29 CFR 1910.120: Hazardous waste operations and emergency response
The official text is on the eCFR. This page maps how the section is organized, quotes the paragraphs our ASP, CHST, CSP practice questions are built on, and gives free questions you can try. Text below is quoted from the eCFR, current as of 2026-10-14; the section was last amended 2019-07-15.
How 29 CFR 1910.120 is organized
- (a) Scope, application, and definitions—(1) Scope40 paragraphs
- (b)42 paragraphs
- (c) Site characterization and analysis—(1) General25 paragraphs
- (d)4 paragraphs
- (e)21 paragraphs
- (f)39 paragraphs
- (g)28 paragraphs
- (h) Monitoring—(1) General10 paragraphs
- (i) Informational programs1 paragraph
- (j) Handling drums and containers—(1) General40 paragraphs
- (k) Decontamination—(1) General12 paragraphs
- (l)23 paragraphs
- (m) Illumination9 paragraphs
- (n) Sanitation at temporary workplaces—(1) Potable water28 paragraphs
- (o) New technology programs2 paragraphs
- (p)37 paragraphs
- (q) Emergency response to hazardous substance releases80 paragraphs
- [Appendix A to § 1910.120]100 paragraphs
- [Appendix B to § 1910.120]79 paragraphs
- [Appendix C to § 1910.120]42 paragraphs
- [Appendix D to § 1910.120]25 paragraphs
- [Appendix E to § 1910.120]301 paragraphs
Paragraphs our practice questions cite most
Counted across the 53 live PassCited questions built on this section. This reflects our question bank, not the real exam.
“(4) Skilled support personnel. Personnel, not necessarily an employer's own employees, who are skilled in the operation of certain equipment, such as mechanized earth moving or digging equipment or crane and hoisting equipment, and who are needed temporarily to perform immediate emergency support work that cannot reasonably be performed in a timely fashion by an employer's own employees, and who will be or may be exposed to the hazards at an emergency response scene, are not required to meet the training required in this paragraph for the employer's regular employees. However, these personnel …”
“(9) Equivalent training. Employers who can show by documentation or certification that an employee's work experience and/or training has resulted in training equivalent to that training required in paragraphs (e)(1) through (e)(4) of this section shall not be required to provide the initial training requirements of those paragraphs to such employees and shall provide a copy of the certification or documentation to the employee upon request. However, certified employees or employees with equivalent training new to a site shall receive appropriate, site specific training before site entry and ha…”
“(1) Emergency response plan. An emergency response plan shall be developed and implemented to handle anticipated emergencies prior to the commencement of emergency response operations. The plan shall be in writing and available for inspection and copying by employees, their representatives and OSHA personnel. Employers who will evacuate their employees from the danger area when an emergency occurs, and who do not permit any of their employees to assist in handling the emergency, are exempt from the requirements of this paragraph if they provide an emergency action plan in accordance with 29 CF…”
“(iv) Workers with 24 hours of training who are covered by paragraphs (e)(3)(ii) and (e)(3)(iii) of this section, and who become general site workers or who are required to wear respirators, shall have the additional 16 hours and two days of training necessary to total the training specified in paragraph (e)(3)(i).”
“(3) Procedures for handling emergency response. (i) The senior emergency response official responding to an emergency shall become the individual in charge of a site-specific Incident Command System (ICS). All emergency responders and their communications shall be coordinated and controlled through the individual in charge of the ICS assisted by the senior official present for each employer.”
Free practice questions on 29 CFR 1910.120
Question 1
A chemical tank at a construction staging yard begins leaking onto the ground. The site's designated first responders at the operations level arrive and are expected to act as part of the initial response. Which action is consistent with their role?
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Answer: C. Contain the release from a safe distance and keep it from spreading
Operations-level responders respond defensively, containing the release from a safe distance, keeping it from spreading and preventing exposures. Plugging or patching at the point of release is the more aggressive role of a hazardous materials technician, so it is wrong for this level.
Answer C rests on
29 CFR 1910.120(q)(6)(ii)(opens ecfr.gov in a new tab)“They are trained to respond in a defensive fashion without actually trying to stop the release. Their function is to contain the release from a safe distance, keep it from spreading, and prevent exposures.”
