Funded by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences since 1995, OAI’s Hazardous Waste Worker Training (HWWT) program has provided health and safety training to thousands of workers nationwide. The long-term objective of OAI’s HWWT program is to teach workers how to avoid health risks and job-related harm by providing them with requisite knowledge and training on how to best protect themselves, their communities and the environment from hazard exposure.

Consistent with OSHA regulation 29 CFR 1910.120, the HWWT program offers a variety of combinations of technical and awareness courses to emergency first responders and workers who handle or are exposed to hazardous materials. Some highlighted initiatives include:

• OAI’s model training program in Kentucky, where a state-wide cadre of first responders has been trained by OAI to train other emergency responders throughout the state, is now being replicated in Indiana and Minnesota.
• OAI’s sponsorship of hazard awareness refresher training at Emery & Associates’ annual Midwest Hazardous Material Response Conference in Northbrook, Illinois permits easy access to required training by conference participants.
• Through a training partnership with Mendez Environmental in Kenner, Louisiana, OAI provides health and safety training to construction and debris removal workers in New Orleans and the Gulf South.
• OAI provides health and safety training in Illinois, Pennsylvania and Maine for “green collar” workers in the fields of energy efficiency, neighborhood cleanup, deconstruction, urban agriculture and sustainable manufacturing.

OAI’s Worker Education & Training (WET) targets two primary populations:

• Lower-wage workers who are seeking to upgrade their skills in order to advance their careers
• Workers who are exposed to workplace hazards and who require health and safety training (see section on Hazardous Waste Worker Training Program)

OAI Step Up Program

OAI collaborates with company management and frontline employees to identify skill gaps and design training programs that

• increase productivity



• provide low-wage/low-skill workers with critical skills that help them retain, advance or secure a better job



• Step Up training programs have provided skills training to over 3,000 mostly immigrant workers in the manufacturing, environmental, restaurant and hospitality, horticulture and medical sectors.



• Training addresses skills gaps in critical areas such as workplace reading and comprehension, writing, math, English as a Second Language, computer and environmental literacy, customer service, and technical manufacturing skills. Over 80% of Step Up participants have retained their jobs and received wage gains or bonuses.



• Some of the positive impacts of training, as documented by employers in training impact surveys, include: increased productivity, reduced scrap, improved morale, reduced accident rates, better communication and reduced absenteeism.