Training

• Recommended and Required Training for Environmental Compliance Coordinators (ECCs)

  Avaliable Training
  

  • Other Training
    • ERGO/CPTrack
    • Environmental Regulations & Practical Applications
    • Sustainability Managers Training
  • USACE Prospect Courses
    • Hazardous Waste Management and Manifesting
    • Hazardous Waste Manifesting Refresher

  ECC's
  

  • District
    At the very least, you should be required to take classes in hazardous materials/hazardous waste (as this is usually the area of most concern to the projects) so that you have a good working knowledge of the topic - you may even become an expert in this matter if that is what your district needs. You should also have a good working knowledge of spill plans and spill response - the latter being a touchy subject for a wide variety of people both within the agency and without. Other classes (listed under Related Environmental Classes in the training fact sheet list) that you should take are a laws and regs class that will give you a general overview of the major environmental laws you will be dealing with as well as a practical applications course (in hazardous materials). ERGO is another you should take if you are not familiar with the Corps' program - though outdated in some respects, ERGO will give you an overview of the program. All three of these are offered through the Corps' PROSPECT program. After that, you should ask yourself if there are any other topics that your projects need you to have a good working knowledge about and what topics are of interest to you and then tailor your formal training accordingly.
  • Division
    As a Division ECC, you need an understanding of the Corps' environmental compliance program and what it is intended to accomplish. Under Related Environmental Classes (one of the categories of training fact sheets), is an exportable PROSPECT class called ERGO that should give you a good overview of the Corps' EC program even though it is out-dated in some respects. Probably the most important area to your division will be hazardous materials/hazardous waste. Like the District ECC, many of the issues raised by your division will probably be in this area so you should have a working knowledge of this part of the program. Another related area is the command structure (incident command system) used during a spill response action - you should have a good understanding of how this system works and who (other agencies) will be involved if a spill occurs. To have a basic understanding of the laws and regulations that govern the environmental compliance program, a laws and regs class should be part of your training agenda. Like the District ECC, other issues will arise that require you to become quite knowledgeable; you will need to tailor your training accordingly.
    HQ In addition to the training requirements for the Division ECC, you should take Civil Works Programming Process (PROSPECT), Environmental Policy Issues Seminar (OPM Management Development Center), Team Building/Team Leadership Training, Communication Skills Training, and Presentation Skills Training.
  • Project
    Below is an easy way to determine if you, the Project Environmental Compliance Coordinator (ECC), need training in an issue or not AND if training will be formal (i.e, classroom) or on-the-job training (OJT).

    1. The first step is to make a list of all of the environmental compliance (EC) issues (topics) at your project if one does not already exist keeping in mind that some of the issues will also fall under safety (you may want to identify these on the list). This list is important for two reasons:

    • It informs the project's management what the environmental compliance issues are for that project.
    • It is from this list that all of your project's environmental compliance training requirements will come.

    2. The next step is to determine which issues on that list require formal training (i.e., there are regulations that require training) and which do not - each should be labelled according. This is where the training fact sheets will help. If you don't find a particular subject listed, check the regs, not every topic that requires training will be found in these fact sheets. If a training topic needs to be added, there is a way to do that from the fact sheet page.

    3. You should know the issues in which you are expected to be the project's expert. You should also know which topics you need to be knowledgable in, and which topics you will only need an awareness of (these may be the ones that also fall under safety). If you do not know this, then you need to talk to your supervisor and find out, keeping in mind that the issues that also fall under safety have most likely been assigned to a maintenance employee already.

    4. For topics in which you will be an expert or a knowledge person, you will need to find classes for those issues that require training. Formal classes are presented by a variety of sources both within the government and in the private sector. There are exceptions to this - universal waste, for one, where training is required but a class in just this one piece of hazardous waste management is not likely to be found. Those that don't have training requirements,will involve OJT, for these you will need to know what section of the regs covers that topic and who to call for assistance. There are exceptions to this one also. Though there are no regs that require training under EPCRA, classes covering several parts of EPCRA can be found.

    5. There are some additional classes under Related Environmental Classes that you should also consider taking. The exportable PROSPECT class called ERGO will give you an overview of the Corps' environmental compliance program if you are not familiar with it. Another PROSPECT class is the one covering the major environmental laws and their regulations. There are other classes in that category that you might like to take, so be sure to take a look at that category's listings.