Hazardous Waste Management Training Course

Duration 5 days 10 modules · 33 contact hours
Level Intermediate Certificate on completion
Who attends Environmental Managers, HSE Managers and others
Fee from USD 1,100 KSh 95,000 for Kenyan organisations
Where 52 cities + online See dates by city
Next start 7 Nov 2026 Course code SD-EM-072

Before you join: Participants should have basic familiarity with workplace chemicals, operational procedures, or environmental and HSE responsibilities.

Dates & prices

Two start dates a month in every city, and live online on weekdays or weekends. Fees are per participant; classroom fees include tuition, materials, lunch and refreshments, and the certificate.

Suggest a date or city

Showing the next six months. Later dates, other cities and private deliveries for your team are available on request.

Course overview

Hazardous waste failures commonly arise from incorrect classification, poor segregation, incomplete records, unsuitable contractors, or weak controls during storage and transport. The consequences include worker exposure, fires, spills, rejected loads, regulatory action, clean-up costs, and continuing liability after waste leaves the site. Environmental, facilities, operations, laboratory, and HSE personnel need a disciplined system that connects the point of generation to final treatment or disposal.

This course develops the working knowledge required to manage hazardous waste through its full lifecycle. Participants examine waste characterisation, regulatory duties, GHS hazard information, container and storage controls, compatibility, labelling, transport documentation, contractor selection, emergency response, and waste-data reporting. The course uses ISO 14001 principles, the waste hierarchy, Basel Convention controls, and relevant examples from RCRA and other regulatory systems. Participants learn to interpret applicable requirements, assess waste streams, specify practical controls, verify disposal routes, and identify gaps in site arrangements.

Teaching combines focused instructor briefings with case work based on manufacturing, laboratory, healthcare, construction, mining, and logistics scenarios. Group activities include waste classification decisions, storage-area inspections, manifest checks, contractor assessments, spill-response planning, and corrective-action prioritisation. Each participant leaves with a site-focused hazardous waste management action plan, supported by reusable checklists, registers, and assessment templates.

The course is suited to professionals who already work with chemicals, waste, environmental compliance, facilities, operations, or HSE controls and need stronger responsibility for hazardous waste decisions.

What you will be able to do

  • Interpret hazardous waste duties using legal registers, permits, and documented roles
  • Classify waste streams using process knowledge, hazard data, sampling, and laboratory results
  • Design storage and segregation controls using compatibility, containment, labelling, and inspection criteria
  • Prepare transport documentation including waste manifests, consignment notes, and transfer records
  • Evaluate waste contractors through permit reviews, facility audits, and performance scorecards
  • Apply waste hierarchy decisions to reduce generation, improve recovery, and control disposal liability
  • Audit hazardous waste arrangements against ISO 14001 evidence and operational-control requirements
  • Produce a prioritised hazardous waste management action plan for a workplace

Benefits of attending

For you

  • Make defensible hazardous waste classification and segregation decisions
  • Identify unsafe storage conditions before they become releases or enforcement findings
  • Review waste manifests and disposal certificates with greater confidence
  • Conduct better contractor and treatment-facility due diligence
  • Build a credible action plan for assigned waste-control responsibilities

For your organisation

  • Reduced risk of misclassification, incompatible storage, and uncontrolled waste accumulation
  • Clearer evidence trail from waste generation through final treatment or disposal
  • Improved contractor selection and verification of downstream disposal routes
  • Lower waste volumes and costs through prevention, segregation, and recovery decisions
  • Stronger readiness for inspections, audits, incidents, and permit reviews

Course modules

10 modules over 5 days

Participants can identify the regulatory duties, roles, and records governing hazardous waste management.

  • Regulatory duties from generator status through final disposal documentation
  • Basel Convention controls on transboundary movements and prior informed consent
  • ISO 14001 operational-control links to waste handling procedures and records
  • Local permit conditions, storage limits, reporting triggers, and enforcement exposure
  • Roles of generator, carrier, broker, treatment facility, and competent authority
  • Legal register structure for applicable waste, transport, and chemical requirements

Participants can classify hazardous waste streams using documented evidence and hazard information.