Question 2
A contractor's crew could face a chemical release while excavating at a former industrial site. Management plans to have all workers evacuate immediately if a release occurs, and no employee will be allowed to help handle the emergency. Which statement correctly describes the contractor's obligation under the emergency response requirements?
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Answer: D. The contractor is exempt from the full emergency response plan requirement if it provides an emergency action plan in accordance with 29 CFR 1910.38.
The standard exempts employers who evacuate employees from the danger area and permit none of them to assist in handling the emergency, provided they have an emergency action plan under 1910.38. A full plan is not required for them, and no fire department agreement or incident commander training is required for the exemption.
Answer D rests on
29 CFR 1910.120(q)(1)(opens ecfr.gov in a new tab)“Employers who will evacuate their employees from the danger area when an emergency occurs, and who do not permit any of their employees to assist in handling the emergency, are exempt from the requirements of this paragraph if they provide an emergency action plan in accordance with 29 CFR 1910.38.”
Question 3
A remediation contractor hires a technician who holds a certificate showing completion of hazardous waste operations training from a previous employer. The certificate covers the same content required for initial HAZWOPER training. The employer has verified it and kept a copy on file. On the technician's first day at the new site, which action does the standard require?
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Answer: C. Provide appropriate site-specific training before site entry and appropriate supervised field experience at the new site
Equivalent training relieves the employer of the initial training requirements, but certified employees new to a site still need site-specific training before entry and supervised field experience there. Skipping site-specific training because of the certificate is wrong under the standard.
Answer C rests on
29 CFR 1910.120(e)(9)(opens ecfr.gov in a new tab)“However, certified employees or employees with equivalent training new to a site shall receive appropriate, site specific training before site entry and have appropriate supervised field experience at the new site.”
Question 4
A TSD facility has 60 employees. Only a designated 8-person emergency team has completed the full emergency response training (plan elements, SOPs, PPE, incident-handling procedures). The remaining employees, who are most likely to discover a spill first, have not had the full training. A safety professional is reviewing whether this arrangement can comply without training all 60 employees to the full degree. Which finding would show that the facility is NOT meeting the conditions for this approach?
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Answer: C. Employees outside the team were trained only to recognize that an emergency exists and to summon the trained team, but they have never been told not to attempt control, and some have been expected to try to contain small spills
The exception requires that other employees who may respond first be instructed to summon the fully trained employees and not attempt control activities for which they are not trained. Expecting untrained employees to contain spills defeats that condition, whereas the other findings describe the arrangement the standard allows.
Answer C rests on
29 CFR 1910.120(p)(8)(iii)(A)(opens ecfr.gov in a new tab)“Exception #1: An employer need not train all employees to the degree specified if the employer divides the work force in a manner such that a sufficient number of employees who have responsibility to control emergencies have the training specified, and all other employees, who may first respond to an emergency incident, have sufficient awareness training to recognize that an emergency response situation exists and that they are instructed in that case to summon the fully trained employees and not attempt control activities for which they are not trained.”
Question 5
A safety professional reviews a draft site control program for a hazardous waste clean-up. The draft contains a site map, designated work zones, a buddy-system requirement, standard operating procedures for the tasks, and the name and location of the nearest hospital. The site has no written provision for how workers will be alerted to an emergency or how they will communicate across zones. The employer says the draft is complete because it also includes air monitoring and medical surveillance in other parts of the site safety and health program. Which action is required to meet the minimum elements of the site control program?
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Answer: A. Add site communications, including a means of alerting employees to emergencies, because this is a required minimum element that is missing
The standard lists site communications, including alerting means for emergencies, as a minimum element, and the draft has no such provision. Air monitoring and medical surveillance are not substitutes for it. The standard allows elements to go unrepeated only where the same requirement is covered elsewhere, and that is not the case here.
Answer A rests on
29 CFR 1910.120(d)(3)(opens ecfr.gov in a new tab)“The site control program shall, as a minimum, include: A site map; site work zones; the use of a “buddy system”; site communications including alerting means for emergencies; the standard operating procedures or safe work practices; and, identification of the nearest medical assistance. Where these requirements are covered elsewhere they need not be repeated.”
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