Rutgers School of Management and Labor Relations Receives OSHA Grant for Bilingual Safety Program for Latino Residential Construction Workers, Contractors

Dec. 19, 2006

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

EDITORS NOTE: BUSINESS, ASSIGNMENT EDITORS

RUTGERS SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT AND LABOR RELATIONS RECEIVES OSHA GRANT FOR BILINGUAL SAFETY PROGRAM

FOR LATINO RESIDENTIAL CONSTRUCTION WORKERS, CONTRACTORS

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NEW BRUNSWICK/PISCATAWAY, N.J. The Rutgers Occupational Training and Education Consortium (OTEC) and New Labor, a nonprofit workforce development organization, have received a $181,000 Susan Harwood Grant from the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to create a bilingual fall prevention health and safety training program for Latino workers and contractors employed in residential construction. The program will be available in Spanish and English to New Jersey residential contractors, subcontractors, construction workers, and faith-based and community-based organizations.

During the past four years, OTEC, part of the School of Management and Labor Relations (SMLR) at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, and New Labor have worked together on several occupational safety and health projects. In 2003, the two organizations established the Latino Occupational Safety and Health Initiative (LOSHI) to address the growing number of occupational injuries and fatalities among the Latino workforce. Through the initiative, OTEC and New Labor have received state and federal grants for partnerships with employers, unions, and faith-based and community-based organizations.

These partnerships have enabled LOSHI to develop emergency response, chemical hazards, and general awareness health and safety training programs; to train more than 100 worker-trainers; and to deliver thousands of hours of training to low-wage Latino workers employed in a wide range of occupations, said Carmen Martino, a faculty member in SMLRs Extension and Public Services Program.

LOSHIs Residential Construction Fall Protection Health and Safety Training Program will provide workers and contractors with information to increase their overall health and safety awareness and provide information about the types of fall protection they should use on job sites. During the next year, the program will reach more than 400 construction workers and contractors, Martino said.

The training grants are named in honor of the late Susan Harwood, a former director of the Office of Risk Assessment in OSHAs 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.

OTEC assists employers, unions and other organizations to develop capacity to understand and to respond to their own needs, especially in the areas of safety, health and the environment. The consortiums primary goal is to develop interventions that encourage and sustain a proactive culture of safety while providing a process that sharpens problem-solving, critical thinking, communication and teamwork skills of participants.

Contact: Steve Manas
732-932-7084, ext. 612
E-mail: smanas@ur.rutgers.edu

061219-1

SMLR-OSHAgrant.ed

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