DOE Hazardous Waste Worker Training Program. The long-term objective of the Construction Consortium is to ensure that crafts workers who are called upon to work at DOE nuclear sites have the skills, knowledge and confidence they need to protect their health and safety, and that of their co-workers, their families, their communities, and the environment. Our members perform a vast array of maintenance, construction, and decommissioning tasks throughout the nuclear complex. The Center to Protect Workers' Rights leads and coordinates the construction consortium, which has recently grown to include eleven international/national union members with the addition of the Electrical Workers, Plumbers and Pipefitters, and Bricklayers. The consortium has been providing effective training at DOE sites for six years. In the first year of this grant, the consortium will deliver 159 hazardous waste classes to 2,907 students and 196 hazardous waste refresher classes to 3,113 students. Respiratory protection, OSHA 10, scaffold user, confined space, lead worker, asbestos worker, and other classes will also be offered to meet worker and contractor needs. Although contractor training facilities, such as the world-class HAMMER training center, are the consortium's primary training sites, a nationwide network of over 1,700 spacious and well equipped training centers is available. With highly skilled national and local peer-trainers; containerized, craft-specific and up-to-date training equipment; and a centralized training support organization; the consortium can respond rapidly and effectively to requests for training from anywhere within the DOE nuclear complex. Consortium training is highly participatory, peer-led, and trade specific. Safety and health information is presented within a real-world context that readily transfers to the trainees' workplace environment. Problem solving exercises will help trainees master the skills they need to facilitate health-related changes in their workplace. Master trainers and program managers will work with training and evaluation experts to develop and improve training exercises, as well as classroom and web-based presentations. Training development is coordinated with DOE and contractor training and safety staffs, and is responsive to their needs and those of our members. Extensive trainer, and master trainer, preparation and enhancement programs, coordinated by CPWR, will prepare a cadre of certified master trainers who can ensure the quality of their organizations' training well beyond the completion of this grant.
