Rod Zierenberg
Founder, HazMat Student
Retired Fire Captain. 25 years in the fire service, two decades of it as a Hazardous Materials Specialist. Authorized OSHA Outreach Instructor.
The Expert Behind HazMat Student
Rod Zierenberg is the founder of HazMat Student. He spent 25 years in the fire service, four years as a firefighter with the Santa Paula Fire Department and 21 years with the Ventura County Fire Department, where he retired as a Fire Captain in 2025.
For most of that career Rod served as a Hazardous Materials Specialist on the Ventura County Hazardous Incident Response Team, known as HazMat 50, responding to chemical releases, flammable and cryogenic hazards, fires, leaks, confined-space emergencies, and the toxic gases, hydrogen sulfide among them, that the courses on this site are built to prevent. He also taught as an Authorized OSHA Outreach Instructor for the OSHA 10 and 30 hour General Industry and Construction programs.
Rod founded HazMat Student in 2007 to put that frontline knowledge online and in the classroom. Today the catalog spans roughly 165 OSHA, HAZWOPER, DOT, and EMS safety courses, many of them available in Spanish, that workers and employers across the country use to meet federal training requirements. What sets the curriculum apart is who stands behind it: not a marketer, but a fire captain and hazmat specialist who has worked the hot zone and knows exactly what these workers face.
What Rod Knows
- Hazardous materials emergency response
- Chemical releases: flammables, VOCs, cryogens, toxic gases
- Fires, leaks, and structural and wildland firefighting
- Confined-space entry and rescue
- HAZWOPER and hazardous waste operations
- OSHA outreach training (10 and 30 hour)
- DOT hazmat and respiratory protection
- Emergency medical response (EMT)
25 Years in the Fire Service, 19 Years Building HazMat Student
- Founder and President, HazMat Student (2007 to present)
Built and runs the online safety-training company, a catalog of roughly 75 OSHA, HAZWOPER, DOT, and EMS courses for workers and employers nationwide.
- Authorized OSHA Outreach Instructor (2014 to present)
Authorized to deliver the OSHA 10 and 30 hour training for both General Industry and Construction.
- Fire Captain, Ventura County Fire Department (2004 to 2025, retired)
Rose to Fire Captain over a 21 year career with VCFD, including a rotation as Training Captain.
- Hazardous Materials Specialist, HazMat 50, Ventura County (during his VCFD career, retired 2025)
Served two decades on the Ventura County Hazardous Incident Response Team, responding to chemical and toxic-gas emergencies in the field.
- Firefighter, Santa Paula Fire Department (2000 to 2004)
Began his fire-service career in Santa Paula, California before joining Ventura County.
Training Built by Someone Who Worked the Hot Zone
When you take a course at HazMat Student, the catalog you are choosing from was curated by a retired fire captain and hazardous materials responder who personally worked the emergencies these courses are meant to prevent. Chemical releases and flammables, volatile organics and cryogens, toxic gases, fires, leaks, and the medical emergencies that follow: Rod has handled them in the field, not just read about them. That is the experience standard behind every course on this site.
