The Volpentest Hazardous Materials Management and Emergency Response (HAMMER) Federal Training Center is a safety and emergency response training center. HAMMER provides premier worker safety! The Hanford Site originated through the WWII Manhattan Project and today is the largest and most complex nuclear cleanup site in the country. HAMMER offers the most realistic and comprehensive safety and emergency response training for those who need it most – nuclear waste cleanup workers and emergency response personnel. These workers benefit through expert instruction and from the most expansive selection of training props in the country.
HAMMER is located at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Hanford Site in southeastern Washington state, and is owned by DOE and operated by Hanford Mission Integration Solutions (HMIS). HAMMER was dedicated in 1997 with the primary mission to train the DOE's Hanford workers and emergency responders on hazardous materials handling, environmental, health and safety courses, and emergency response.
The concept of HAMMER began with a goal of having one Hanford Site central training facility that provided improved training for emergency responders and cleanup workers at Hanford. In a partnership that has become a model around the nation, management joined forces with organized labor to build the 88 acre campus that provides a state-of-the-art, hands-on training facility. HAMMER is comprised of modern classrooms, specialty-training areas and numerous life-size training props that can be configured to create a variety of situations for industrial hazards: worksite scenarios, emergency response or incident command, and hazardous materials training. As of September 2013, HAMMER has conducted over 640,000 student days of training since completion of the permanent facility in 1997.
HAMMER staff manages nationally recognized training and safety programs, including:
- Construction Worker Safety Training
- Worker-Trainer Program
- National Training Center Safety and Health Courses
- Energy Infrastructure Protection and Emergency Response Program
- Domestic and International Border Security Training
- Military Training
The result is best summed up by HAMMER’s motto – Training as Real as it Gets!
HAMMER is available to DOE and DOE-affiliated entities as well as military, other authorized federal and state agencies, and local law enforcement and security personnel.
