The New England Consortium's 
E-Quarterly   Vol.7 No. 9 October, 2012
rail training
A Newsletter about Working with Toxic Materials, Health and Safety Training, Law and Public Policy Working with Toxic Materials, Health and Safety Training, Law and Public Policy
In This Issue
2012 Open Enrollment Calendar
TNEC Awarded Funding from The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences
Sustainable Materials Management
Governor Patrick Signs Temp Worker Bill
NIEHS Celebrates Labor Day
Service Learning Project
TNEC Advisory Board Member Selected for CSB
TNEC Training Highlights


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University of Massachusetts Lowell
600 Suffolk Street, 5th Floor 
Wannalancit Mills 
Lowell, MA 01854
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Connecticut Council
on Occupational
Safety and Health
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Civil Service Employee Association (NY) Local 1000, AFSCME
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Massachusetts Coalition
for Occupational Safety and Health
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New Hampshire Coalition
for Occupational Safety and Health
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Rhode Island Committee
on Occupational Safety and Health
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Western Mass Coalition
for Occupational Safety
and Health
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  Is it time for your 8-Hour Refresher?
OSHA requires annual 8-Hour Refresher training for employees working with hazardous materials.  If you already had your 40-Hour Hazardous Waste Site training, you are required to annually take an 8-Hour Refresher. Click on the following link and check out the open enrollment training calendar and register at the same time.
Click here to register for 8-Hour training or to view the Open Enrollment Calendar for a date that fits your schedule
 
The New England Consortium Awarded Funding from The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences
Safety begins here    The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) has awarded $1,202,948 in continued funding to The New England Consortium (TNEC) based at the School of Health and Environment at the University of Massachusetts Lowell for the third year of its current five-year cycle (FY 2010- 2015).

   While, each year's funding is dependent on the submission of a successful re-application and continued Congressional appropriation of funds to the NIEHS program, NIEHS has supported TNEC's work since the program's inception in 1987.

   TNEC is a community/university public health partnership that includes UMass Lowell project staff, faculty and student interns, five Coalitions for Occupational Safety and Health (ConnectiCOSH, MassCOSH, NHCOSH, RICOSH, and Western MassCOSH), and the Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA), Local 1000, AFSCME of New York.

   NIEHS support helps sustain the ongoing cooperative agreement between the NIEHS Worker Education Training Program (WETP) and UMass Lowell to deliver hazardous waste operations and emergency response (HAZWOPER) related and HAZWOPER supporting training courses for diverse groups of public and private sector firms and organizations throughout New England. TNEC also provides training for a number of workforce development and job training programs that are preparing underserved populations for new careers in environmental remediation and the emerging green technology sectors.

In addition to training, TNEC's specific aims include: the ongoing evaluation of training effectiveness, support for the COSH organizations, CSEA and UMass Lowell as strong regional leaders for the promotion of occupational safety and health intervention and innovation, and the promotion of participatory, hands-on learner-centered education.

   TNEC and CSEA have proposed to deliver at least 106 courses to 1,446 students during 18,724 contact hours next year. Thirty-three courses will be multi-day sessions (10 hours or more) and forty-eight courses will cover at least eight hours of training.

   Craig Slatin. Assistant Professor in the Department of Community Health and Sustainability is the Principle Investigator for TNEC. As part of his responsibilities, Dr. Slatin is heading up TNEC's participation in a multi-grantee research project to evaluate management attitudes and practices regarding HAZWOPER health and safety training.The project is led by the UCLA Labor Occupation Safety and Health program and includes the University of Cincinnati and the University of Medicine & Dentistry of New Jersey. The research is focused on three central questions: 1) What factors influence employer provision of health and safety training that meets the OSHA HAZWOPER Standard requirements? 2) Did the training meet their perceived needs? and 3) Did they utilize their new resource of trained employees to develop or strengthen their workplace health and safety programs?

   TNEC is also working to update its ten year-old hazardous waste site computer-based simulation activity by making it faster, more responsive and portable.  

