ASBESTOS PROJECT MONITOR TRAINING COURSE OVERVIW AND CURRICULUM

Required training for asbestos Project Monitors in Connecticut and other CONES States.

Five days of training totaling 40 hours and including at least 6 hours of Hands-on instruction and individual respirator fittesting for initial training courses and an annual one day refresher course.

Existing Licensed Project Monitors only need take 8- hr refresher training.

Prerequisite for those who wish to be fit tested is a medical approval form indicating the individual can wear a respirator and the respirator.

Individuals must be clean shaven in the area of the respirator seal to the face.

(A) Roles and responsibilities of the project monitor: definition and responsibilities of the project monitor, including regulatory/specification compliance monitoring, air monitoring, conducting visual inspections and final clearance monitoring; (Section 1)

(B) Characteristics of asbestos and asbestoscontaining materials: typical uses of asbestos; physical appearance of asbestos; review of asbestos abatement and control techniques; presentation of the health effects of asbestos exposure, including routes of exposure, dose-response relationships and latency periods for asbestos-related diseases; (Section 1)

(C) Federal asbestos regulations: overview of pertinent EPA regulations, including: NESHAP, 40 CFR Part 61, Subparts A and M; AHERA, 40 CFR Part 763, Subpart E and the EPA Worker Protection Rule, 40 CFR Part 763, Subpart G; overview of pertinent OSHA regulations, including: Construction Industry Standard for Asbestos, 29 CFR 1926.58 (now) 1101; Respirator Standard, 29 CFR 1910.134; Hazard Communication Standard, 29 CFR 1926.59 and Occupational Exposure to Asbestos, 29 CFR 1926.1101. applicable state and local asbestos regulations and regulatory interrelationships; (Section 2)

(D) Understanding facility construction and facility systems: facility construction basics and facility physical plant layout; understanding facility systems (HVAC, electrical, etc.); layout and organization, where asbestos is likely to be found on facility systems; renovations and the effect of asbestos abatement on facility systems;

(E) Asbestos abatement contracts, specifications and drawings: basic provisions of the contract; relationships between principal parties and establishing chain of command; types of specifications , including means and methods; performance and proprietary and nonproprietary; reading and interpreting records and abatement drawings; discussion of change orders; common enforcement responsibilities and authority of project monitor;

 (F) Response actions and abatement practices: prework inspections; prework considerations, precleaning of the Work Area, removal of furniture, fixtures and equipment; shutdown/modification of facility systems; construction and maintenance of containment barriers and proper demarcation of Work Areas; Work Area entry and exit and hygiene practices; determining the effectiveness of air filtration equipment; techniques for minimizing fiber release, wet methods and continuous cleaning; abatement methods other than removal; abatement area clean-up procedures; waste transport and disposal procedures and contingency planning for emergency response;

(G) Asbestos abatement equipment: typical equipment found on an abatement project; air filtration devices, vacuum systems and negative pressure differential monitoring; HEPA filtration units, theory of filtration, design and construction of HEPA filtration units, qualitative and quantitative performance of HEPA filtration units, sizing the ventilation requirements, location of HEPA filtration units, qualitative and quantitative tests of containment barrier integrity and best available technology;

(H) Personal protective equipment: proper selection of respiratory protection; classes and characteristics of respirator types, limitations of respirators; proper use of other safety equipment, protective clothing selection, use and proper handling, hard or bump hats, safety shoes, breathing air systems, high pressure versus low pressure, testing for Grade D air and determining proper backup air volumes;

(I) Air monitoring strategies: sampling equipment, sampling pumps (low versus high volume), flow regulating devices (critical and limiting orifices) and use of fibrous aerosol monitors on abatement projects; Sampling media, types of filters, types of cassettes, filter orientation, storage and shipment of filters; calibration techniques, primary calibration standards, secondary calibration standards, temperature and pressure effects, frequency of calibration, recordkeeping and field work documentation and calculations; air sample analysis, techniques available and limitations of AHERA on their use, transmission electron microscopy (e.g. background to sample preparation and analysis, air sample conditions which prohibit analysis, EPA's recommended technique for analysis of final air clearance samples), phase contrast microscopy (background to sample preparation and AHERA's limits on the use of phase contrast microscopy) and what each technique measures; analytical methodologies, AHERA TEM protocol, NIOSH 7400, OSHA reference method (non clearance) and EPA recommendation for clearance (TEM); sampling strategies for clearance monitoring, types of air samples (personal breathing zone versus fixed-station area) , sampling location and objectives to include pre-abatement, during abatement and clearance monitoring, number of samples to be collected, minimum and maximum air volumes, clearance monitoring to include post-visualinspection (e.g. number of samples required, selection of sampling locations, period of sampling, aggressive sampling, interpretations of sampling results and calculations) and quality assurance; special sampling problems, crawl spaces, acceptable samples for laboratory analysis and sampling in occupied facilities such as barrier monitoring;

(J) Safety and health issues other than asbestos: confined-space entry, electrical hazards, fire and explosion concerns, ladders and scaffolding, heat stress, air contaminants other than asbestos, fall hazards and hazardous materials on abatement projects;

(K) Conducting visual inspections: inspections during abatement, visual inspections using the ASTM E1368 document; conducting inspections for completeness of removal and discussion of "how clean is clean?"

 (L) Legal responsibilities and liabilities of project monitors: specification enforcement capabilities; regulatory enforcement; licensing and powers delegated to project monitors through contract documents;

(M) Recordkeeping and report writing: developing project logs and daily logs; what should be included and who sees them; final report preparation and recordkeeping under federal regulations;

(N) Workshops six (6) hours spread over three (3) days.