The International Union of Operating Engineers (IUOE) was one of the original National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) Worker Education and Training Program (WETP) awardees in 1987. Continuously providing training under the program since then the NTF has constantiy strived to improve the effectiveness of the training, while expanding the number of courses and reaching more at-risk workers. Over the 23 years of service by the IUOE, the training numbers have steadily grown while the cost per student has dropped. The IUOE and its local union/employer training trust funds spent over $132 million entraining in 2008 unequivocally demonstrating how firmly IUOE local unions and IUOE signatory contractors believe in a welltrained, safe and productive work force. Originally established in 1994, the IUOE National Training Fund (NTF) became the successor grantee organization to the IUOE for federal grants, contracts and cooperative agreements in 2006. The NTF serves as the umbrella organization for the lUOE's international-level training programs, coordinating policies, strategies, and activities. This reorganization was undertaken, in part, to integrate safety and health training eariy into apprenticeship programs, reaching a truly at-risk population when young workers are most open to internalizing safety as a value. In 2005, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, workers who were 20 to 24 years of age had the highest incidence rate of injuries and illnesses.^ The NTF offers a range of HAZWOPER and HAZWOPER-related safety and health training to this population as part of broad offerings to members. With support under federal cooperative agreements and grants the NTF provides state-of-the-art HAZWOPER (hazardous materials) and OSHA courses and training materials to IUOE instructors and local unions. IUOE training programs have a well-deserved reputation as time-tested, consistently effective and truly international. With over one thousand instructors, hundreds of facilities, classrooms, shops, labs and thousands of acres throughout the U.S. and Canada apprentices and journey-level members can hone or advance their skills. The Secretary of Labor, Hilda Soils, has required that Labor Department staff managing American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) awards for construction projects take safety training. One of the two courses she stipulated that must be taken was created by the NTF in July 2009: OSHA 7415 Construction Industry Requirements: Awareness of Major Hazards and Prevention Strategies. The overall impact from this program provides workers in an at-risk population nationwide with training that enhances their jobsite safety and their ability to meet the challenges of the changing work environment.
