Region 2 News Release:   NY 104
January 8, 2001
Contact: Frank Meilinger
Phone: (202) 693-1999

Rutgers University has been awarded $221,000 by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to join with community-based organizations to establish a network of health-and safety worker trainers to give training on workplace hazards and workers rights to day laborers, independent contractors, and workers employed by temporary agencies.

The grant is one of 19 awarded nationally to colleges, employer associations and non-profit organizations, unions, and labor-management councils to develop and deliver safety and health training programs for immigrant and contingent workers, small business employers and employees, and workers in high-risk jobs such as construction. The grants total $4.8 million nationwide.

"Those most at risk of injury, illness or death on the job must be given the tools they need to protect themselves," said Labor Secretary Alexis M. Herman. "These grants are an excellent investment, providing training in the first year to more than 22,000 workers and small business owners across the country."

"One of my top priorities has been the expansion of OSHA's outreach and education capabilities," said OSHA Administrator Charles N. Jeffress. "These grants enable us to work with many partners to greatly increase the number of workers the agency can reach, especially those workers most in need of training and education to protect themselves against safety and health hazards on the job."

The new grantees were selected through a national competition announced last August. OSHA asked applicants to submit grant proposals to establish or expand their safety and health training and education capacity over a three-to-five year period. Grant recipients are expected to serve clients nationally or in five or more states. The grants may be funded for up to five years with an average first-year federal award of $250,000. Grantees must contribute a minimum of 10 percent for the first year of the grant. The non-federal matching share will increase by five percent each subsequent year of the award, for a maximum of 30 percent for grants extended to the fifth year.

The training grants are named in honor of the late Susan Harwood, a former director of the Office of Risk Assessment in OSHA's health standards directorate, who died in 1996. During her 17-year tenure with the agency, Harwood helped develop OSHA standards to protect workers exposed to bloodborne pathogens, cotton dust, benzene, formaldehyde, asbestos and lead in construction.