Newsbrief Current Issue from The National Clearinghouse for Worker Safety and Health Training

Updated Hurricane Training Tool, Includes Urban Flooding Supplement

The Safety Awareness for Responders to Hurricanes training tool will help workers understand at an awareness level how to identify and control hazards pertaining to the response and cleanup activities associated with a hurricane. Trainers may use the training tool to aid in the development of a hurricane cleanup awareness level course or other awareness level materials (fact sheets, table-top activities, etc.). This updated version includes information on the potential hazards and worker safety guidance for urban flooding events.

Hurricanes and Floods Page

The NIH Climate Change and Health Initiative and Strategic Framework: Addressing the Threat of Climate Change to Health

Climate change contributes to the emergence and spread of infectious diseases, exacerbates threats to human health across various health conditions, such as respiratory and cardiovascular diseases and mental health conditions, and increases the risk of water-borne and food-borne diseases, malnutrition, vector-borne and zoonotic diseases, and extreme-weather-related morbidities and mortality. Environmental and social stressors are altered by climate change, affecting people's vulnerability to climate threats and their ability to avoid, respond to, or adapt to them. Crucially, climate change has a disproportionate effect on communities worldwide already experiencing social and environmental inequalities.

The Lancet

Migrant Job-Seekers Face Long Waits for Required Construction Safety Course

The waitlist for day laborers seeking free health and safety training for construction jobs is hundreds of names long. Worker centers in Queens and Brooklyn are seeing three to five times the demand for scarce training slots, far exceeding availability. By law, laborers can’t show up at a construction site without 40 hours of training, and the main requirement can be met by completing what is known as an OSHA-30 course, named for the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

The City [Authors: Claudia Irizarry Aponte and Tanaz Meghjani]

Mandates Narrow Gender Gaps in Paid Sick Leave Coverage for Low-Wage Workers in the U.S.

Paid sick leave helps workers recover from illness and manage care obligations and protects public health. Yet access to paid sick leave remains limited and unequal in the United States. Drawing on surveys of 61,223 service-sector workers collected during the period 2017–21 by the Shift Project, researchers documented limited access to paid sick leave and stark gender inequality, with women less likely than men to have paid sick leave.

Health Affairs

NIEHS PEPH Metrics Manual Training

Partnerships for Environmental Public Health (PEPH) will host an interactive training on Logic Models and Metrics using the methods and strategies described in the PEPH Evaluation Metrics Manual. This hands-on training will provide an opportunity for attendees to work with colleagues from other PEPH grants, community partners, and NIEHS staff to develop their own logic models and metrics for their research. Attendees are encouraged to check out the PEPH Evaluation Metrics Manual before the class. This class is open to grantees and community members, so please share this information widely. The training will be held on November 30, 2022, 1:00 p.m. EDT.

Event Registration

PEPH Evaluation Metrics Manual

2023 Power-building Partnerships for Health: Call for Applications and Info Session for PPH Applications

Human Impact Partners (HIP) is seeking applications for the 2023 cohort of Power-building Partnerships for Health (PPH)! PPH is a 9-month program that cultivates powerful collaborations between local health departments and community power-building organizations (or CPBOs, also known as grassroots organizing groups, movement-building organizations, community organizing or base-building groups) to advance health equity. Applications for the 2023 cohort will be accepted from existing partnerships only. Deadline for applications is Tuesday, January 7th, 2023. The info session will be held on December 1, 2022, 1:00 p.m. EDT.

Event Registration

Application Information

Precarious Work in the United States and the Impact of COVID-19: Webinar

The Societal Experts Action Network and the Committee on Population will host a webinar on the impact of COVID-19 on small businesses and precarious work in the United States. The event will identify the policies and practices that make work precarious, consider the relationship between work and health, and discuss how state and local decision-makers can support healthy work. The event will be held on December 6, 2022, 12:00 p.m. EDT.

Event Information

Apprentices “Earn While They Learn” to Build a Clean Energy Future

By combining mentorship, on-the-job training, and classroom instruction, registered apprenticeship programs (RAPs) offer a pathway to a range of careers in the energy industry. Apprenticeships can also build a diverse energy workforce through intentionally recruiting and training workers who have been historically underrepresented in the energy industry, including women and people of color.

Department of Energy Blog

Why Are Way More Women Suddenly Working in Construction?

The lack of women in construction wasn’t due to a lack of supply of women willing to take lucrative, secure work as carpenters or welders. It was due to a lack of demand among employers and workplaces, which were often hostile to women workers. For women to really thrive in the trades, the industry had to change. When we called experts and advocates for women in the trades, they said one painful truth explains why labor shortages benefit women: hiring them takes extra work. Women are less likely to have experience, since men have dominated the trades for eons, and they’re often not plugged into traditional word-of-mouth hiring pipelines.

