ICWUC Center Offers Worker Health and Safety Education

The International Chemical Workers Union Council/UFCW Consortium's worker training center in Cincinnati, Ohio, provides important worker health and safety training that includes emergency response and hazardous waste education. Seven industrial unions and trade union organizations make up the Consortium to train their members and salaried staff at represented facilities.

The ICWUC Center has trained over 36,000 workers under a grant from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). In 1993, the Department of Energy (DOE) and the National Institutes of Environmental Health and Safety (NIESH) awarded a grant to ICWU, the Machinists and the United Steel Workers to establish institutional capabilities and competencies to deliver worker training at seven DOE sites.

The ICWUC Center initiated training and developed labor-management relationships with over 100 companies. This has included 23 company training sessions which have resulted in contracts to deliver a wide range of health and safety training and to develop in-house worker trainers. Training extends from educational materials to hands-on activities in chemically protective equipment.

Each component of the training can be modified to meet the needs of management specifications. The impact of the ICWUC's training program is conducted through interviews with trainees after a year has passed.

The survey documents significant health and safety improvements and has been published in the Journal of Occupational Medicine. Seventy-eight percent of trainees reported that they were better prepared to handle hazardous substances as a result of the ICWUC training.