Building Your Workers’ Situational Awareness Before They Step Into a Disaster Zone

Incident Specific Training: Relevant, efficient, and job specific, but is it enough to empower the disaster worker to recognize and deal with a hazardous materials response?   Following a disaster large numbers of workers are employed to perform everything from cleanup to rebuilding in an expansive work zone.  The response worker can include highly trained hazardous material technicians to volunteers.  The task becomes to create and provide training that highlights the hazards that workers may encounter, in a language and manner that they will understand to convey the critical components of the incident’s health and safety plan with the objective of preventing short and long term illness and injury to the worker and their community. 

At the end of the presentation/panel attendees will be able to:

• Describe the process needed to develop incident specific training content
• Identify 2-3 considerations needed to ensure course material is understood by the worker
• Identify 2-3 resources where training material can be obtained

The NIEHS Worker Education and Training Program (WETP), in conjunction with 20 awardees, has been supporting over the past twenty years the development of curricula and initiation of training programs throughout the country to help employers meet OSHA requirements under CFR 1910.120, Hazardous Waste Operations & Emergency Response. Through the Hazmat Disaster Preparedness Training Program the WETP supports the health and safety activities of the federal response by developing and providing incident specific instructor led training to responders and workers following disasters.