  • Waste characterisation plans using process knowledge, sampling, and laboratory analysis
  • RCRA hazardous-waste listings, characteristics, and generator determination principles
  • EU waste coding, hazardous properties, and mirror-entry assessment logic
  • UN GHS hazard classes interpreted from safety data sheets
  • Compatibility assessment using pH, oxidiser, cyanide, sulphide, and solvent data
  • Representative sampling plans, chain of custody, and laboratory QA/QC

Participants can apply the waste hierarchy to reduce waste and maintain safe segregation.

  • Waste hierarchy decisions: prevention, reuse, recycling, recovery, treatment, disposal
  • Material-flow mapping from source process to waste accumulation point
  • Source-reduction review using substitution, inventory control, and process modification
  • Segregation matrices preventing cross-contamination and loss of recycling value
  • Container selection matched to chemical compatibility, fill limits, and handling
  • Satellite accumulation and central storage area design requirements

Participants can specify and inspect hazardous waste storage arrangements against defined control criteria.

  • Storage-area inspections covering containers, labels, closures, secondary containment, and aisles
  • Label content: waste identity, hazards, accumulation date, and emergency information
  • Segregation charts for acids, bases, oxidisers, flammables, reactives, and toxics
  • Secondary-containment sizing based on container capacity and credible release scenarios
  • Fire prevention controls, ignition-source management, and ventilation arrangements
  • Housekeeping standards addressing damaged containers, residues, and incompatible storage

Participants can prepare and verify the controls required for hazardous waste transport and transfer.

  • Packaging selection under UN Recommendations, performance marks, and closure requirements
  • Shipping descriptions combining proper shipping name, UN number, class, packing group
  • Consignment-note completion, waste manifests, and transfer-of-custody controls
  • Carrier and contractor due diligence: permits, insurance, competence, and incident history
  • Load segregation, placarding, emergency equipment, and vehicle inspection checks
  • Transboundary shipment controls, notifications, consents, and return obligations

Participants can assess disposal routes and establish assurance over hazardous waste contractors.

  • Treatment-disposal hierarchy matched to waste chemistry, volume, and liability profile
  • Vendor prequalification using permits, audit evidence, financial standing, and technical capability
  • Facility audits covering acceptance criteria, emissions controls, and residuals management
  • Contract clauses for ownership transfer, rejection handling, records, and indemnities
  • Certificates of destruction and disposal verified against manifest data
  • Performance scorecards tracking collection reliability, nonconformities, and corrective actions

Participants can prepare hazardous waste incident controls, reporting steps, and corrective actions.

  • Spill-response plans defining alarm, isolation, containment, notification, and recovery actions
  • Chemical-specific response information drawn from safety data sheets
  • Incident-command roles, communication routes, and emergency-service interface arrangements
  • Drain protection, absorbent selection, overpacking, and contaminated-material classification
  • Root-cause analysis using five whys, barrier review, and corrective actions
  • Reportable-release assessment against permit thresholds and statutory notification duties

Participants can establish safe work controls for personnel handling hazardous waste.

  • Task risk assessments for decanting, bulking, sampling, loading, and cleaning
  • Control selection using elimination, substitution, engineering, administrative measures, and PPE
  • Exposure routes, occupational hygiene monitoring, and health-surveillance referral triggers
  • Safe systems of work for drum handling and forklift movements
  • Competence matrices covering induction, authorisation, refresher training, and supervision
  • Permit-to-work interfaces for confined spaces, hot work, and maintenance

Participants can use waste data and audit evidence to monitor compliance and improve controls.

  • Cradle-to-grave records linking generation, storage, transfer, treatment, and disposal
  • Mass-balance reconciliation between purchasing, production, waste inventory, and manifests
  • Key performance indicators: generation intensity, recycling rate, costs, and incidents
  • Internal audit programmes using ISO 14001 evidence, findings, and follow-up
  • Nonconformity logs, corrective-action ownership, due dates, and effectiveness verification
  • Management-review reporting for liabilities, compliance status, and improvement priorities

Participants can produce a prioritised plan to strengthen hazardous waste controls at their site.

