In alignment with the NIEHS 2018-2023 Strategic Plan, the International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF) seeks and encourages opportunities to collaborate with organizations that share the common goal of protecting workers and their communities. The built environment has become more complex due to increased population growth, aging infrastructure, and increased use of complex chemicals throughout manufacturing processes. In addition, workers face a number of emerging issues including occupational cancer risks, stressors impacting behavioral health and wellness, and provider and community resiliency. The IAFF proposes to continue its training program to train workers, across multiple disciplines, that may be called on to manage or mitigate hazardous material incidents in order to prevent work-related harm and improve worker-related health and safety. The IAFF proposes to deliver eight Hazardous Materials Technician and eight Confined Space Rescue classes per year, as well as additional refresher training and Train-the- Trainer modules to ensure program sustainment. During the grant period 16 classes will be held each year, providing over 25,600 contact hours to 400 workers annually. The IAFF training has a successful history of development, updating, and delivery of such technical training programs, evidenced by high student pass rates, highly-rated survey responses, and repeated positive third-party program reviews. The proposed training will be accessible to all populations that may be responsible for preventing, responding to, or assisting in recovery of, a HazMat emergency including fire and EMS personnel, law enforcement members, emergency management and public health officials, industrial responders, as well as local community partners. Through this continued cooperative agreement, the IAFF will: 1. Utilize advanced GIS and collaborative contact databases to identify and coordinate outreach to target populations, giving consideration to increasing diversity and training of underserved populations. 2. Enhance the capabilities of workers through the delivery of updated and improved curricula, that includes embedded training on important emerging topics, to improve overall worker health and safety, and encourage increased worker and community resiliency. 3. Integrate new technologies (such as electronic tablets, an IAFF online library of tools and resources, mobile hotspots, web-based applications, etc.) for course delivery, ensuring consistent deployment to all students while also improving access to technology across all student populations. 4. Employ multiple, robust quality assurance protocols to provide defined benchmarks and measure training effectiveness. The IAFF is dedicated to ensuring the training program meets and exceeds the NIEHS Minimum Training Criteria Document resulting in workers who are safety-conscious, strong decision makers, positive role models, and who may serve as worker-trainers in their field.
