More than $37 million will go to workers involved in emergency response and hazardous waste clean-up from awards just made by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), one of the National Institutes of Health. The grants will provide training designed to protect workers and their communities from exposure to toxic materials encountered during hazardous waste operations and chemical emergency response.

"There is no better way to protect the health and safety of workers who are involved in our nation's emergency response and hazardous waste clean-up efforts than to provide them with the proper training and education," said NIEHS Director David A. Schwartz, M.D. "These awards will provide workers with the skills and knowledge they need to protect themselves, their communities, and our environment from exposure to hazardous materials."

Some of these awards are granted under the newly created Hazmat Disaster Preparedness Training Program. The new program was developed in the aftermath of the World Trade Center Disaster, and is the result of the lessons learned by NIEHS-funded workers who participated in the subsequent clean-up of the affected area. These new awards will fund five training programs:

The Hazmat Disaster Preparedness Training Program will fund the development of programs that will train workers in prevention and response techniques related to future terrorist incidents.

The Hazardous Waste Worker Training Program will provide occupational safety and health training for workers who are involved in hazardous waste removal or containment, or chemical emergency response.

The Department of Energy Nuclear Weapons Cleanup Training Program is targeted for workers engaged in environmental restoration, waste treatment and emergency response at sites within the Department of Energy's nuclear weapons complex.

The Minority Worker Training Program will deliver comprehensive training fo
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Contact: John Peterson, NIEHS Office of Communications
peterso4@niehs.nih.gov
919-541-7860
NIH/National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences
13-Sep-2005


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