Thursday, November 21, 2024
11/21/2024
The Sustainable Workplace Alliance (SWA) and its alliance partners will provide model training to better protect workers, first responders and citizens in underserved communities that have been negatively impacted by pollution, blight and emergency events. These vulnerable populations are unlikely to know their rights to a safe workplace, the inherent risks of the work they do, the dangers of misuse of opioids, the hazards created by pollution or hazardous materials, and the most effective ways to protect themselves from these harms. Special emphasis will be given to training and placing underserved citizens in jobs that involve cleanup of the nation’s hazardous waste infrastructure, especially within the communities they live in. Additionally, SWA will focus on reaching Hispanic workers, the hazards of coal ash exposure and the opioid epidemic and its negative effect on worker health. SWA and its alliance partners will focus is on English and Spanish-speaking populations in Florida, Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands and the Pacific Island regions including Hawaii, Guam, Saipan, American Samoa and Palau. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, worker populations in our geographic targets include over 83,600 workers in construction (hazardous materials removal and laborer), and nearly 94,000 workers serving as first responders, including fire, police and paramedics. Over five years, SWA will conduct 749 classes, train 7,015 students and cover 119,320 contact hours. Of the students trained, 200 will be placed in viable environmental or construction related jobs. Additionally, 135 of these students will receive HAZWOPER train-the-trainer instruction and it is expected that these new trainers will go back to work and train 1,350 workers, bringing the total number of direct and tier two workers benefitting from this training program to 8,365. Students would typically be employed as remediation contractors, site demolition workers, debris removal and post-emergency cleanup workers; laborers who work with mold, asbestos, and lead-based paint; and abatement workers performing work at Superfund or brownfield sites. The first responder audience would include fire (career and volunteer), police and paramedics, with a specific focus on rural responders. Additionally, we are targeting CERT (Community Emergency Response Teams) members, LEPC (Local Emergency Planning Committee) members and first receivers at hospitals. This model training and outreach program is designed to reduce injuries and death has an obvious positive effect on public health. Secondly, by placing disadvantaged citizens in viable jobs in the environmental and construction industries, both emotional and economic well-being will improve for the student, their family and their community.
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).