Washington Post [Author: Andrew Van Dam]

Violence Against Health Care Workers is on the Rise. They Deserve Protection

Nurses, doctors, and other staff on the front lines of care in U.S. hospitals, emergency departments, and health care systems experience high rates of violence. A new survey from the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP) found that more than eight in 10 emergency physicians believe the rate of violence in emergency departments has increased, with 45% saying it has greatly increased over the past five years. This has only been exacerbated by the pandemic.

Stat News [Authors: Mary Beth Kingston and Christopher S. Kang]

The Forgotten Role of Coal Miners in Founding the Environmental Movement

Rachel Carson, a scientist, and writer from rural Pennsylvania, published Silent Spring 60 years ago. Many credit this book, which meticulously documented the damage that DDT pesticides were inflicting on wildlife, farm animals and people as early as the 1950s, with launching the modern environmental movement. Carson gathered stories from across the US to illuminate the dangers of indiscriminate pesticide use and the threats contaminated land posed to life.

Fast Company [Author: Ewan Gibbs]

U.S. Department of Labor Awards Nearly $2.7M to Provide Employment, Training Services for Transitioning Military, Spouses at Fort Hood

The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) announced an incremental award of $2,677,470 to the Texas Workforce Commission to support continued employment and training services for transitioning military service members and their spouses near and at the U.S. Army’s Fort Hood installation. In addition to this award, the state received two similar Dislocated Worker Grants to support the delivery of re-employment services in the same general service area to transitioning service members and their spouses.

DOL News Release

U.S. Department of Labor Urges Vigilance by First Responders, Recovery Crews, Public to Protect Themselves From Hazards in Tropical Storm Recovery

The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety (OSHA) and Health Administration urges first responders, people in recovery efforts, and residents in areas affected by Tropical Storm Nicole to be aware of the many hazards that flooding, power loss, structural damage, fallen trees and storm debris may create. While the storm came ashore as a category one hurricane, it weakened to a tropical storm and later a post-tropical cyclone, as it moved up Florida's west coast.

OSHA News Release

NIEHS WTP All-Hazards Resources

EPA Announces Selection of Members to Farm, Ranch, and Rural Communities Federal Advisory Committee

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Michael S. Regan announced the appointment of 20 members, including the new Committee Chair and Committee Vice-Chair to the Farm, Ranch, and Rural Communities Federal Advisory Committee (FRRCC), which provides independent policy advice, information, and recommendations to the EPA Administrator on a range of environmental issues that are of importance to agriculture and rural communities.

EPA News Release

Safety and Effectiveness of Certain Naloxone Hydrochloride Drug Products for Nonprescription Use; Request for Comments

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is announcing our preliminary assessment that certain types of naloxone hydrochloride (“naloxone”) drug products may be approvable as safe and effective for nonprescription use. The FDA believes the prescription requirement for these naloxone products might not be necessary for the protection of the public health. However, the FDA is seeking additional data such as product-specific data on the nonprescription user interface design, including packaging and labeling, to make a conclusive determination in this respect.

Federal Register

California Officials Release Health Fact Sheet to Help School Employees Protect Themselves from Stress at Work

The Department of Industrial Relations, Commission on Health and Safety and Workers' Compensation (CHSWC) is pleased to announce the release of a new fact sheet, "Protecting School Employees from Stress at Work." Aimed to help California’s teachers and other school employees, this fact sheet provides information about stressors, tools and potential solutions to address and reduce stress at work.

Sierra Sun Times

Fact Sheet: Nursing Shortage

The U.S. is projected to experience a shortage of Registered Nurses (RNs) that is expected to intensify as Baby Boomers age and the need for health care grows. Compounding the problem is the fact that nursing schools across the country are struggling to expand capacity to meet the rising demand for care. The American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) is working with schools, policy makers, nursing organizations, and the media to bring attention to this healthcare concern.

AACN

The New England Consortium Seeks a Worker Health Educator

The New England Consortium (TNEC) is currently seeking a Worker Health Educator for its Hazardous Waste Worker/Emergency Responder (ER) Health and Safety (H&S) Training Program based at the University of Massachusetts Lowell (UML) in the historic Wannalancit Mills Building. The position will help lead TNEC’s effort for meeting its worker-oriented training goals, building the regional H&S movement and developing working relationships with labor, environmental organizations, government and business. TNEC has been providing dynamic hands-on, participatory H&S training throughout New England and beyond since 1987.

Job Posting

Michigan Workforce Development Institute Seeks a Career and Technical Education Instructor

This position is a partnership with the Michigan Building Trades Council, Lansing Public Schools, the Michigan American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (MI AFL-CIO), and the Federation division of the Workforce Development Institute. Under the administrator's direct supervision, this position provides curriculum/instruction/assessment in construction trades for students in the classroom or laboratory setting. Also works independently or as part of a teaching team in the laboratory and classroom. Works with students with a variety of backgrounds and skills.

Job Posting

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