The purpose of this proposal is to provide a multi-faceted program of health and safety trainings for hazardous waste workers and emergency responders. During the first year of funding, the Alice Hamilton Consortium plans to conduct 181 trainings, certify 3737 trainees and perform 71,690 contact hours of trainings. The trainings will be aimed at two underserved populations, a variety of unionized workers and open enrollment to the public at large. The two underserved populations consist of (1) predominantly African American D.C. Government Department of Public Works employees and (2) Aleuts, Eskimos and other Alaskan Natives. The major unionized workers that will be trained include public sector, sheet metal, furniture, electrical, electronic, food, transportation, paper, insulator and roofing workers. The trainings will be conducted primarily by Committees for Occupational Safety and Health (COSH) groups throughout the country headed by the Alice Hamilton Occupational Health Center which is itself a COSH group. Provisions are made for expanding training providers and ensuring self-sufficiency by implementing a train-the-trainer program. The Alice Hamilton Consortium is an existing NIEHS grantee and has competent evaluation tools, adequate facilities, qualified faculty and approved curricula in place to treble the current number of union groups being trained. The Consortium substantially meets and in some categories exceeds the minimum criteria recommended by NIEHS for training.
