[Federal Register Volume 60, Number 101 (Thursday, May 25, 1995)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 27697-27698]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 95-12895]
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
40 CFR Part 763
[OPPTS-62147; FRL-4957-3]
Asbestos Model Accreditation Plan
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Clarification of interim final rule.
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SUMMARY: EPA is informing the general public and the providers of
asbestos training courses approved pursuant to Subchapter II of the
Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) of a clarification regarding the
training course self-certification requirements of the Asbestos Model
Accreditation Plan (MAP), Interim Final Rule. The Agency recognizes
upgraded training courses as being self-certified as of the date upon
which EPA received the original self-certification, even though one or
more approving state programs may not have received a copy of the self-
certification until a later date, provided that all self-certifications
were received on or before October 4, 1994. If EPA and all approving
state programs received a proper self-certification for a course from
an approved training provider on or before October 4, 1994, the
provider retains the approval for that course, and a student who
successfully completes a course on or after the self-certification date
for that course will be fully accredited. Consistent with this
clarification, EPA will adjust the self-certification effective dates
of affected courses and publish these new dates in its National
Directory of AHERA Accredited Courses (NDAAC). This information will
become publicly available through the NDAAC update scheduled for May
31, 1995.
DATES: This clarification affects MAP training courses and persons
accredited pursuant to the MAP on or after April 4, 1994, when the MAP
revisions took effect.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Susan B. Hazen, Director,
Environmental Assistance Division (7408), Office of Pollution
Prevention and Toxics, Environmental Protection Agency, Rm. E-543B, 401
M St., SW., Washington, DC 20460, (202) 554-1404, TDD: (202) 554-0551.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: In 1994, pursuant to a Congressional mandate
in Subchapter II of TSCA, EPA revised the original MAP by increasing
the minimum number of training hours, including hands-on training,
required for asbestos abatement workers in both schools and pubic and
commercial buildings. In addition, EPA modified the MAP to implement
the extension of [[Page 27698]] accreditation requirements to public
and commercial buildings.
Unit V.B. of the revised MAP addresses the self-certification
requirements applicable to training courses and providers:
As of October 4, 1994, an approved training provider must
certify to EPA and to any State that has approved the provider for
TSCA accreditation, that each of the provider's training courses
complies with the requirements of this MAP . . . .
. . . . The timely receipt of a complete self-certification by
EPA and all approving States shall have the effect of extending
approval under this MAP to the training courses offered by the
submitting provider. If a self-certification is not received by the
approving government bodies on or before the due date, the affected
training course is not approved under this MAP. Such training
providers must then reapply for approval of these training courses
pursuant to the procedures outlined in Unit III. (40 CFR part 763,
Subpart E, Appendix C, V. B.).
EPA envisioned that under this provision, a training provider's
self-certification would be effective on the date that EPA received the
original submission, or the date that the last of the approving state
programs received a duplicate submission, whichever occurred later.
Some training providers, however, believed that the effective date of
the self-certification for a course was the date when EPA received the
original submission. These providers, after upgrading their training
courses to comply with the MAP and submitting self-certification to
EPA, assumed that they were approved for TSCA accreditation and began
offering training courses, even though one or more approving state
programs may not have received a duplicate self-certification at the
time that training began. Persons who completed these training courses
may now be experiencing difficulty in demonstrating their TSCA
accreditation for state licensure and employment purposes.
In order to clarify the regulatory language and the compliance
status of training providers and students under the revised MAP, EPA is
issuing this clarification. It makes clear that the MAP requires a
training provider to provide self-certification of its training courses
to both EPA and all approving states on or before October, 4, 1994, but
recognizes the date of initial receipt of the self-certification by EPA
as the effective date of the self-certification. This clarification
only affects providers who upgraded their training courses in
accordance with the MAP standards and submitted self-certification to
EPA and one or more states at different times, but who completed all of
the required submissions on or before the October 4, 1994, deadline.
Therefore, even if a provider offered these upgraded training courses
for TSCA accreditation purposes after EPA was in receipt of the
provider's self-certification but before all of the approving states
had received their duplicate notices, EPA considers these courses to be
fully approved pursuant to the MAP Interim Final Rule. Accordingly, any
person who successfully completed such a course on or after the date
that EPA received the self-certification is fully accredited under TSCA
section 206.
As provided in the MAP, however, a training provider that failed to
complete the self-certification process for a particular course
forfeited TSCA approval of that training course on October 5, 1994.
Such providers became ineligible to offer that course after October 4,
1994, as an approved course, and persons completing such a training
course after October 4, 1994, would not be accredited pursuant to TSCA
section 206. Consequently, after October 4, 1994, in order to offer a
TSCA-accreditation training course that has lost its approval, such
training providers must reapply for a new approval through a state
program that is in compliance with the MAP.
To reflect this clarification, EPA will adjust the self-
certification effective dates for the affected training courses in the
next regularly scheduled edition of its ``National Directory of AHERA
Accredited Courses (NDAAC).'' Copies of this publication are free of
charge, and may be obtained by calling EPA's NDAAC Clearinghouse at 1-
800-462-6706. As a result, a number of upgraded training courses will
have self-certification effective dates that are earlier than those
published in previous versions of the NDAAC. Because no self-
certification effective dates will be changed to a later date as a
result of this action, no training providers or courses will be
adversely affected.
List of Subjects in 40 CFR Part 763
Environmental protection, Asbestos, Hazardous substances,
Incorporation by reference, Occupational health and safety,
Recordkeeping, Schools.
Dated: May 17, 1995.
William H. Sanders III,
Director, Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics.
[FR Doc. 95-12895 Filed 5-24-95; 8:45 am]
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