U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics

INTERPRETIVE GUIDANCE FOR THE FEDERAL PROGRAM
TSCA SECTIONS 402/403

FINAL 12/11/06

Q/A(19) Initial Course for Recertification
"Certification"

Q: In some areas of the country, refresher courses are offered infrequently.
Can an individual applying for recertification re-take an initial course
instead of taking a refresher course?

A: Yes. Workers, Supervisors, and Inspectors can simply re-take the initial
course(s) for their discipline(s). The situation is somewhat different for Project
Designers and Risk Assessors.

During the course of initial certification Project Designers must take both the
Supervisor course and the Project Designer course. Likewise, a Risk Assessor
must take both the Inspector course and the Risk Assessor course. In order to
ensure that Project Designers and Risk Assessors receive refresher training in
the full range of subject matter relevant to their expertise, they would have to re-
take all of the courses that were required for their initial certification. Therefore,
when taking initial courses in lieu of refresher courses, Project Designers would
need to re-take both the Supervisor and Project Designer initial course and Risk
Assessors would need to re-take both the Inspector and Risk Assessor initial
course.

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