Class Details

This multi-day course provides participants with course work for the position of Assistant Safety Officer (ASO). It covers the roles and responsibilities of an ASO and the relationship of the ASO to the Safety Officer (SO) within the Incident Command System (ICS). The student will review the administrative functions of the SO (e.g., participating Incident Management Team meetings and incident briefings, and conducting investigations) but the real emphasis will be on how to be the “eyes and ears” of the SO in the field. This training is designed to provide the ASO with a better understanding of field operations to help ensure the smooth flow of information between the field and Incident Command. This, in turn, helps improve the efficiency and safety of field operations, and decreases the likelihood of injuries and "stop work" orders.

Instructional methods include lectures, videos, class discussions, and group exercises. A certificate of course completion will be awarded to those students who have 100% attendance.

Target Group

This course is intended for U.S. EPA personnel who have completed the 24-hour EPA Field Health and Safety Training Course and/or the 40-Hour HAZWOPER Training Course. This course is REQUIRED for all new ASOs and RECOMMENDED for ASOs who have already served as an ASO. An instructor will review all registrations.

Objectives

After completing the course, participants will be able to:

• Identify ASO roles and responsibilities.
• Describe the interactions of the ASO with the SO and other Incident Command positions.
• Locate and use the tools found in the EPA SO Toolbox.
• Perform the administrative functions of the SO.
• Explain operational risk management strategies.
• Identify common safety concerns on project sites, and specific hazards associated with different kinds of emergencies.
• Use the ASO Field Audit Guidance document to evaluate and control site hazards.
• Describe specific areas of special technical expertise that ASOs can contribute to site operations.
• Identify references and resources that can be consulted for additional information.   

The classroom version of this course is delivered over two days (16 hours).

Continuing Eduction Units: 1.6

In compliance with Executive Order 13589 - Promoting Efficient Spending, Section 5; the ERTP will not be regularly printing or providing students hard copies of the course manual. Students may obtain an electronic copy of the student manual for personal printing or e-reading at:

https://www.ertpvu.org/ClassroomCourseDetail.aspx?id=52

IMPORTANT:  ERTP’s receipt of a Trainex course registration is a Registration Request, it is not a Guaranteed Enrollment in the Course. All ERTP training courses require applicant registration thru the Trainex system.  Last minute course arrivals without prior ERTP Trainex course registration approval is not permitted.  Before ERTP issues final approval to deliver any course and/or any EPA offices incurring expenses for the training event (including but not limited to EPA staff travel TA’s and/or ERTP training contractor expenses incurred), all EPA mandatory pre-approvals must all be met. The pre-approvals include (but are not limited to) the following:

• Training location’s availability;
• COVID status and/or other COVID Guidelines in effect for the location, as well as staff;
• Agency limitations, scrutiny, and approvals of ‘Conference Spending Requirements (known as the “5170”)’ for the specific training course(s) scheduled delivery timeframe;
• Weather (blizzard, hurricane, etc);
• Contractual number of available course training slots;
• EPA training location staff having priority registration over all other registrations; and/or
• Hosting site Training Coordinator approval.

In the event a course is subsequently postponed or canceled, or notification of registration cancellation is received, all EPA travel arrangements (airline/car rental/hotel) should be canceled in a timely manner. Registered students will receive a notification via email if/when a course is postponed and/or cancelled.

Notice: For in-person course deliveries, confirmed course registered participants must abide by all facility physical access requirements for the location (examples: check-in at the security gate, Federal ID, Government PIV/CAC cards, photo id’s, etc.).  If applicable for the course or location, restrictions may apply to non-citizens and acceptable identification may be required for facility entry.  Unless otherwise specified, ERTP TRAINING IS GENERALLY NOT OPEN TO INTERNATIONAL ATTENDEES, ACADEMIA, CONTRACTORS, CONSULTANTS OR OTHER PRIVATE ENTITIES.

Entry Requirements to Federal Facilities - Training Exchange (trainex.org)

Region 3: EPA Region 3 (Philadelphia, PA) course: EPA REGION 3 and ERT/CMAT STAFF HAVE PRIORITY REGISTRATION FOR THIS COURSE.

Registration will be limited to 30 participants.

Once a registration is approved, the applicant will receive a confirmed enrollment email notification (usually in the form of a confirmed Outlook email calendar event (that is not identified as “Hold the Date”).

IMPORTANT NOTICES - 

  - Applicable to All participants: 

• Although there are no training/tuition cost(s) for this course, all EPA Regions, EPA Program Offices, EPA Partner Federal or other agencies are responsible for participant travel & per diem costs.
• Because EPA Region 3 is located in a federal building, all visitors are subject to REAL-ID Act requirements. Information for the status of your state regarding REAL ID is available at: https://www.dhs.gov/real-id.

  - Applicable to EPA staff participants - Actions required by EPA staff for items specific to this training event/course: 

• Group SF-182 Training form(s)- The required EPA ERTP-sponsored Group SF-182 pre-approval process is underway for this course. The group SF-182 helps justify the use of your organization’s extramural ‘training’ funds to pay for lodging, lodging tax, and M&IE costs. Note: Conference Spending Requirements (known as the “5170” are currently not applicable for this ERTP-sponsored training course. All EPA staff travel spendingto participate in this course will be closely monitored/scrutinized for cost-monitoring requirements. Travel spending includes all funds to be paid for by EPA. Note: The SF-182 and 5170 processes are not applicable to participants external to EPA, where EPA is not funding travel.
• Planning TA’s – For registration requests received, approved planning TA’s are ok.  The use of the assigned EPA Project Code(s) identified above are emphasized on the Trainex registration pages for each respective course for the accounting section of the Concur Travel Authorization (add in Site ID).  Your office FCO can assist staff with adding the project code prior to TA approval routing.
• EPA travel spending “Project Code" for this training event: The ERTP specific unique Project Code for this training event is: OLEMTRNG ***.  This Project Code must be entered prior to approval on the travel authorization (TA) and/or travel voucher prior to travel document approval and funding.****  This also extends to training (SF-182) forms. 

***Participants are responsible for ensuring this code, once it is assigned, is used in the Site Project field under the Accounting tab in Concur. This code must be used for all travel authorizations, travel vouchers, and local travel vouchers related to this specific training course event.  For TA’s approved in advance, it is the traveler’s responsibility to ensure the TA is amended to add the correct project code(s) and/or MUST be added to the final Travel Voucher.  For some back-to-back separately delivered courses where travel occurs on a single TA/Voucher, then two different approved unique project codes will be required to also address the non-ERTP training reason for additional business travel.  If needed, your FCO/Funds Certifying Official can provide assistance to ensure project code(s) are entered correctly in Concur.

****Note: ERTP’s training contractors are NOT involved in EPA’s internal SF-182 and/or 5170 conference spending processes or approvals. All SF-182 and/or 5170 related questions are to be forwarded to the Region course POC, or Region Training Coordinator, and/or the EPA ERTP Contracting Officer Representatives (COR’s).

QUESTIONS

For general information, contact Shelly Norland by telephone at 702-784-8004 or via e-mail at: norland.shelly@epa.gov;  

For technical details related to course content, contact Joey Gawarzewski by telephone at 215-814-3119 or via e-mail at: gawarzewski.joseph@epa.gov; 

For all other details related to ERTP contractual matters, training courses/exercises, as well as EPA's ERTP-sponsored Group SF-182 processing & approvals, and/or EPA 5170 Q&A for this course, etc., contact ERTP staff at:

Shelly Norland at 702-784-8004, norland.shelly@epa.gov