 CFR 172.101 and its appendices.

WASTE

Hazardous wasteHazardous waste as defined by EPA (40 CFR 261.3) or DOT (49 CFR 171.8).

Reference: 29 CFR 1910.120(a)(3) "Hazardous substance" · 29 CFR 1910.120(a)(3) "Hazardous waste"

Hazardous substances and their risks

What can happen in an incident

You need to understand the risks of hazardous substances in an incident, and the outcomes an emergency can lead to. These terms describe the worst of them:

Health hazard: a chemical or pathogen that can cause acute (quick) or chronic (long-term) health effects in exposed workers. It also includes stress from extreme temperatures.
IDLH (immediately dangerous to life or health): air with a toxic, corrosive or asphyxiant substance at a level that poses an immediate threat to life, would cause irreversible or delayed health effects, or would interfere with a person's ability to escape.
Oxygen deficiency: air with less than 19.5 percent oxygen by volume.

Why this matters to you: IDLH air can interfere with your ability to escape, and you could be exposed if you try to help. That is why your role is to stay back and notify, not to go in.

Reference: 29 CFR 1910.120(a)(3) "Health hazard" · 29 CFR 1910.120(a)(3) "IDLH" · 29 CFR 1910.120(a)(3) "Oxygen deficiency" · 29 CFR 1910.120(q)(6)(i)(A) · 29 CFR 1910.120(q)(6)(i)(B) · 29 CFR 1910.120(q)(6)(i)

Recognize, identify, notify

Your four jobs in a release

1. RecognizeRealize that hazardous substances are present in an emergency.

2. Identify, if possibleFind out what the substance is, if you can do that safely.

3. Know your part in the planUnderstand your role in your employer's emergency response plan, including site security and control, and the DOT Emergency Response Guidebook.

4. Call for helpRealize when more resources are needed, and make the right notifications to the communication center.

A good practice is to identify a substance from a safe distance, using what you can see, such as container labels, placards or shipping papers, and never by smelling, touching or moving closer.

When emergency responders arrive, the senior emergency response official takes charge of the scene through an Incident Command System (ICS). Tell them what you saw.

Reference: 29 CFR 1910.120(q)(6)(i)(C) · 29 CFR 1910.120(q)(6)(i)(D) · 29 CFR 1910.120(q)(6)(i)(E) · 29 CFR 1910.120(q)(6)(i)(F) · 29 CFR 1910.120(q)(3)(i)

Recognize, identify, notify

Emergency or incidental release? And your plan

Emergency response vs. incidental release

An emergency response is a response by employees from outside the immediate release area, or by other designated responders such as fire departments, to an event that causes, or is likely to cause, an uncontrolled release.
An incidental release that can be absorbed, neutralized or otherwise controlled at the time by employees in the immediate area, or by maintenance personnel, is not an emergency response under this standard.

Know your plan

Where employees will respond to emergencies, the emergency response plan must be in writing and available to employees. It covers items such as people's roles and lines of authority, safe distances and places of refuge, evacuation routes, site security and control, and emergency alerting procedures.

An employer who evacuates everyone and lets no employee help handle the emergency can use an emergency action plan under 29 CFR 1910.38 instead.

Reference: 29 CFR 1910.120(a)(3) "Emergency response" · 29 CFR 1910.120(q)(1) · 29 CFR 1910.120(q)(2)

Need proof of training? The full course (15 min) adds practice questions, a job scenario, the final quiz and a certificate your employer can verify.

Take the course

Sources

29 CFR 1910.120

Fact-checked against the regulation text on October 09, 2026. This certificate records completion of awareness training based on OSHA 29 CFR 1910.120, mainly the first responder awareness level in 1910.120(q)(6)(i). It is not an OSHA card or license, it does NOT meet the 40-hour, 24-hour or 8-hour refresher HAZWOPER training requirements in 1910.120(e), and it does not by itself meet the training requirements of 1910.120(q)(6)(i). Your employer must still give you training based on your duties and function before you take part in actual emergency operations, so that you can objectively demonstrate competency in the areas listed in 1910.120(q)(6)(i), including your role in the employer's emergency response plan, and must provide annual refresher training or have you demonstrate competency at least yearly, as 1910.120(q)(8)(i) requires.

This guide explains the rule in plain words. Always read the regulation itself and your employer's site-specific procedures.