The Partnership for Environmental Technology Education (PETE), Portland, Maine, in partnership with the Hazardous Materials Training and Research Institute (HMTRI), a current NIEHS awardee located in lowa, submits this application on behalf of the Community College Consortium for Health and Safety Training (CCCHST) serving Department of Energy (DOE) environmental restoration and waste management sites across the United States. The intent of CCCHST-DOE is to provide convenient, consistent, and cost effective NIEHS-approved worker training to DOE contractors, subcontractors and public officials serving DOE facilities and not trained by organized labor. The five-year goal is to train a minimum 12,500 workers, technicians, and supervisors, through 75,000 contact hours of training, to protect themselves, their facilities, and their communities from exposure to hazardous materials encountered during hazardous waste site clean-up, in the transportation of hazardous materials, and in the response to releases of hazardous materials. The partnership will serve the following DOE locations: BWXT Pantex, TX;Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant, KY;Portsmouth Site, OH;Oak Ridge Operations, TN;and the Savannah River Site, SC (???). The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN, and Amarillo Community College, Amarillo, Texas are sub-awardees delivering training at these sites. The number of CCCHST-DOE training providers may increase in future years as new members request participation. PETE is a national non-profit, 501 (c)(3) organization established to facilitate academic, industrial, and governmental partnerships to: 1) provide leadership in environmental, health, safety and energy education and training through community college partnerships with business, industry, government, and other educational providers;2) promote environmental technology transfer;3) foster the participation of underrepresented minorities, Native Americans, and women in environmental fields;and 4) enhance U.S. economic development and international competitiveness. PETE continues to work closely with HMTRI as it has since its inception in 1993 and employs retired HMTRI leadership to administer CCCHST.
In FY '09, CCCHST-DOE collectively delivered 286 courses to 3,337 students for a total 32,179 contact hours of instruction. Eighty-six students completed instruction online. This is one of few NIEHS-funded training programs that encourage the use of online training. Both students and their sponsors have shown a gradual increase in the acceptance of online training particularly when it is blended (online/live instruction combination).
