The Community College Consortium for Health and Safety Training (CCCHST), sponsored by the Partnership for Environmental Technology Education (PETE) will help the nation be better prepared to prevent and respond to hazardous materials disasters through the training and education of community college students, technical high school students, community-based and faith based responders, and the nation?s first responders. PETE will support a six-person Haz-Mat Disaster Response Master Training Team able to (a) respond to national haz mat disasters with truck, trailer, and training capability, and (b) train other trainers to serve their local communities. The Response Team will be comprised of three lead trainers from Barton Community College, KS, paired with three other CCCHST trainers who hold the OSHA Disaster Site Worker Certification and who do not have commitments, like academic teaching loads, preventing them from responding to disaster sites. Using the Master Training Team, PETE will offer a 60-hour Haz-Mat Disaster Response Train-the-Trainer program held at the National Preparedness Institute, Indian River State College, FL, that will annually prepare up to 20 haz mat disaster response trainers serving the nation?s community colleges, alternative high schools, community-based and faith-based response groups and the nation?s first responders. Trainers from other NIEHS awardees are invited to attend on a space-available basis. Beginning the second year, PETE?s Master Training Team will annually offer Refresher training for all CCCHST instructors in parallel with HWWT Refreshers. Financial support will be provided to trainers who do not receive HWWT support to attend Refreshers. Beginning Year Two, following Train-the-Trainer, the consortium will annually train a minimum 1,000 community college students, alternative/technical high school students, community volunteers and first responders to respond to local haz mat disasters offering 100 courses and 10,000 contact hours of local training annually. PETE?s responsibilities include managing the project; training CCCHST instructors; providing curriculum including online material; providing technical assistance for instructors; program auditing; record keeping; working with the advisory committee and the external evaluator to determine program effectiveness and outcomes; and collaborating with other NIEHS consortia and NIEHS Worker Training and Clearinghouse staff to accomplish mutual goals and objectives.
