The New England Consortium (TNEC), the region's model Hazardous Waste Operations and Emergency Response (HAZWOPER) training organization, recently provided a 24-hour Occasional Site Worker health and safety course for students and faculty that make up the collaborative project between Superfund Research Programs (SRP) at Brown University and Boston University.
   Like TNEC, the SRP is federally funded and administered by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), an institute of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).  Funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) has provided support for research collaborations that facilitate the sharing of laboratory resources and analytical services and that build on research synergisms through collaborations.  The program encourages new partnerships and creates new jobs for scientific investigators.
   Brown University's research is concerned "with factors that determine one aspect of human exposure potentials on contaminated sites," said Eric Suuberg.  Professor Suuberg and Professor Kelly Pennell are Project Leaders on Brown university's Low Concentration Vapor Exposures in Complex Systems and the Problem of Vapor Intrusion research.  It focuses on vapor inhalation potential with an emphasis on mixtures and how these influence the exposure processes.  The project's research objective is to provide a robust tool, based on a commercial computational platform, which will allow regulators and other concerned parties access to modeling results, permitting more effective guiding of site investigation and remediation efforts.
   According to Professor Madeleine Kangsen Scammell, Leader, Boston University's Research Translation Core, the project seeks to identify and transfer technology developed in the SRP to appropriate stakeholders and to communicate research findings to a broad audience, "This study in particular is directly responsive to needs identified by the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP) and involves their collaboration."  The project also builds on in-house expertise at Boston University School of Public Health (BU SPH) including Professor Wendy Heiger-Bernays, a toxicologist with expertise in human health risk assessment and Professor Michael McClean, Director of the Exposure Biology Research Laboratory.
   TNEC is another useful partnership under the ARRA program.
   "It enables us to not only protect ourselves but also to understand, recognize and have a general awareness of hazards while working near areas that are hazardous waste sites," said Professor Scammell.
   Professor Suuberg added that "the training gives us the information we need to be safe when we enter hazardous sites and to adequately describe the actual situation in the field."
   The SRP is a network of university grants that are designed to seek solutions to the complex health and environmental issues associated with the nations' hazardous waste sites.  The research conducted by the SRP is a coordinated effort with the Environmental Protection Agency, which is the federal entity charged with cleaning up the worst hazardous waste sites in the country.
   This collaboration between NIEHS funded projects allows research and knowledge to flow between federally funded research institutes and between scientists and researchers working to protect workers and communities affected by hazardous waste sites in the United States.

For more information on the Brown University and Boston University Assessing Vapor Intrusion Exposure and Risk Superfund Research Program:
http://www.niehs.nih.gov/recovery/srp/collaboration/brown.cfm

   TNEC has provided excellent training to federal and state agencies, small businesses and large multi-national corporations for over 18 years.  Many companies and agencies over the years have sent multiple employees to our 40-Hour Hazardous Waste Site Health and Safety courses and the 8-Hour refresher.  To thank our loyal customers and for those who are choosing us for the first time and who send more than three employees to our trainings over a one year period, we will begin to offer up to a 15% discount on the price of the course.  To find out if you are eligible for the discount pricing contact David Coffey, Training Manager at 978.934.3296 or David_Coffey@uml.edu or Therese O'Donnell 978.934.3329 or Therese_Odonnell@uml.edu.
NOTE: TNEC changes its Refresher curriculum each year, beginning in September, so that students returning to TNEC year after year for their Refresher training are presented with new materials each time.
   From September 1, 2010 through August 31, 2011, the curriculum for the Site Worker Refresher includes Reviews of Student Work History for the past year, and small group activities emphasizing OSHA priority safety issues such as: Walking and Working Surfaces, Hazardous Materials, Gulf Oil Spill, Occupational Stress, Record Keeping, Infectious Diseases and Global Harmonization.  Other review topics: Reflecting on Health and Safety, NIOSH Pocket Guide Activity, Respiratory Protection, Action Cards Discussion and Table Top activity.

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