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Sustainable Materials Management: A New Materials Hierarchy, Solutions to Barriers, and Recommendations for a Path Forward 
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  Sustainable Materials Management The recently released report by the Sustainable Materials Management Coalition titled, "Sustainable Materials Management: A New Materials Hierarchy, Solutions to Barriers, and Recommendations for a Path Forward," recommends the creation of an improved materials hierarchy, defines solutions for addressing barriers to sustainable materials management, and will induce the creation of new life-cycle based performance metrics to evaluate materials management processes.

   Sustainable materials management is an approach to serving human needs by using or reusing resources most productively and sustainably throughout their life cycles, generally minimizing the amounts of materials involved and all the associated impacts, as defined by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

   This report is the result of a year-long effort by representatives of business and industry, academic institutions, environmental and community organizations, and State and local government organizations to create a greater path forward for sustainable materials management.

   The Coalition is chaired by Timothy Fields, Senior Vice President, MDB, Inc., and former EPA Assistant Administrator for Solid Waste and Emergency Response.

  "This was a fascinating opportunity.  The coalition included representatives from key corporations such as Waste Management, DuPont, Dow, Walmart, and others, as well as environmental justice scientists and activists, and representatives of different levels of government.  We were able to address the issues of reducing solid waste and managing materials in a comprehensive way that took into consideration business demands, environmental protection, public health, and our systems of production and consumption." Craig Slatin a member of the Coalition commented.

Sustainable Materials Management Report

(Source:  MDB, Inc. is a privately owned, strategic-consulting firm specializing in the issues that are changing our society in fundamental ways - issues that direct the focus of critical policy discussions, influence economic and social behavior, and guide scientific research and technological innovation)

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Governor Patrick signs Landmark Bill to Halt Temp Worker Exploitation
Governor Patrick Signs Temp Worker Bill
Governor Patrick signs Temp Worker Bill
    A bill signed into law in August by Governor Patrick will ensure that the most egregious practices by some for the state's temporary employment agencies will end. When the law takes effect in January 2013, it will no longer be legal for temporary agencies to send any of the Commonwealth's approximate 25,000 temporary workers to jobs without informing workers of the name of their employer, the wages they will be paid, or the basic safety training they need to protect themselves from jobs that are often hazardous.  The law shines a light on those temp agencies operating in the darkness of Massachusett's underground economy, where worker injuries are often unreported and millions of dollars in overtime and minimum wages are unpaid.
   "I worked ten hours per day peeling fruit," said Juan Calderas, a temporary worker for whom the law was designed to protect.  "We had no breaks, until after ten hours of work.  I was carrying a large bucket of fruit and fell.  I broke two discs in my back.  When the employer refused to pay my doctor's bills, that's when I learned that I wasn't working for the company at all, but instead for a temporary agency."
   Starting January 31, 2013, temp agencies will be required to give each worker a written job order, providing information that every worker has a right to expect before going to a job.  It also provides tools for the Department of Labor Standards to bring temp agencies into the light to ensure transparency and accountability.
   The Temporary Worker's Right to Know Act was sponsored by Representative Linda Dorcena Forry and Senator Jack Hart and benefited greatly from strong support of Speaker Robert Deleo and Senate President Therese Murray.
   For further information www.masscosh.org. 
(Source:  MassCOSH)
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NIEHS celebrates Labor Day with public health presentation
Dr. Craig Slatin
Dr. Craig Slatin
 
    Most people wouldn't intuitively link workers' rights with public health, but for guest speaker Craig Slatin, Sc.D., they are inextricably connected.  That was the message Slatin delivered to an audience at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) August 28th with his Labor Day presentation, "Labor and Public Health: Go Together Like a Horse and Carriage,"  hosted by NIEHS program analyst Bill Jirles, president of the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) Local 2923.
   Sponsored by AFGE and the NIEHS Worker Education and Training Program (WETP), Slatin's talk placed contemporary labor and public health issues into historical context, as he built an argument for protecting workers and the environment, as both adjust to a changing economic landscape.  "Transition strategies must try to solve economic and environmental public health issues simultaneously," he concluded, 'or we can't solve either."
   For more on this article NIEHS Environmental Factor, October 2012

(Source: Eddy Ball NIEHS Environmental Factor, October 2012
 


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Students Participate in Service Learning Project at TNEC
Jacob Gomes
Jacob S. Gomes '12
 

  Seniors earning their degree in Community Health, Jacob Gomes '12 and Yousuf Munye '12 are part of the Service Learning Project in the School of Health and Environment (SHE) in the Community Health and Sustainability Department their adviser is Dr. Craig Slatin. They are working with The New England Consortium (TNEC) Marketing and Sales Coordinator Therese O'Donnell to assist with the coordination and organization of TNEC's 25th Anniversary.