  • Site waste-management plan structure, objectives, responsibilities, controls, and review dates
  • Prioritisation matrix ranking legal exposure, consequence, likelihood, and implementation effort
  • 90-day action plans with owners, milestones, resources, and verification measures
  • Stakeholder communications for operators, contractors, procurement, and senior management
  • Implementation barriers assessed through readiness, competence, budget, and contractor capacity
  • Personal application commitments linked to participants' current waste-control gaps

Exercises and examples are adapted to each cohort's sectors and roles.

What you take back to work

  1. Hazardous waste legal register template
  2. Waste characterisation and classification worksheet
  3. Storage-area inspection checklist
  4. Waste transport documentation checklist
  5. Contractor due-diligence scorecard
  6. 90-day hazardous waste action plan

Who should attend

  • Environmental Managers — responsible for waste compliance, permits, reporting, and improvement plans
  • HSE Managers — accountable for controlling hazardous materials, worker exposure, and incident risks
  • Facilities Managers — oversee storage areas, service contractors, site inspections, and waste collections
  • Operations Managers — need to control waste generation and handling within production processes
  • Laboratory Managers — manage chemical residues, sample integrity, storage limits, and disposal routes
  • Waste and Sustainability Officers — require sound data, recovery options, and disposal assurance

Skills and tools covered

Waste classificationChemical compatibilityStorage controlTransport documentationContractor assuranceWaste compliance auditing

Tools and standards

ISO 14001, Basel Convention, UN Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals, US EPA Resource Conservation and Recovery Act

How the course runs

Training methodology

The course uses short instructor briefings to establish legal, technical, and operational principles, followed by applied case work. Participants review realistic waste-stream data, safety data sheets, storage photographs, manifests, contractor records, and incident reports. Group exercises address classification, compatibility, inspection findings, transport controls, and corrective actions. Simulations test decisions during spills, rejected loads, and contractor failures. Participants then prepare an application plan using their own workplace context, with instructor feedback on priorities, evidence, responsibilities, and implementation steps.

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should have basic familiarity with workplace chemicals, operational procedures, or environmental and HSE responsibilities. Experience reading safety data sheets, conducting inspections, managing contractors, or maintaining compliance records is useful. The course assumes participants can discuss their site’s waste streams and current handling arrangements. Prior specialist training in chemistry, environmental law, dangerous goods transport, or ISO 14001 is not required. The course explains technical terms and uses worked examples, but it is not intended for people with no workplace exposure to waste-handling responsibilities.

A typical training day

08:30 – 10:30First session
10:30 – 10:45Refreshment break
10:45 – 12:30Second session
12:30 – 13:30Lunch and networking
13:30 – 15:00Third session
15:00 – 15:15Refreshment break
15:15 – 16:30Workshop and daily review

Live online deliveries follow the same structure in East Africa Time, with shorter screen blocks and longer breaks.

What the fee includes

  • Instruction by a practitioner facilitator
  • Full course workbook and materials
  • Exercise files, templates and case studies
  • Refreshments and lunch on classroom deliveries
  • Certificate of completion
  • Post-course application plan

Frequently asked questions

You should understand basic workplace chemical or waste-handling activities and be able to discuss your site’s current arrangements. Specialist chemistry, legal, dangerous goods, or ISO 14001 qualifications are not required.

Bring examples of waste streams, storage issues, contractor concerns, inspection findings, or records that you can discuss without sharing confidential information. A laptop or notebook is useful for adapting the action-planning materials.

It is designed for environmental, HSE, facilities, operations, laboratory, and waste-management personnel with responsibility for hazardous waste. It also suits managers who supervise contractors or approve waste-related controls and expenditure.

Dangerous goods training focuses primarily on transport classification, packaging, and carriage requirements. This course covers the wider hazardous waste lifecycle, including generation, storage, contractor control, treatment routes, records, audits, and liability.

You can use the supplied templates to review waste streams, inspect storage areas, check manifests, assess contractors, and identify missing records. Your action plan provides a starting point for assigning priorities, owners, and target dates.

The course runs for five training days from 08:30 to 16:30, providing about 32.5 contact hours. Time is divided across ten modules, with instructor input, case analysis, group activities, simulations, and application planning.

Questions about this course?

Ask about dates, fees, group bookings or running it for your team. Our training team replies by email.

Ask on WhatsApp info@skillsetdevelopment.com

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