Start the Chemical Hygiene Officer role in the right order
Your First 90 Days as a CHO is an online course for newly named Chemical Hygiene Officers (CHOs). It answers the question every new CHO asks in the first week: what do I do first? It takes you from the day you are named to a one-page report to leadership at day 90, with what you found, what you fixed and what you need.
It is written for CHOs in education (school districts, private and independent schools, colleges and universities) and in industry (research, testing, quality control and manufacturing labs). Every teaching lesson shows the step in a school or district and in a company or lab.
What you will learn
- Days 1 to 5, Confirm the Appointment: is the appointment in writing, which rules cover your workplace, and who held the duty if nobody was named.
- Weeks 1 and 2, Find What You Inherited: the Chemical Hygiene Plan, the 30-year exposure and medical records, injury logs, waste papers and equipment test records.
- Weeks 1 to 3, the Stop-Now List: the hazards that cannot wait 90 days, old and unknown containers, and acting before you have every answer.
- Weeks 2 to 6, First Meetings: who to meet first, what to ask and what to listen for.
- Weeks 3 to 8, the Baseline: one pass through every room, testing the chemical inventory, and checking who has been trained.
- Weeks 6 to 10, Sort and Plan: stop-now, quick win or project, quick wins that build trust, and a 30-60-90 plan.
- Day 90, Report and Set the Year: a one-page report to leadership, and the dates that run the year ahead.
Finish with your First 90 Days binder
Each module ends with a Task, and each Task fills in one fillable template: Day-1 Questions, a Records Inventory, a Stop-Now Log, a Stakeholder Map and First-Meeting Notes, Baseline Findings, a 30-60-90 Plan and a Day-90 Report. Every module closes with “What you learned” flip cards.
Why this course
- Built on the rules: OSHA’s Laboratory Standard and its Appendix A (29 CFR 1910.1450), OSHA’s records access rule (29 CFR 1910.1020), injury and illness recordkeeping (29 CFR 1904), Hazard Communication (29 CFR 1910.1200) and EPA’s generator recordkeeping (40 CFR 262.11 and 262.40), each cited in the lesson that uses it.
- Two settings, one course: school and company scenarios in pairs, with strong answers to compare against yours.
- The way into the CHO series: it leads on to the Chemical Hygiene Officer Certification Pathway, CHO Inspecting Labs and Facilities and the Chemical Hygiene Officer Leadership capstone.
- Online and self-paced: work through it on your own schedule.