Yousuf Munye
Yousuf A. Munye '12

 

   Service Learning is the integration of academic subject matter with service to the community. The students are assisting TNEC with research and outreach pertaining to the anniversary meeting set for March 22, 2013.

 

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TNEC Advisory Board Member Selected for Chemical Safety Board
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Beth Rosenberg
Dr. Beth Rosenberg
   President Obama on September 20 announced he will nominate Dr. Beth J. Rosenberg a member TNEC's Advisory Board and an assistant professor in the Public Health Program at Tufts University School of Medicine, a position she has held since 1996 to a high post at the U.S. Department of Labor and also the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB).
   Since 2005, Dr. Rosenberg has researched the safety systems and health and safety conditions at former nuclear weapons production sites.  From 2000 to 2008, she has been a member of the Massachusetts Toxics Use Reduction Scientific Advisory Board.  She has a B.A. in Anthropology from Wellesley College, and MPH in Health Law from Boston University School of Public Health, and a Sc.D. in Work Environment Policy from the University of Massachusetts Lowell.

TNEC Training Highlights
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OSHA Confined Space in Construction
OSHA Center NH Confined Space in Construction Awareness

   Tom Estabrook, lead health and safety trainer with The New England Consortium discusses Confined Space in Construction Awareness.  NH COSH along with the OSHA Training Institute of New England in Manchester, NH sponsored a seminar on Confined Space in Construction.
   With over 25 attendees hailing from the construction industries both public and private,  Mr. Estabrook discussed the intricacies of working in a confined space.  The half day seminar was organized and promoted by the New Hampshire Coalition for Occupational Safety and Health (NH COSH) a TNEC partner in coordination with the OSHA Training Institute of NE.
   Future seminars will be held.  For further information visit www.nhcosh.org.

Other Trainings in the New England Region
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   Bridget McGuiness works with employees from several different MA municipalities including Chelmsford, Franklin and Leicester, concerning the health and safety considerations of working in a confined space.  The Massachusetts InterLocal Insurance Association (MIIA) sponsors the training for numerous cities and towns in MA.
MIIA Confined Space
Bridget McGuiness discusses Confined Space
Millipore
Millipore employees attending their annual refresher.

   Headquartered in Billerica, Massachusetts, EMD Millipore has some 10,000 employees in 67 countries motivated by the potential of science for life through a portfolio of more than 40,000 products. Comprised of three business units-Bioscience, Lab Solutions, and Process Solutions- EMD Millipore is a top tier supplier to the life science industry, and serves as a strategic partner for scientists, engineers, and researchers. (Source: Millipore Website)




MVIB Confined Space training
Students learn how to protect themselves with Confined Space Training

   In collaboration with MassCOSH students from Groundwork Lawrence learn how to protect themselves during a Confined Space training provided by MassCOSH and held in Lawrence, MA.
   The U.S. EPA awarded Groundwork Lawrence and The Merrimack Valley Workforce Investment Board (MVWIB) with a Green Jobs grant for a workforce development titled Training for Sustainability.  The EPA funded Training for Sustainability program will prepare unemployed and underemployed workers for jobs in the areas of recycling/solid waste handling and disposal, sustainable landscaping and deconstruction.  The MVIB is composed of knowledgeable and influential business and community leaders who are appointed by the Mayor of Lawrence on behalf of the fifteen communities that make up the region.
   The board serves as the oversight and policy-making body for federally funded employment and training services in the region.  The board also has the broader role of addressing critical labor market issues and developing strategic partnerships with local leaders in economic development, the K-12 higher education system, government agencies, chambers of commerce, community-based and labor organizations.  (Source: www.mvwib.org )
  
 
For our Loyal Customers
logo   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 [email protected] or Therese O'Donnell 978.934.3329 or [email protected].
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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, 2012, through August 31, 2013, the curriculum for the Site Worker Refresher includes Reviews of: Student Work History for the Past Year, the HAZWOPER Standard, use of the NIOSH Pocket Guide & MSDS's, Air Monitoring, Respiratory Protection & PPE, Decon and Spill Control. Also included is a HAZWOPER Review Game and the consideration by students of actions they might take to improve safety when they return to work. The Refresher concludes with a final Table-Top Activity relating to the evaluation of a storage facility where several units, for which rents are in arrears and the contents of which are to be auctioned, are suspected to contain hazardous materials/wastes and how removal of same should proceed.
     
