CESCO study guide
CESCO · Work through your exam, one topic at a time.
The CESCO (Certified Environmental Safety Compliance Officer) is a safety credential listed among the certification offerings of the National Association of Safety Professionals (NASP), a training and certification body based in Wilmington, North Carolina. Candidates typically pursue it to demonstrate competence in building and running workplace safety programs, and the exam is structured around four equally weighted domains: Safety Program Management and Administration; Hazard Identification and Risk Assessment; Regulatory Compliance and Standards; and Incident Investigation and Emergency Preparedness. The CESCO study guide has 4 sections and about 1,965 words.
01Safety Program Management and Administration
This domain tests how a safety and environmental program is designed, who is accountable for each element, how performance is measured, and how the records that prove compliance are controlled. Expect management-system frameworks, metric calculations, and recordkeeping administration.
489 words, about 2 min02Hazard Identification and Risk Assessment
This domain tests whether you can find hazards before they cause harm, choose an assessment method that fits the task, score and rank risk reproducibly, and select controls in the correct order. Routine sources: walkthroughs, inspections, job hazard analysis for non-routine and high-consequence tasks, incident and near-miss trends, worker reports, exposure monitoring, and change review.
492 words, about 2 min03Regulatory Compliance and Standards
This domain tests whether you can map facility activities to the correct OSHA, EPA, and DOT requirements, apply quantity thresholds correctly, and meet notification and permit deadlines. OSHA: the General Duty Clause, OSH Act Section 5(a)(1), covers recognized hazards without a specific standard.
495 words, about 2 min04Incident Investigation and Emergency Preparedness
This domain tests whether you can run a defensible investigation, find causes that can actually be fixed, meet OSHA reporting clocks, and build emergency plans that survive a real drill. Fatality: report to OSHA within 8 hours.
489 words, about 2 min