Rod Zierenberg
Founder, HazMat Student
Retired Fire Captain. 25 years in the fire service, a Hazardous Materials Specialist throughout his career. Former Authorized OSHA Outreach Instructor.
Who's 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 City Fire Department and 21 years with the Ventura County Fire Department, where he retired as a Fire Captain in 2025.
Throughout his career Rod served as a Hazardous Materials Specialist on Ventura County's Regional Hazardous Incident Response Team, the HIRT (HazMat 50), responding to chemical releases, flammable and cryogenic hazards, fires, leaks, confined-space emergencies, and toxic gases such as hydrogen sulfide. These are the same hazards the courses on this site train workers to recognize and take immediate defensive action against. He was assigned to Station 50 in Camarillo for about ten years. He also taught as an Authorized OSHA Outreach Instructor.
Rod founded HazMat Student in 2007 with a clear purpose: to educate workers, spread hazard awareness, and help companies meet their OSHA compliance obligations, all in service of preventing injuries before they happen. 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 HazMat Student apart is the perspective behind it: the catalog is curated by someone who has worked these emergencies in the field, not only studied them.
What Rod Has Worked With
- 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
- 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 165 OSHA, HAZWOPER, DOT, and EMS courses for workers and employers nationwide.
- Former Authorized OSHA Outreach Instructor (2014 to 2025)
Authorized to deliver OSHA outreach training during his fire-service career. Completed the Hazardous Materials Instructor Certification for Trainers through the California Specialized Training Institute (Cal OES) in 2015.
- Fire Captain, Ventura County Fire Department (2004 to 2025, retired)
Rose to the rank of Fire Captain over a 21 year career with the Ventura County Fire Department.
- Hazardous Materials Specialist, Regional Hazardous Incident Response Team (HIRT), Ventura County (retired 2025)
Was in the HIRT resource pool throughout his career as a Hazardous Materials Specialist, responding to chemical and toxic-gas emergencies in the field, and was assigned to Station 50 in Camarillo (HazMat 50) for about ten years.
- Firefighter, Santa Paula City 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 train people to recognize and respond to. 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 standard behind the catalog on this site.
