Highway projects have environmental challenges from the planning through construction stages. Each individual involved needs to know what to do when faced with these challenges. All workers involved in highway construction projects need to have a general understanding of the hazardous materials they can encounter on a project. This includes being aware of the laws and requirements concerning hazardous waste when designing and constructing a project. The Hazardous Materials Management Series is relevant to anyone at a department of transportation or in an industry that deals with hazardous waste. The first two courses in the series, Introduction to Initial Site Assessment (ISA) Process and Regulatory and Legal Issues, are available at no cost through March 2018.
Introduction to Initial Site Assessment (ISA) Process
The ISA is used to identify and evaluate the potential for hazardous material to affect a project. This course, recommended for 1 professional development hour (PDH), provides an introduction to the ISA process and offers definitions and acronyms for commonly used terms associated with hazardous material management. This course is available at no cost through March 2018.
Regulatory and Legal Issues
This course, recommended for 1 PDH, covers the regulatory and legal issues involved in hazardous material management. To better understand the ISA process, it is important to be familiar with the environmental laws, regulations and guidance related to this field. While there are several, this lesson covers only the major ones, including the Clean Air Act, the Occupational Safety and Health Act, and the Clean Water Act. This course is available at no cost through March 2018.
Defining Site Assessments
Not all hazardous materials investigations are the same. This course, recommended for .5 PDH, familiarizes participants with various site assessment types and explains the elements of an ISA.
Completing the Initial Site Assessment (ISA) Report Scoping Process
All projects must include an ISA in varying levels. This course, recommended for 1 PDH, will cover the first three sections of the ISA report:
- Section 1, which is for identifying previously known hazardous material conditions and preliminary project design and right-of-way requirements;
- Section 2, which is for identifying potential hazardous material issues; and
- Section 3, which is for the identification of data collection actions.
Land Use Concerns
This course, recommended for 2 PDHs, addresses existing and previous land use information, and it links environmental hazards to existing and previous land use through the review of photographs. Sections 4 and 6 of the ISA report are covered.
Using Regulatory Agency Databases
This course, recommended for 1 PDH, reviews regulatory agency (federal and state) databases, database characteristics, and Section 5—regulatory records review—of the ISA report. Participants will learn how to identify any and all resources of use for a particular project.
Conducting Field Interviews
This course, recommended for 1 PDH, will cover the examination of unknown hazards on a project. Additionally, participants will learn about site surveys (including their purpose and procedures), interviews and identified hazardous material concerns.
Preparing NEPA Documentation
This course, recommended for 1 PDH, provides information on communicating with consultants, determining what is needed for the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) document, and NEPA document types. It also includes a review of hazardous materials by describing the process for involvement in regulated sites and explains the process of achieving environmental review and clearance.
Preparing Recommendation and Action Plans
This course, recommended for 1 PDH, prepares participants for ongoing commitments, beyond the NEPA document and environmental clearance. This course addresses the purpose of Phase II environmental site assessment and explains what should happen when hazardous materials cannot be eliminated from a project. Lastly, ongoing environmental management is discussed.
Training subscriptions
TC3 launched an enhancement that made more than 90% of the curriculum eligible for PDHs. When a trainee takes a PDH-eligible course, the training hours can contribute toward continuing education for licensure renewal.
TC3 now offers prepaid training subscriptions, available for purchase through the TC3 Training Store. These subscription options allow organizations to purchase TC3 training courses at discounted prepaid rates for their employees or members, which results in cost savings on training. Available options include annual unlimited courses per user and bulk-hour pricing.
AASHTO member states that financially contribute to TC3 as a technical service program already have unlimited TC3 training available for all employees and do not require a subscription.
Save on publications
As a TC3 training participant, you can save 20% on AASHTO publications related to your TC3 training course. Simply refer to your registration confirmation email for the exclusive 16-digit TC3 promo code, which you can enter at checkout when purchasing publications on the AASHTO Bookstore. For more information about AASHTO publications, visit the AASHTO Bookstore online or download the AASHTO Publications Catalog.
