Region 1 News Release:   BOS 2001-002
Monday, January 8, 2001
Contact: Frank Meilinger
Phone: 202-693-1999
Application: Cynthia Bencheck
Phone: 847-297-4810

OSHA AWARDS MORE THAN $4.8 MILLION IN GRANTS FOR SAFETY AND HEALTH TRAINING PROGRAMS; TWO MASSACHUSETTS GRANTEES WILL SHARE $685,000

Some of the nation's most vulnerable workers stand to benefit the most from the latest round of training grants awarded by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. In all, 19 nonprofit organizations will share more than $4.8 million 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 Utility Workers Union of America, AFL-CIO, Braintree, Mass., will receive $265,000 while the Labor Management Construction Safety Alliance, Boston, Mass., will be granted $420,000 for such programs.

"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."

The 19 new grantees include four universities or colleges; six employer associations and non-profit organizations representing the forest, nursing, construction and solid waste industries; seven unions and two labor-management councils.

"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 multiple (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.

The new Harwood grantees are:

Communication Workers of America, Washington, D.C., $203,000; Forest Industry Safety and Training Alliance, Inc. (FISTA), Rhinelander, Wisc., $299,000; Roofers and Waterproofers Research and Education Joint Trust Fund, Washington, D.C., $171,000; Texas Engineering Extension Service (TEEX), College Station, Tex., $229,000; Utility Workers Union of America, AFL-CIO, Braintree, Mass., $265,000; AFSCME Training and Education Institute, Washington, D.C., $264,000; American Nurses Foundation (ANF), Washington, D.C., $261,000; American Postal Workers Union, AFL-CIO, Washington, D.C., $299,000; California Labor Federation, AFL-CIO, San Francisco, Calif., $210,000; Construction Safety Council, Hillside, Ill., $274,000; International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Washington, D.C., $249,000; Kirkwood Community College, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, $312,000; Labor Management Construction Safety Alliance, Boston, Mass., $420,000; Northwest Public Power Association, Richland, Wash., $376,695; Pennsylvania Foundry Association, Plymouth Meeting, Pa., $85,000; Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, New York, N.Y., $236,000; Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, Piscataway, N.J., $221,000; St. Louis University, St. Louis, Mo., $355,000; The Solid Waste Association of North America (SWANA), Silver Spring, Md., $75,000.

A complete listing of grantees with details on their training proposals is available on the OSHA website at www.osha.gov under training. A fact sheet highlighting both of the Massachusetts grantees' projects is attached.

Utility Workers Union of America, AFL-CIO, Braintree, Mass. The Union will work with the Labor Institute to reconstruct their basic health and safety educational infrastructure. A Curriculum Advisory Team will be formed to develop a national utility industry health and safety curriculum. An industry-specific health and safety workbook will be developed that emphasizes ergonomic hazards, safety and health programs, and the Electrical Power Generation, Transmission and Distribution OSHA standard. The workbook will be translated into Spanish. Worker-trainers from five regions will be recruited to attend a train-the-trainer course. The new trainers will train workers and supervisors as well as workers in a welfare-to-work program; 980 will be trained in twenty-eight states; $265,000.

Labor Management Construction Safety Alliance, Boston, Mass. The Alliance plans to expand their programs and establish a construction safety and health training center to provide training to all levels of union construction personnel in New England. Additional staff will be hired and a larger facility rented. A variety of construction safety and health courses will be conducted and an annual regional construction safety conference with workshops and training will be hosted; 1,800 will be trained throughout five New England states; $420,000.