Region 5 News Release:   V-316
Jan. 8, 2001
Contact: Frank Meilinger
Phone: 202-693-1999
Application: Cynthia Bencheck
Phone: 847-297-4810

OSHA AWARDS $274,955 TO THE CONSTRUCTION SAFETY COUNCIL IN HILLSIDE, ILL., FOR SAFETY AND HEALTH TRAINING PROGRAMS

The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has awarded $274,955 to the Construction Safety Council in Hillside, Ill., to create a national resource and training center for the safety and health needs of Hispanic construction workers.

The grant is one of 19 awarded to nonprofit organizations that will share more than $4.8 million. Some of the nation's most vulnerable workers will benefit from the latest round of OSHA training grants. The grantees will 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.

"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.

The Construction Safety Council in Hillside, Ill., will hire a Hispanic, bilingual safety trainer. Materials will be catalogued and translated into Spanish. OSHA construction courses will be offered in Spanish and Polish. Safety and health training issues for non-English speaking workers will be addressed at the 2002 Construction Safety Conference. The council will train 510 workers.

"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.

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.

The text of this news release is on the Internet World Wide Web at www.osha.gov. Information on this news release will be made available to sensory impaired individuals upon request. Voice phone: 202-693-1999.