Established in 1987, the ICWU(C) Center for Worker Health and Safety Education is still in the forefront of worker health and safety training and is nationally recognized as a leader in worker protection. Today the Center’s consortium partners in educating workers about HAZWOPER and many other health and safety topics are the International Association of Machinists and Aero Space Workers (IAM), the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW), the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists (CBTU), the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), the American Federation of Governmental Employees (AFGE), the American Nurses Association (ANA), and the University of Cincinnati (UC), Department of Environmental Health. The membership of these organizations is a portion of those served by the Center’s training with other training offered too many other labor, environmental and governmental groups as well. This training is funded through a $2,210,000 grant from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS).

Over the years the Center has strategically placed equipment across the U.S. to meet the growing demand for quality health and safety training. One set of HAZWOPER training equipment is kept in the Western U.S. and transported from city to city as needed. A complete set in Hollywood, Maryland supports our training at IAMAW WWW Winpisinger and is used throughout the Southeastern U.S. Equipment is kept in the Detroit metro area to support ongoing training in that region, often in cooperation with the Detroit Fire Department, CBTU and the IAFF. The Center continues to assist the National Labor College Rail Worker HAZMAT Training program in Silver Spring Maryland and throughout the country by providing equipment and technical expertise. The Center has an $824,000 NIEHS grant for training at multiple Department of Energy (DOE) sites; Oak Ridge, Tennessee, Kansas City, Missouri, Hanford, Washington and Los Alamos, New Mexico. The worker trainers deliver all on site training, design new programs annually and are second to none.

Recently the ICWU Center was awarded a new $384,000 Department of Transportation grant to develop worker trainers from the ICWU, United Steelworkers and United Auto Workers. This is targeted at facilities were hazardous chemicals are loaded and unloaded and any local interested in developing a trainer who can do on the job DOT training should contact Don Dudley.  We have reapplied for this grant for 2011-2012 and partnered with UAW, AFGE and CSEA (Civil Service Employees Association, the New York local of AFSCME).  

The Center also has a Brownfield Workforce Development grant to train unemployed workers to cleanup environmental waste sites.  Participants take a seven week course and receive Ohio certificates for asbestos and lead removal as well as OSHA 40 hour HAZWOPER and a 30 Hour OSHA construction card.  Upcoming classes begin in February 2012 and contact Sonya Hall for application forms. Lastly, the Center partnered with Rice University to develop hazard awareness class for workers exposed to nano materials.  These materials are very small and potentially more dangerous than other materials.  The ICWU represents carbon black facilities and held a focus group meeting to improve this curriculum.