Relevance of the HAZWOPER Standard to Terrorist Actions

Relevance of the HAZWOPER Standard to Terrorist Actions
O S H A’s HAZWOPER standard is the most applicable – and proactive – federal standard for protecting workers who respond to terrorist destruction. The standard applies to "emergency response operations for releases of, or substantial threats of releases of, hazardous substances without regard to the location of the hazard."

Even though the standard was not applied at the cleanup of the World Trade Center disaster, experts representing NIEHS argued that it was appropriate because it provides a "comprehensive basis for the training of workers, medical surveillance, exposure monitoring, and worker protection levels."

Several key misunderstandings appear to have guided the decision at the World Trade Center to ignore the O S H A HAZWOPER standard. New York City officials appear to have believed that lower Manhattan would have inevitably been declared a Superfund site if the HAZWOPER standard were enforced. The truth is that many actions - such as underground storage tank cleanup – are covered under HAZWOPER but not under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA o r

Superfund). OSHA considered the recent cleanup of anthrax contamination as covered by HAZWOPER even though no one would reasonably call the Brentwood Post Office a Superfund site. Another concern expressed at the site was that HAZWOPER would force workers into overly protective garments and respirators, slowing down the work and jacking up the price.

The truth is that HAZWOPER only requires that the level of protection be commensurate with the level of hazard, as determined by an assessment of the risks. Most of these key practices of HAZWOPER – such as creating a site-specific health and safety plan, establishing zones of control, training workers, and decontaminating personnel and equipment – eventually became part of the procedures at Ground Zero. But they arrived slowly and unevenly. Unlike the HAZWOPER requirements, personal decontamination was never mandatory at Ground Zero and medical screening was not widely performed during the entire rescue, recovery, and cleanup.

There is, however, no ambiguity about whether HAZWOPER is applicable to acts of bioterrorism. OSHA’s official policy is that, "the release of anthrax spores into a workplace as an act of terrorism is an emergency situation. Compliance with Hazardous Waste Operations and Emergency Response, 29 CFR 1910.120, is required for emergency response personnel responding to a possible anthrax release."

Additionally, the training subcommittee for the National Response Team (NRT) has endorsed HAZWOPER first responder operations level as the core competency for response to terrorism.

TOP