Friday, April 19, 2024
4/19/2024
Program Summary/Abstract The International Union, UAW and its partners propose to address three problems. The first is the potential for illness and injury directly or indirectly related to hazardous material exposure. The second is occupational and environmental health disparities, particularly as they affect the Hispanic/Latino population of Southeast Michigan. The third problem is the opioid epidemic, an emerging environmental health issue. To address the first problem, we will continue development of an ongoing program whose paramount goal is to prevent illnesses and injuries by providing training on health and safety topics that are directly or indirectly related to elimination and/or reduction of potential exposure to hazardous materials. UAW members throughout the United States are exposed to a wide variety of hazards. Manufacturing workers can face exposure to carcinogens, such as welding fume and hexavalent chromium and emerging hazards, such as engineered nanomaterials (ENM). Members employed in casinos are often heavily exposed to carcinogenic tobacco smoke. In healthcare and academic labs, union members can be exposed to bloodborne pathogens, sterilants, radioactive isotopes and/or emerging hazards, such as ENM. The UAW has established a partnership with the University of Puerto Rico to provide training to the union’s six thousand active members on the island who are still dealing with the aftermath of Hurricane Maria. The second problem is occupational and environmental health disparities in Southeast Michigan, where the Hispanic/Latino population includes many who are disadvantaged by environmental injustice, less formal education, limited English proficiency, and/or limited access to training. The UAW is working with two partners who serve the Hispanic/Latino communities in Southeast Michigan, Catholic Charities of Southeast Michigan – Hispanic Outreach Services (CCSEM/HOS) and La Casa Guadalupana. Many in these populations are exposed to pesticides when doing landscaping or agricultural work, silica and other dust when working in construction and/or toxic cleaning solvents when working in housekeeping or childcare. Some work outdoors, where they are exposed to temperature extremes, UV radiation and/or air pollutants. They may work 6-7 days per week in jobs characterized by seasonal instability, shifting hours, low pay and physically harmful or dangerous work conditions. The third problem is the opioid crisis, which has affected many UAW members, especially in manufacturing. In the first year of the grant, the UAW and its partners together propose to train 2,661 participants in 163 programs for a total of 20,442 contact hours. The five-year totals would be 13,305 participants in 815 programs for a total of 102,210 contact hours. The consortium proposes to address the potential for illness and injury directly or indirectly related to hazardous material exposure by conducting training in health and safety. We will address occupational and environmental health disparities by continuing and expanding collaborative partnerships with community groups and other NIEHS-WTP grantees for the purpose of delivering health and safety training to underserved populations. The opioid crisis will be addressed by developing and delivering population-specific curricula that address treatment and prevention of opioid addiction, including alternatives for pain management. In addition, we propose to develop, pilot, evaluate, and scale a peer recovery support program that will help workers seek services to address opioid addiction. All of the above programs will be evaluated to provide feedback for continual improvement of curricula and delivery methods. This will include monitoring trainee perceptions of quality, appropriateness, and usefulness as well as assessing new curricula and training delivery methods; evaluating the long-term impact of training on worker and organizational outcomes using innovative and conventional quantitative and qualitative evaluation methods. Worker- evaluators will be incorporated into evaluation when possible.
HHS’ Tracking Accountability in Government Grants System (TAGGS) website provides access to detailed descriptions of grants, loans, aggregated direct payments and other types of financial assistance awarded by the HHS Operating Divisions (OPDIVs) and the Office of the Secretary Staff Divisions (STAFFDIVs).