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Upcoming Events
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NH Coalition for Occupational Safety & Health
 

Annual Members Dinner Meeting
Thursday, October 25, 2012

Members Business Meeting at 5:30 pm
Hors d'oeuvres at 5:45 pm
Buffet Dinner at 6:15pm

Guest Speaker: Scott Lawson on the "Aging Workforce"

RSVP: by October 22, 2012 to Sandi, there is no charge for this event.  Call 603.232.4406 or email:  [email protected]

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MassCOSH Annual Event

Celebrating the Movement
Wednesday, November 28, 2012
6:00-8:30PM

Location:

1199 SEIU Offices
150 Mt. Vernon Street
Dorchester, MA

To purchase tickets online with a credit card or debit card, please visit www.masscosh.org  For further information contact Jeff Newton
by calling 617.825.7233 x14 or my emailing [email protected]  
Project Partners

Civil Service Employee Association
CSEA Local 1000, AFSCME

Occupational Safety and Health 
New York's Leading Union

143 Washington Avenue
Albany, NY 12210

Phone: 516.257.1465
www.csea1000.org 
 
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MassCOSH
  Standing Together for Safe and Healthy Work
 
1532B Dorchester Avenue
 Dorchester, MA 02122

Phone:  617.825.7233
Fax: 617.822.3718
 
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NH COSH
20 Years of working to keep NH workers safe!
  
NH Coalition for Occupational Safety and Health
161 Londonderry Turnpike
Hooksett, NH 03106

 Phone: 603.232.4406
Fax: 603.232.4461  
 www.nhcosh.org


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ConnectiCOSH
An injury to one is an injury to all
 
683 North Mountain Road
Newington, CT 06111
 
Phone: 860.953.2674
Fax: 860.953.1038

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RI COSH

741 Westminster Street
Providence, RI 02903

Phone: 401.751.2015
Fax: 401.751.7520

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Western Mass COSH
 
640 Page Blvd, Suite 104
Springfield, MA 01104
 
  Phone: 413.731.0760
Fax: 413.731.6688
Upcoming Conferences Where TNEC will be Exhibiting 

45th Annual Massachusetts Health Officers Association
MassMutual Center
Springfield, MA

October 24th - October 25th

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Partners in Worker Health and Safety Training

OSHA logo
  
Contact:   Diane Malachowski, Manager Region 1 OTIEC, [email protected] 
    603-645-0050; Toll-free 800-449-6742; Fax 603-645-0080

OSHA Training Institute Education Center
 
                       175 Ammon Drive, Manchester, NH 03103-3308  
   The New England Consortium (TNEC) is the region's model Hazardous Waste Operations and Emergency Response (HAZWOPER) Worker Health and Safety training organization.  Since 1987, TNEC has provided dynamic hands-on, participatory health and safety training to over 24,000 workers.

   TNEC is one of 20 programs administered by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) Worker Education Training Program.

   TNEC is a partnership between the University of Massachusetts Lowell and the Coalitions/Committees for Occupational Safety and Health (COSH) in Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Rhode Island and the Civil Service Employees Association of New York (CSEA Occupational Safety and Health), Local 1000, AFSCME

   In addition to providing HAZWOPER training, COSH groups work on a variety of worker health and safety training and other issues.

To learn more, call your local COSH group:
ConnectiCOSH                        860.953.2674
CSEA                                      518.257.1465
MassCOSH                              617.825.7233
New Hampshire COSH             603.232.4406
RICOSH                                  401.751.2015
WesternMassCOSH                  413.731.0760
   Thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule to read our newsletter.  We hope to keep you safe and healthy with information that will protect you on the job.

This work is partially supported under NIEHS grant number:
2 U45 ESOO6172-19